Rethinking tourism: where is it going and how will it impact people and planet? A personal perspective

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the complexity of predicting the future and of making tourism futuristic predictions. It argues that tourism cannot be separated from the world context in which it operates and explores the various impacts of tourism on people and planet both in a near and more distant future. Design/methodology/approach This paper revises several reports and research by world economic and tourism authorities as they provide arguments for the study of trends and the complexity of the evolution of the travel and tourism industry. Findings There is no certain way to know what the future will bring to the tourism industry or how it will interact with society and the physical environment. What the author does know is that from the beginning of time, events do not occur in isolation and that travel and tourism will impact everything that it touches. It is impossible to make exact predictions as to what tourism will be like in the near and distant future, what the author does know is that humans will want to travel, to explore and to learn, and this desire will interact not only with tourism but with the course of history. Originality/value By exploring the evolution of tourism in the context of science, the author cannot even be certain where tourism will occur, if only on the same planet, within the other planets of the solar system or in the vastness of space. Science fiction predicts the latter, but only the unfolding of history will teach of the accuracy of future predictions and how the future of travel will be.