The NHTV, with 50 years of experience in leisure and tourism and being recognised as the third World Leisure Centre of Excellence by the World Leisure Organization has got something to celebrate. And they shared the new trends with the Industry.
NHTV is one of the educational institutes we work with on 
several international projects and with consultancy assignments within the industry. Students know how to find us. Our GreenDreamAcademy has NHTV represented within the board. Cooperation works from both ways, sometimes we give guest lecturers or we support as industry examiner. A win-win, so reasons enough to celebrate and feel happy together.
Are you ready for the future?
This was the question of the keynote speaker of the industry Day: Richard van Hooijdonk, trend watcher and futurist. He offered us an inspiring lecture on how technology impacts the way we live, work and do business. His statement, and I think he is right, is that everything is connected to the internet of things. With the question: ‘’are you ready for the future?” he showed the audience what we should keep in mind, concerning our future.
Within ten years we will have technology implemented within our body: opening your door and starting your car. Keys will disappear. We will have printed medicine and brain chips that control the memory.
Within the leisure sector he predicts a lot of robot technology taking over jobs. This is how it will look like in the future.
Imagine a human lookalike robot at your dinner table
No waitress, but a robot asking: ’How do you prefer your steak madam?’
Or: ‘You appreciated the Merlot last time sir, do you like it again?’ Or a warm smiling beautiful robot at the reception desk, welcoming you at your check in, making a photo of your eye: the key to your room.
It is not a game over, but IT will definitely change the game forever. It will create new business models. Traditional jobs will disappear but new ones based on technology will enter the sector. Wow, the keynote speaker was left without questions from the audience. But you could hear the industry thinking….
Other insights, new games
Besides the keynote speaker, NHTV offered the industry several signature lectures this afternoon, all inspired by technology. Here are some quotes to give you an impression of the future of leisure and tourism:
‘We are on the way to an economy of models’.
‘Imagine, with virtual reality you can go on holiday 20 times before booking via Booking.com ‘.
‘With one million bookings a year, Airbnb is, with no real estate, bigger then Hilton’
‘Small is the new big: start ups do outsourcing, so cooperate within partnerships’
‘Start-ups, also within leisure, will change the world’
‘Change is the constant factor’
The wakeup call: The future has started
What I have realised in the last years is that the sector indeed is looking too much inside its own compact world instead of ahead. They are too busy with running their daily business. When the weather is good, open the terrace and put the chairs outside. If not, wait for the sun. But we must prepare for the future!
I like the idea of trend watching. As a trend watcher for business development and as developer of curriculum. Would that make us less surprised about the success of business concepts like Airbnb?
Bleep, here’s your breakfast Madame
I do not know what to think of a robot serving my breakfast. It feels strange. And within our inclusive approach we want to create real jobs for real people. But I do know that we should have an open mind about how to shape the future of leisure and tourism industry. We are open for new and good value driven ideas and projects that will make our work better and the impact of our work bigger.
