Last week innovation in the travel industry was addressed in a number of posts over on PhoCusWright Connect. The debate has started about whether there is a lack of it or not when it comes to functionality and features improving the customer experience during the trip planning and research phase and how often confusing pricing models and hidden fees affect consumer perceptions and the experience of travel websites.

The general impression seems to be that while there certainly is innovation, it’s not evenly distributed among the different players and that the main focus is not necessarily in areas immediately apparent to customers but more incremental developments in the background. Nobody has claimed that a significant travel 2.0 breakthrough with fundamental changes has occurred.

Although not directly related to the travel industry issues discussed here, when I came across this post on Mashable with the title” 5 Terrific TED Talks on Future Technologies“, I thought these fascinating, some might even think outrageous presentations would make for some stimulating and thought provoking viewing. They feature extraordinary developments and inventions that will impact humans in the future. Some may lie further down the road than others but nevertheless at the rapid pace in technology innovation their introduction might happen sooner rather than later.

The first presentation – Building a techno sixth sense, actually shows some quite incredible travel related implications at about the seven minute mark.

View – Think – Imagine!