Simulated kidnappings, latest tourist fad Down Under

MELBOURNE - Now travellers wanting to experience the ultimate adventure will be given a chance with undersea yachts, five-star blimp hotels and simulated kidnapping coming up in Australia.

The new ideas have been showcased at the Tourism Futures conference in Brisbane.

“Now that Virgin Galactic is hopefully going to have their first passengers in outer space as early as 2012 these kind of creative ideas are potentially going to become reality,” News.com.au quoted Craig Shim, Tourism Queensland marketing manager, as saying.

Shim said a French company was already offering simulated kidnapping packages, in which people can pay to be abducted without warning, bound, gagged and imprisoned for between four and ten hours.

“It allows you to experience the terror of the real thing,” he said.

Nick Talbot, who is director of UK-based design and innovation company seymourpowell, said in the next 15 years you could see “air hotels” like cruise ships in the sky in which you spend a week floating from Australia to London, stopping off at various destinations along the way.

“It would be a lucky few that could afford to do it but it would be a completely mind-blowing experience,” he said.

Shim also predicted a rise in “iTravellers” who embrace location-based social networking websites such as foursquare and gowalla, which can be accessed on iPhones and BlackBerrys.

The sites, which are described as a cross between a friend network and a city guide, allow you to receive information about a venue, reviews from friends and receive discounts if you “check in” online.

People will also be able to see 3D images of island resorts and do virtual walk-throughs via their mobile phones in a modern twist on travel brochures in what is known as “augmented reality”.

Shim predicted travellers will remain more value-conscious than they were before the global financial crisis, which was good news for all-inclusive resorts such as Club Med and cruise ships, and seek more personalised experiences instead of mass-tourism experiences. (ANI)