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World's Most Important Travel Innovations

World's Most Important Travel Innovations

By Aimee Lee Ball and April Orcutt

September 28, 2011

Credit: iStock

When intrepid British traveler Freya Stark visited remote parts of the Middle East, she carried pen and paper to take notes for her subsequent books. It was the mid-1900s, so she had no GPS device, no wrinkle-free, sun-protective clothing, and no Foursquare app to aid her along the way.

In the decades since, these and other clever innovations have transformed travel in ways that Stark couldn’t have imagined but that tourists now take for granted. In honor of Travel + Leisure’s 40th anniversary, we’ve singled out 40 innovations that have made discovering the world smoother, safer, healthier, or simply more fun.

Consider the digital photography revolution. There’s no more running out of film or crossing your fingers for two weeks to find out whether you got the exposure right on your vacation photos. Now travelers get the instant gratification of checking each shot in the moment—and then sharing it immediately with friends back home through a quick upload to social media sites.

Many places we want to photograph might have languished if not for the introduction of the UNESCO World Heritage List. Nearly a thousand places are on it, among them, the Sydney Opera House, the Dalai Lama’s seventh-century Potala Palace in Tibet, and the low-lying atolls and islands of Papahānaumokuākea, northwest of Hawaii. The list heightens public awareness of tourism’s role in preservation, and we find a similar sense of responsibility reflected in the development of green housekeeping hotel policies and eco-friendly resorts.

Hotels and resorts certainly aren’t the only options when it comes to lodging. Swapping your house to vacation in someone else’s has been just a click away ever since HomeExchange launched in 1992. The phenomenon has empowered travelers to visit exotic destinations they might not otherwise afford while granting the feeling of living like a local with the conveniences and charming quirks of a true home away from home.

Authenticity and ease are recurring themes among our list of 40 innovations that have changed the travel experience, whether you’re exploring far-flung countries like Freya Stark did or hanging out at a Caribbean beach. —April Orcutt

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foursquare

Credit: Courtesy of Foursquare

Taking social networking on-the-go to new levels in 2009, the location-based site created by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai expanded the idea of status updates—it’s now a traveler’s instant and personalized Baedeker. You can check in to destinations and get real-time tips about shopping, exploring, and eating. Someone in your network will have the inside track: “Not on the menu, but ask for the tangerine smoothie.” —Aimee Lee Ball

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Foam Earplugs

Credit: Courtesy of 3M Company

Anyone sitting near a colicky baby on a flight just had to suck it up until 1972, when the Cabot Corporation’s Ross Gardner introduced this sleep-saving tool, which expands in the ear canal to block out noise. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Hot-Stone Massage

Credit: Blend Images / Alamy

When a shoulder injury prevented her from using traditional Swedish massage strokes on her clients, Tucson-based therapist Mary Nelson created LaStone therapy in 1993. The technique, which uses hot and cold smooth river stones, has been widely adapted in spas, to the enduring gratitude of the tightly wound. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Airplane Meals

Credit: iStock

The first boxed meal was created for Continental Airlines in 1978 by Harvey Alpert and his company, Oakfield Farms Solutions. It consisted of cheese, crackers, raisins, a chocolate bar, a napkin, and a knife, all shrink-wrapped in a wooden box—and it was free. —Aimee Lee Ball

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World Heritage Sites

Credit: David Wall / Alamy

Since 1972, Unesco has heightened public awareness of tourism’s role in preservation by naming destinations to this vaunted list. Almost a thousand places are on it, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Japan’s Hiroshima Peace Memorial, and the Old City of Dubrovnik, Croatia. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Sea-Bands

Credit: Bubbles Photolibrary / Alamy

A drug-free and reusable remedy for motion sickness, the Sea-Band was developed in 1983 by Daniel Choi, a surgeon and avid sailor, who turned to a traditional Chinese treatment from his youth. It’s said to cause a release of endorphins in the vomiting center of the brain (yes, there is such a thing). —Aimee Lee Ball

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RFID

Credit: MShieldsPhotos / Alamy

If you’ve ever waved a subway pass over a sensor or coasted through a tollbooth, you’ve used a radio-frequency identification device, patented in 1973 by engineer Mario W. Cardullo. Its manifold applications today include officials speeding you through passport control and—just maybe—the airlines not losing your luggage. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Slow Food

Credit: Pat Tuson / Alamy

Dismayed by the opening of a McDonald’s franchise in Rome, food journalist Carlo Petrini started a movement in 1986. By emphasizing the pleasures of regional produce and indigenous traditions, his organization helped kick off the current obsession with all things organic, artisanal, farm-to-table, locavore, and sustainable. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Loyalty Points

Credit: Jon Stokes / Alamy

Frequent-flier miles were introduced in 1979 by Frank Lorenzo, president of Texas International Airlines (subsequently merged into Continental). Rewarding customers for their allegiance soon extended to hotels, credit cards, even coffee shops. —Aimee Lee Ball

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GPS

Credit: Michael Ventura / Alamy

Paper maps (which, once unfurled, never, ever got refolded properly) have been largely replaced by the Global Positioning System, which uses satellites to track where you are on earth. Developed in 1978 for the U.S. Department of Defense, it can geo-tag a photo with a GPS camera or help a rental car locate a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Sun-Protective Clothing

Credit: Courtesy of Sun Precautions Inc.

Surviving melanoma was Shaun Hughes’s catalyst to develop Solumbra clothing in 1992. The combination of fibers, weaving techniques, and dyeing methods results in fabrics that provide protection from ultraviolet rays. Equivalent to SPF 30, it doesn’t wash or wear off. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Green Housekeeping

Credit: PicturesByrob / Alamy

Striking a blow against global warming in 1993, Patricia Griffin, president and founder of the “Green” Hotels Association, introduced cards that asked guests to consider using their linens or towels more than once. The first property to order the cards was a Best Western in Houston; now it’s rare not to find this gentle request wherever you stay. —Aimee Lee Ball

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E-Tickets

Credit: Robert McLean / Alamy

Airlines started issuing electronic tickets in the mid 1990’s, followed by online check-in and self-service kiosks. The paper version was “retired” by the International Air Transport Association in 2008, and the agony of a lost ticket became a relic of the past. —Aimee Lee Ball

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The Chunnel

Credit: QAphotos.com / Alamy

The United Kingdom joined up with the rest of Europe in 1994 via the 31-mile underwater passage from Kent to Pas-de-Calais. With high-speed trains connecting to a network of overland lines, you can get from London to Paris nonstop in just over two hours. —Aimee Lee Ball

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The Flat “Bed”

Credit: Courtesy of British Airways

British Airways recognized the hegemony of the horizontal in 1996 with the really, truly, deeply lie-flat bed, setting off a heated competition among airlines about the angle of their seats in first and business classes. The next standard-bearers? Suites on carriers such as Emirates and Singapore. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Wi-Fi

Credit: iStock

The wireless way to a high-speed Web connection was pioneered in 1996 by Dutch electrical engineer Vic Hayes and his team. Whether you’re charged a fee or enjoy the largesse of a public router, you can now get online in thousands of hotels and airports across the globe. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Noise-Canceling Headphones

Credit: Courtesy of Bose Corporation

This device, developed by electrical engineer Amar Gopal Bose, was a rescue remedy for airline passengers in 2000. It blocks engine noise, so you can really hear the music—or just the sound of silence. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Tablets

Credit: Courtesy of Apple

The IBM PC Convertible, introduced in 1986 at a still-hefty 13 pounds, was the first viable, affordable, portable computer, leading to many lightweight offspring. With the Sony Reader, created in 2006, followed by Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iPad, both office and library became a movable feast. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Skype

Credit: Skype

Because Niklas Zennström (a Swede) and Janus Friis (a Dane) created Skype in 2003, your computer can call another computer anywhere in the world for free—rendering geography unimportant and long-distance charges obsolete. —Aimee Lee Ball

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House-Swapping

Credit: Courtesy of HomeExchange.com

Bartering your residence for someone else’s—temporarily—is just a click away, thanks to HomeExchange, launched in 1992. The upside: Live like a local, for free, in an exotic destination. The downside: a stranger is checking out your closets. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Online Trip Advice

Credit: tripadvisor

Everyone’s a critic. With TripAdvisor, founded by Stephen Kaufer in 2000, a forum of anonymous rants and raves from fellow travelers lets you read real, unedited hotel and restaurant reviews and see candid photos. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Wrinkle-Free Clothing

Credit: iStock

The first wrinkle-free cottons left a lot to be desired: They felt harsh and didn’t last long. But the 1990’s brought new chemically treated fabrics. Now you can emerge from a long-haul flight without looking like you slept in your clothes (even if you did). —Aimee Lee Ball

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Eco-Friendly Resorts

Credit: windhamphoto.com

Stanley Selengut created Maho Bay on St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1976 with rainwater catchments, garden beds built from concrete with crushed recycled glass, solar energy to power appliances, and all buildings connected by raised boardwalks to prevent vegetation from being trampled. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Air-Traffic Control

Credit: Courtesy of Federal Aviation Administration

Pilots used to rely solely on ground-based controllers to spot dangerously converging flight paths. But a system called NextGen, when fully implemented, will use satellite-based technology to send an image of aircraft placement in the sky simultaneously to both air-traffic controllers and cockpits. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Cruise Dining

Credit: Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line introduced an alternative dining concept for the sea voyage in 2000: no set meal times, no assigned tables, and the option to decline chateaubriand in favor of a burger. —Aimee Lee Ball

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In-Flight Entertainment

Credit: iStock

Watching a movie on board elicits no neck strain with individual seatback screens—first introduced in the 1980’s, even for coach passengers. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Malarone

Credit: Lars Klove

For protection in malarial zones, travelers often endured medications whose side effects ranged from stomach distress to bizarre nightmares. With the introduction of Malarone in 2000, travel to parts of Africa became easier. —Aimee Lee Ball

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The Euro

Credit: iStock

The official currency for 17 members of the European Union began filling wallets in 1999. French francs, German marks, Italian lira, and Spanish pesetas are now nostalgic—but worthless—souvenirs. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Digital Cameras

Credit: JLImages / Alamy

Travel photography used to mean running out of film, waiting for Fotomat to develop your pictures, and finding out too late what shots you missed. In 1975, the world’s first prototype, from Eastman Kodak engineer Steve Sasson, offered the instant gratification of sharing photos when and where they were taken. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Smoking Ban

Credit: iStock

United Airlines was the first carrier to offer separate smoking and nonsmoking sections in 1971, but it took 17 more years for the U.S. government to prohibit smoking on short domestic flights. Over protests from the tobacco lobby, Congress finally banned it on all flights to or from the United States in 2000. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Food Trucks

Credit: Amanda Friedman

Mark Manguera, Caroline Shin, and Roy Choi began tweeting the location and menu of their Kogi BBQ Truck to hungry Angelenos in 2008, kicking off a trend: recession-friendly, mobile food dispensaries with a social-media-enabled following. Similar trucks can be found everywhere from Chicago (Flirty Cupcakes) to Seattle (Halláva Falafel). —Aimee Lee Ball

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The Heavenly Bed

Credit: Courtesy of Starwood Hotels & Resorts

In 1999, Westin Hotels promised the best night’s sleep in the known universe with this cozy queen. It was the brainchild of Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht, who dreamed up W Hotels, and the opening salvo in the “bed wars,” which upped the ante with sheets of vast thread counts and pillow menus. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Nike Air

Credit: Lars Klove

In 1978, using pressurized gas encapsulated in urethane, Ohio-based engineer Frank Rudy gave us a cushioned athletic shoe that could stand up to a walking tour of Europe. By 2000, Cole Haan had adapted the technology for a line of men’s oxfords and women’s pumps. —Aimee Lee Ball

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Language Learning

Credit: Courtesy of Rosetta Stone

The original Rosetta stone unlocked the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphics. In 1992, Allen Stoltzfus and John Fairfield borrowed the name for a radical way of teaching foreign languages, dispensing with complicated grammar rules in favor of an interactive “immersion” technique. —Aimee Lee Ball

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World's Most Important Travel Innovations

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foursquare

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Foam Earplugs

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Hot-Stone Massage

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Airplane Meals

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World Heritage Sites

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Sea-Bands

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RFID

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Slow Food

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Loyalty Points

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GPS

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Sun-Protective Clothing

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Green Housekeeping

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E-Tickets

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The Chunnel

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The Flat “Bed”

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Wi-Fi

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Noise-Canceling Headphones

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Tablets

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Skype

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House-Swapping

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Online Trip Advice

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Wrinkle-Free Clothing

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Eco-Friendly Resorts

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Air-Traffic Control

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Cruise Dining

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In-Flight Entertainment

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