Hong Kong, 08 March 2015 ————– Managing Director of Sepia Design Consultants Limited, Thomas Schmidt, AIA, LEED AP, provided a thought-provoking presentation of the potential for Space Tourism at the First Annual Hospitality Innovation Conference 2015. The conference was organized by the Hospitality Student Initiative (HSI) at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of The Chinese University Hong Kong.
Schmidt presented his award-winning lunar research and hotel facility to a diverse audience of students, faculty and professionals. Current and future offerings of sub-orbital flights, low earth orbit hotels and lunar facilities were discussed relative to their tourism, commercial, political and legal impacts. Current activities of Boeing, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and other industry leaders were also discussed relative to providing affordable transportation systems to low earth orbit and beyond.
Schmidt noted, “Some of these guest experiences may appear as science fiction today, but once ‘cheap access to space’ is achieved, and tourism activities revolving around microgravity and low-gravity experiences become economically viable for a critical mass of travelers, this could open an entirely new industry and have a dramatic impact on the careers of students who are soon to graduate into the hospitality and tourism industry.”
Schmidt explained that with the advent of mass space tourism, there would be entirely new hospitality products and services associated with the entire sequence of guest pre-departure preparation and training, the microgravity experience itself, as well post-experience recovery and rejuvenation.