As I was driving to work the other day, there was a news report on
the radio that a doctor would perform a gall bladder operation on
someone using a robotic device to assist him.
I'm not sure I'd want to be the first patient to participate in
such a procedure, but the doctor insisted that the device would
allow him to be more accurate than he could be with his own hands
and tools.
Technology moves so fast these days that the gap between what
the human mind can imagine and what exists has closed dramatically.
Science fiction has become real life.
So when I start musing about how all this might affect travel, I
no longer worry about whether my imaginings are crazy. Maybe the
crazier they are, the more likely they will happen.
For now, I'm reflecting on my visit to ByeByeNOW.com a few
weeks back. On Wednesday, I mentioned here that the company's call
center in its headquarters building in Florida is equipped with
Web-cams that allow its agents to see customers who have their own
Web-cams while they conduct real-time discussions with them.
There's little doubt in my mind that Web-cam technology can be
applied to many other facets of business. I'm wondering, for
example, whether web-cams could be the precursor to fam-cams.
By fam-cams, I'm suggesting that travel agents could sit at
their Web-cam workstations and go on virtual fam trips in real
time. On the other end of the connection could be cruise ship
captains or hotel and resort managers, or destination promoters or
anyone in the travel supplier category.
As the agent sits at the machine, a real-time familiarization
could be taking place, showing the kind of detail that only a
first-hand visit could elicit in the past.
I realize that a virtual fam trip would lack some of the
benefits of a real one, checking out the local restaurants and
shopping for example.
But with the pressure on travel agents to stay close to home and
keep the business humming, and the expenses associated with taking
fams, the idea of virtual fams may not so far-fetched.
Then again, maybe it was that report about the surgeon using a
robot to do a gall bladder.