Connectivity brings with it creativity, he said, but this inter-meshing has weaknesses that some could exploit either out of madness, greed or religion. 

The travel industry must build resistance to these factors and Dr Goldin pretty much said that the industry shouldn’t look to governments do the job but instead look to self-regulate.He also highlighted some mega trends that he said would impact on the future of travel and tourism. 

A rapidly ageing population, especially in Asia Pacific; increased life expectancy; rapid fertility decline across the world – “there will be no retirement and we cannot expect the state to look after us” – and in China, more young boys than girls being born.

The success story of the US has been driven by migration – over half of the children in the US are born to migrants. Migrants are the innovators and they also perform lower skilled jobs. 

The key, he said, is to ensure sustainability as the world changes. 

In the panel following Dr Goldin’s talk, Jeff Clarke, president of Travelport, said ubiquituous consumer technology would change the way companies operate and consumers behave. 

It will lead to transparent pricing and “great divergence of service quality” will disppear as consumers become more aware and informed through social networks.

Governments, he said, were not equipped to manage the challenges of growth but what we want from them is “free movement of people and improved processes for people to move around”.

The fact that we still carry physical passports is a “stunning failure of our government” with all the technology around, said Clarke. 

The Internet and China were also singled out as two key drivers of growth for the future. 

The question is, will travellers of the future still want the same thing as travellers today? Would still they want to see the light and sound show as at the Bellagio, for example, asked Dr Goldin.

“Perhaps virtual travel could become a possibility for the young,” he said.

However he added that the human drive to connect has been in us for 2,000 years and long may that prevail.