From a plane with wings that literally flap like a bird to a private industry-only island and artificial tour managers – April Fool’s day was no joke this year with companies going all out to fool their followers.
It seems as though every year the ideas get a little more drastic – so not sure if anyone actually fell for any of these – but emphasise the degree of creativity within the travel industry.
Here were some of the top April Fool’s jokes in travel this year:
Not to toot our own horn – but people loved the KarryOn private island
KarryOn has today announced plans to build a ‘One of a kind’ private island resort that would become the Australian Travel Industry’ tropical playground.
According to KarryOn Founder, Matt Leedham, the proposed “dream” resort concept aims to create “A safe haven for battle weary travel industry professionals to work, rest and play far away from the stresses and strains of daily travel industry life”.
Contiki’s artificial tour manager
Contiki is taking travel to the next level with ‘Artificial Intelligence Trip Managers’ or A.T.I.T.A – a groundbreaking innovation that utilises artificial intelligence technology to create a new, state-of-the-art travel experience for young Australians.
Contiki strives to bridge the gap between travel and technology, and this incorporation of the latest AI software is a big step towards achieving this. Contiki has risen to the challenge of creating the perfect artificial intelligence trip manager, that doesn’t feel artificial at all.
Emirates’ flying pool
Emirates ‘tricked’ the world when the carrier said it planned to launch the world’s largest commercial aircraft featuring a swimming pool, games room, a gym and a park.
While the triple-decker received a fair bit of attention on Saturday, it didn’t seem to fool many people with the creative aircraft title APR001 giving away the joke.
Tattoo fails abroad to become a thing of the past
With an alarming rise in ‘tattoo fails’ among Aussie travellers abroad, travel safety experts, Travel Insurance Direct, are launching an innovative new App, ahead of the peak holiday season.
The ‘TID: We’ve Got Your Back’ App is a free tattoo spell checker. Ahead of the tatt-seeking traveller getting inked, the app simply scans the artist’s flash-sheet to reveal any pesky tattoo typos among English, Thai and Indonesian characters, ensuring they aren’t scarred for life.
Travelodge launches pleasant whiff & wake service
Rise & Sizzle! Travelodge is launching an innovative anti-snooze service for its sleepy guests at airport hotels.
The pleasant Whiff & Wake Service will see the sweet smell of frying bacon being wafted in the room to help get guests out of bed.
A first for an Australian hotel, the service is being launched due to an increasing number of airport hotel guests reporting sleeping through their snooze, thus near-missing their flights.
P&O introduces the canine cruise
This is too cute, you almost wish it were true!
P&O Cruises told its Facebook followers it was planning on pampering travellers of the furry kind during its new series of Canine Cruises.
The line’s ships would be designed to treat man’s best friend through fetch machines installed on every floor, mutt massages available in the Oasis spa, doggie dishes designed by Luke Mangan and hundreds of shore tour walkies in remote island destinations.
And, Branson unveils ‘flapenergy’ – the weirdest thing you’ll ever see in the sky (if it’s ever invented)
We wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Richard Branson was actually working towards launching ‘flapenergy’ – plane wings that generate power for inside the plane by flapping.
The April Fool’s joke tapped into the world’s desire for cleaner air travel and said the idea came from Branson’s “love of birds”.
Watch the clip, it’s hilarious.