Smart device can read your emotions to reveal the trip of your dreams
We test out TUI's machine that claims to tell you where and how your subconscious wants you to holiday
RECKON you know just where you want to go on holiday?
Perhaps that's not what you REALLY think — as I found this week when I trialled some new technology that could soon be in high street travel agents.
To mark tour firm Thomson's rebrand as TUI, the name of its parent company, it has teamed up with researchers in the field of facial recognition and emotion technology, Realeyes.
Together, they devised a machine that can tell you where and how your subconscious wants you to holiday.
I took my seat in the futuristic chair, donned my headphones for mood music then stared at the screen while the technology mapped my face.
An algorithm computes every facial response to a series of moving images of destinations and experiences, and uses this to suggest your perfect holiday.
I watched as idyllic images flashed before me — everything from skiing on sparkling pistes to kids splashing poolside.
The programme has more than 2,000 images in its database and, depending on how your face reacts over two and a half minutes, it will serve up one of 60 different holidays.
For me it was a big surprise — as a gymphobe I was amazed this kit recommended beach yoga in Cape Verde.
I've never even tried a downward dog, so laughed: "That can't be right!" Having another go, I tried to stay poker-faced as the images flashed up. Take two? A yoga retreat in Ibiza!
But it got me thinking. I am getting on a bit, need more exercise and, like most working mums, rarely think about myself on holiday. Maybe a yoga trip would work.
TUI hopes to roll out the kit in travel agents in the next few years.
Nick Longman, boss of TUI UK, said: "One size no longer fits all with travel. People want a break handpicked for them."