A job agency in Australia has predicted the humble travel agent will cease to exist within 12 years, alongside a number of other careers it reckons will fade away because of technology.
Staff.com, a large recruitment firm which finds jobs for candidates in its homeland as well as the UK, US and Canada, produced an infographic (below) this week to share its predictions of the demise of a string of jobs.
Saying travel agents are going to be heading the same way as the dinosaurs has been on the lips of commentators for years, especially when retail agents' online counterparts gained prominence in the late-1990s and 2000s.
Staff.com's reason is as follows:
"When you visit a travel website, you speak into the computer and then the website will any questions they have to clarify your travel schedule. 30 seconds later it finds the cheapest alternatives."
Many will say the prediction probably shows a lack of knowledge of how agents operate and will argue that even with voice-recognition technology, their role will never totally disappear. It will just evolve.
The job agency also suggests air traffic controllers will be consigned to the dustbin by 2038, with aircraft controlled by artificial intelligence.
Given the incredibly high protocols surrounding air safety, it seems, even in 25 years there will be some kind of human oversight in the world of ATC.
Anyway, here is the infographic: