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How drones are changing travel – for better and worse
Whether you consider them an intrusion or a brilliant way to capture your adventures, drones have become an unavoidable part of holidays
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Think of the words “drone” and “holiday” and you are most likely picturing a scenario we’ve all experienced. A spectacular and remote setting, perhaps at sunset, a glass of something cold in your hand, your nearest and dearest by your side. The very definition of contentment. Until, that is, a familiar buzzing is heard overhead, disturbing the peace and violating your privacy.
This is one of the most obvious ways that drones have changed travel – uniquely capturing a special memory for those who want and can afford that, and arguably spoiling said memory for everyone else in the vicinity.
While a simple aerial view in Santorini, for instance, could be captured by an amateur, if you’re doing something that requires you to be actively present and/or engaged, you won’t also be able to operate a drone. Quite the problem for the super-rich – which is why a handful of innovative, high-end travel companies are offering the services of drone cinematographers to film holidaymakers on location.
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Taking inspiration from David Attenborough documentaries, many wealthy travellers now want to be the star of their own show. Premium adventure travel company Black Tomato was an early adopter of drone technology, launching its “Drone the World” service back in 2016. For an extra £5,000 or so, you can choose from a network of professional drone cameramen and artistic directors who have worked on award-winning documentaries for the BBC and National Geographic, who will then accompany you to produce a “featurette” of your adventure.
Elite adventure travel company Cookson Adventures has hired Civil Aviation Authority-approved and accredited drone pilot, Louis Waite, as its new “head of photography and videography”. He says: “My responsibility is to ensure we have the right permits for flying in certain destinations, that we are sensitive to our surroundings and the wildlife living there, and are not invading other people’s private space.
“Drones have become an incredibly valuable piece of equipment that [can] give another perspective on our world. They [...] help me to achieve the kind of high-end cinematography that, a few years ago, could only be achieved with a Hollywood budget and a fleet of helicopters.”
While professionals such as Waite may take care to avoid disturbing the peace of a location, individual drone operators, as we know, might not be so considerate. The irritation is such that some resorts and authorities have made the decision to ban them. One such example is the Nayara Tented Camp in Costa Rica, which became concerned by drones invading the privacy of other guests and flying into their open-fronted tree-house suites. “Now we politely tell guests we’d rather they didn’t bring them,” a spokesperson said.
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Drones can also be bad for the environment. Take the advent of drone fishing, whereby anglers going after game fish, such as the giant trevally, can send a camera-mounted drone out to sea to spot them from the air (with visuals presented on a hand-held screen), before dropping a line into the water to try and catch one. For a while, the Grand Velas hotel in Los Cabos, Mexico, was offering the experience from the beach, but had to stop because it kept losing drones in the sea.
Probably the biggest problem with drones in the world of travel is that they can pose a huge hazard to aircraft when flown in controlled airspace. Most notably, if a drone gets sucked into the engine it will likely cause a crash. But they can also cause radio frequency interference that could lead to the pilot losing control of the plane.
Back in 2018, London’s Gatwick Airport had to close for several days as a consequence of drone sightings in the vicinity – causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled. No one was ever convicted for the incident in spite of a huge manhunt and an estimated cost to airlines of £50 million. Today, no one is allowed fly a drone within three miles of any UK airport or above 400ft.
Forcing another reassessment of airspace in and around cities, in the coming years drones themselves will become a form of public transport. Small pilotless aerial taxis will be able to transport travellers from airport to hotel in minutes, for example, avoiding traffic on the ground. To accommodate these sci-fi aircraft, rooftop landing pads and drone ports will be built on top of offices, train stations, multi-storey car parks and resorts. It sounds unbelievable but companies such as Volocopter are already developing them – with passenger flights tipped for as soon as 2026.