TUI: World’s leading travel company reveals the future of holiday shopping with cutting edge prototy

• Future of travel revealed as the UK's number one tour operator, Thomson, becomes the world's number one travel company, TUI
• World first in travel retail - the 'Destination U' prototype - uses emotionally intelligent technology to unlock holiday desires
• Unique algorithm tracks emotional responses through sophisticated facial coding
• Developed exclusively for TUI by world leaders in the field, Realeyes

As the UK's number one tour operator, Thomson, becomes the world's number one travel company today (18th October), TUI has unveiled a ground breaking new prototype that reveals how customers could be using their subconscious to choose holidays in just a few years' time.

Developed exclusively by world leaders in the field of facial coding and emotion measurement, Realeyes, the futuristic 'Destination U' prototype is a first of its kind, innovative way for holidaymakers to choose a trip that matches their emotional needs. It uses sophisticated facial coding and emotion measurement technology to trigger imaginations and tap into the subconscious. A unique algorithm computes every subtle facial response to a rapid series of evocative moving images of destinations and experiences, and uses that data to calculate a 'perfect holiday' prescription.

TUI UK MD, Nick Longman commented: "After taking more than 100 million customers on holiday over the last six decades as Thomson we understand that one size no longer fits all when it comes to travel. People are looking beyond the traditional package holiday, they want a holiday that is handpicked just for them and the next evolution in mass market travel is personalisation and customisation. It is our ambition to create holidays so personalised that they 'choose you'. Or to put it another way, take customers to their perfect 'Destination U'.

Longman continued: "This prototype, which is now well into testing, takes customer understanding to a new level, tapping right into the psyche to help our customers discover their perfect, personalised holiday experience. The Destination U prototype enables holidaymakers to intuitively unlock different travel possibilities and think about options they may not have considered before. As TUI we will offer more customer choice than ever and we want to shape the future of travel using innovations like this, and our considerable expertise and knowledge, to design perfectly personalised experiences and a new way to holiday."

Founded at Oxford University ten years ago by Mihkel Jaatma, Realeyes has spent the last decade developing emotion intelligence measurement techniques. Jaatma explains: "90% of human decision-making is done without us actively thinking about it - subconsciously. Traditionally, brands have sought to understand consumers' responses through verbal or written feedback - asking them a serious of tedious questions. But emotion measurement technology captures and delivers unfiltered emotional responses in real-time, delving much deeper and detecting non conscious signals to stimuli. People aren't considering their responses, they are organically reacting, giving a far more intuitive and raw response."

Jaatma goes on to explain: "The Destination U Prototype is bringing this emotional intelligence into a new space and it takes the application of facial coding a leap forward. The algorithm is not merely tracking expressions to catalogue responses, it is facilitating an emotional journey driven by the subjects' exclusive reactions. With the consumer market moving towards ever greater personalisation and appreciation of emotions and humanness in decision making, this concept is really pioneering that change".

The Destination U prototype is undergoing consumer testing with the vision of wider public retail trials in the near future.

Thomson was established in 1965 and by the 1980s was the UK's largest tour operator. As of today the Thomson brand changes to become TUI with a remit to continue to modernise the way the nation holidays. Over 600 retail stores on high streets around the country have been re-branded switching from Thomson to TUI and a high impact communications campaign has been activated to ensure the public is aware of the new name in UK holidays.