LONDON (Reuters) - If you've had enough of life on earth and want to get away from it all, start saving now.
Space tourism will materialize faster than most people think, with short flights as soon as 2004 and a gravity-free hotel hoping to offer longer escapes from the planet by 2017, British travel agents were told Monday.
Howard Wolff, whose U.S. firm is designing the 100-bed resort to be built out in the void, said some companies were already taking bookings for short jaunts beyond the atmosphere.
For many people, saving up will be pointless -- by the time they have raised enough money, they will be too old or infirm to be allowed onto the arduous flights.
But prices should fall, Wolff told Sky News television.
``Right now two companies are offering sub-orbital space flights in the neighborhood of 60,000 pounds ($100,000) per trip to experience a few minutes of weightlessness,'' said the vice president of Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo architects.
``That price should come down dramatically as more companies get into the business.''
Wolff, a speaker at the inadequately named World Travel Market fair where space travel was a key theme, said full-orbit flights would be the second step, followed by overnight stays.
He hopes to open the docking ports of his 100-bed hotel by 2017.
There will be artificial gravity to stop guests feeling queasy with space sickness, but they should be able to try out weightlessness in special chambers.
Honeymoon suites will woo newly-weds keen on space love.
NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which put a person on the moon, wants to hand over its Earth-orbiting adventures to private enterprise.
But the Hilton Hotels Corp. has scotched reports that it is planning to build the first hotel on the moon.
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