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Origin of Tourism 2.0

Tourism has evolved over centuries from being reserved for royalty and elites to a global mass industry. Early forms of organized travel included religious pilgrimages and the Grand Tour of Europe undertaken by wealthy young men for education. In the 19th century, the middle class began traveling for leisure and guidebooks emerged, smoothing the development of infrastructure. The modern tourism industry emerged in the 1950s with innovations like commercial air travel, package tours, and resorts, growing rapidly despite interruptions from world wars and health crises. Technology further transformed tourism in the 2000s as online booking platforms revolutionized the industry.

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147 views3 pages

Origin of Tourism 2.0

Tourism has evolved over centuries from being reserved for royalty and elites to a global mass industry. Early forms of organized travel included religious pilgrimages and the Grand Tour of Europe undertaken by wealthy young men for education. In the 19th century, the middle class began traveling for leisure and guidebooks emerged, smoothing the development of infrastructure. The modern tourism industry emerged in the 1950s with innovations like commercial air travel, package tours, and resorts, growing rapidly despite interruptions from world wars and health crises. Technology further transformed tourism in the 2000s as online booking platforms revolutionized the industry.

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Racel Baristo
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Origin of Tourism

Travel for leisure purposes has evolved from an experience reserved for very few
people into something enjoyed by many. Historically, the ability to travel was reserved for
royalty and the upper classes. From ancient Roman times through to the 17th century, young
men of high standing were encouraged to travel through Europe on a “grand tour” (Chaney,
2000). Through the Middle Ages, many societies encouraged the practice of religious
pilgrimage, as reflected in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and other literature.
The word hospitality predates the use of the word tourism, and first appeared in the 14th
century. It is derived from the Latin hospes, which encompasses the words guest, host,
and foreigner (Latdict, 2014). The word tourist appeared in print much later, in 1772 (Griffiths
and Griffiths, 1772). William Theobald suggests that the word tour comes from Greek and Latin
words for circle and turn, and that tourism and tourist represent the activities of circling away
from home, and then returning (Theobald, 1998).

By the early 21st century, international tourism had become one of the
world’s most important economic activities, and its impact was becoming
increasingly apparent from the Arctic to Antarctica. The history of tourism is
therefore of great interest and importance. That history begins long before the
coinage of the word tourist at the end of the 18th century. In the Western tradition,
organized travel with supporting infrastructure, sightseeing, and an emphasis on
essential destinations and experiences can be found in ancient Greece and Rome,
which can lay claim to the origins of both “heritage tourism” (aimed at the
celebration and appreciation of historic sites of recognized cultural importance) and
beach resorts. The Seven Wonders of the World became tourist sites for Greeks
and Romans.

Pilgrimage offers similar antecedents, bringing Eastern civilizations into play.


Its religious goals coexist with defined routes, commercial hospitality, and an
admixture of curiosity, adventure, and enjoyment among the motives of the
participants. Pilgrimage to the earliest Buddhist sites began more than 2,000 years
ago, although it is hard to define a transition from the makeshift privations of small
groups of monks to recognizably tourist practices. Pilgrimage to Mecca is of similar
antiquity. The tourist status of the hajj is problematic given the number of casualties
that—even in the 21st century—continued to be suffered on the journey through the
desert. The thermal spa as a tourist destination—regardless of the pilgrimage
associations with the site as a holy well or sacred spring—is not necessarily a
European invention, despite deriving its English-language label from Spa, an early
resort in what is now Belgium. The oldest Japanese onsen (hot springs) were catering
to bathers from at least the 6th century. Tourism has been a global phenomenon from
its origins.
00:0102:45
Modern tourism is an increasingly intensive, commercially organized, business-
oriented set of activities whose roots can be found in the industrial and postindustrial
West. The aristocratic grand tour of cultural sites in France, Germany, and especially
Italy—including those associated with Classical Roman tourism—had its roots in the
16th century. It grew rapidly, however, expanding its geographical range to
embrace Alpinescenery during the second half of the 18th century, in the intervals
between European wars. (If truth is historically the first casualty of war, tourism is the
second, although it may subsequently incorporate pilgrimages to graves and
battlefield sites and even, by the late 20th century, to concentration camps.) As part
of the grand tour’s expansion, its exclusivity was undermined as the expanding
commercial, professional, and industrial middle ranks joined the landowning and
political classes in aspiring to gain access to this rite of passage for their sons. By the
early 19th century, European journeys for health, leisure, and culture became
common practice among the middle classes, and paths to the acquisition of cultural
capital (that array of knowledge, experience, and polish that was necessary to mix in
polite society) were smoothed by guidebooks, primers, the development of art and
souvenir markets, and carefully calibratedtransport and accommodation systems.

Tourism Becomes Business

Cox & Kings, the first known travel agency, was founded in 1758 when Richard Cox
became official travel agent of the British Royal Armed Forces (Cox & Kings, 2014). Almost
100 years later, in June 1841, Thomas Cook opened the first leisure travel agency, designed to
help Britons improve their lives by seeing the world and participating in the temperance
movement. In 1845, he ran his first commercial packaged tour, complete with cost-effective
railway tickets and a printed guide (Thomas Cook, 2014).
The continued popularity of rail travel and the emergence of the automobile presented additional
milestones in the development of tourism. In fact, a long journey taken by Karl Benz’s wife in
1886 served to kick off interest in auto travel and helped to publicize his budding car company,
which would one day become Mercedes Benz (Auer, 2006). We take a closer look at the
importance of car travel later this chapter, and of transportation to the tourism industry in Chapter
2.
Fast forward to 1952 with the first commercial air flights from London, England, to
Johannesburg, South Africa, and Colombo, Sri Lanka (Flightglobal, 2002) and the dawn of the
jet age, which many herald as the start of the modern tourism industry. The 1950s also saw the
creation of Club Méditérannée (Gyr, 2010) and similar club holiday destinations, the precursor
of today’s all-inclusive resorts.
The decade that followed is considered to have been a significant period in tourism
development, as more travel companies came onto the scene, increasing competition for
customers and moving toward “mass tourism, introducing new destinations and modes of
holidaying” (Gyr, 2010, p. 32).
Industry growth has been interrupted at several key points in history, including World War I, the
Great Depression, and World War II. At the start of this century, global events thrust international
travel into decline including the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New
York City (known as 9/11), the war in Iraq, perceived threat of future terrorist attacks, and health
scares including SARS, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), and West Nile virus
(Government of Canada, 2006).
At the same time, the industry began a massive technological shift as increased internet use
revolutionized travel services. Through the 2000s, online travel bookings grew exponentially,
and by 2014 global leader Expedia had expanded to include brands such as Hotels.com, the
Hotwire Group, trivago, and Expedia CruiseShip Centers, earning revenues of over $4.7 million
(Expedia Inc., 2013).
A more in-depth exploration of the impact of the online marketplace, and other trends in global
tourism, is provided in Chapter 14. But as you can already see, the impacts of the global tourism
industry today are impressive and far reaching. Let’s have a closer look at some of these
outcomes.

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