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We have been tourists for quite a long time

We have been tourists for quite a long time

On World Tourism Day, it is a good time to look at the history of tourism. Based on that history, we can conclude: that we have been tourists for quite a long time.
When you think of the birth of tourism, you might think of the period when humans could take photographs. Then it is obvious to think of that period as when tourism was born. Tourism is older. Much older.

Classical Antiquity

Romans in Classical Antiquity made trips that would today be considered tourist excursions. Incidentally, these were reserved for the richest inhabitants of the Roman Empire. They had the means to travel to Baiae on the Bay of Naples to relax. They were not entirely original in this. They had copied this from other civilisations.
The Greeks copied it from the Egyptians and even for these civilisations, it was reserved for the wealthy in society. Travelling was sometimes dangerous. Besides, travelling was not free. Nowadays, this is still true for certain journeys.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, people did in part what they did in long-ago times, such as those of the Romans. This applied to numerous subjects. Think architecture and painting. Tourism should not be forgotten either. The difference now was that it sometimes involved staying in multiple locations. People chose to visit several places, during an extended stay. Partly because of this prolonged stay and the high costs involved, this was again something reserved for the very rich.
The question is whether you can call it vacations or holidays. Sometimes it took months or years before returning to the country of origin. In some cases, people even combined this with an education to be followed.
The stays abroad were sometimes modified by circumstances. Those circumstances were partly dictated by transport restrictions. Sometimes people were bound by what was or was not possible. It makes sense that new means of transport also brought new tourism opportunities. Not only was one at one’s destination faster. One could also choose to shorten the length of stay, as the journey from one destination to another now took less time. The biggest time gains came thanks to the introduction of trains, then cars and planes.

Thomas Cook

One of the first to realise that travelling in groups might be of economic value was Thomas Cook (November 22, 1808 – July 18, 1892). His name is still associated with the Thomas Cook Group. It is hard to imagine that this carpenter, later evangelist, printer and bookseller, would eventually manage to get a group of 570 people to travel by train.

Incidentally, the trip organised by Cook had little to do with tourism. It involved accompanying 570 people to attend an anti-alcohol meeting in Loughborough (County Leicestershire). This proved to be a great success because, after this trip on July 5, 1841, Cook decided to organise a group trip to the sea the following year. Cook then engaged in chartering trains for group trips.

In the end, Cook was not entirely successful, as he went bankrupt in 1846. He persevered after this, opening a new travel agency in 1851 and organising visits for 165,000 people to The Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations at Hyde Park in London. This exhibition was held there between May 1, 1851 and October 11, 1851 and accounted for over six million visitors. This was the impetus for the famous World’s Fairs and provided London with the construction of Crystal Palace, which, after being moved to Sydenham Hill in 1860, partly burned down before burning down completely on November 30, 1936.

The trip Cook organised differed from what he had organised before. This time, the trip included an overnight stay. He repeated this four years later in 1855 for the World’s Fair in Paris, going even further. He offered this trip to the World’s Fair along with a tour of Europe. Fourteen years later, in 1869, he offered the first trip outside Europe. That was an organised trip to Egypt. Travelling in that area he combined with other services: mail delivery and providing military transport. Later, trips to Mecca and Medina (Saudi Arabia) would be offered. Still later, he offered trips to North America and Asia. It also published an international railway timetable from 1873, which still exists today. That is (the) Thomas Cook European Timetable. Since 2013, the title of this railway book has changed to (the) European Rail Timetable, due to the transfer of business activities.
Travelling was no longer only for the very rich in society. That is not to say that travel was cheap. People sometimes had to save up for it. Not everyone chose or had the means to take a trip abroad. To this day, this is not always the case.

Tourism in the home country

Tourism in the home country is also tourism. This is sometimes forgotten. A faraway trip is indeed tourism. Spectacular images shared through social media attract people and can influence a decision. Whether those images are always reliable is questionable.

World Tourism Organization

World Tourism Day is a day created thanks to the United Nations. The day is related to the World Tourism Organisation, whose official or full name is the United Nations Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

UNWTO wants us to think carefully about tourism today. Tourism is different from how recreation used to be. Then it is not about the difference between now and, say, Classical Antiquity when it comes to tourism. It is about a difference between how we might have (still) handled things a few years ago and what is not possible now. Think of adaptations required by armed conflicts or wars. Don’t underestimate the impact of climate change. In the coming years, that impact will only increase. These are issues that take centre stage on a day like today. It is a day to think about responsible tourism instead of mass tourism. You can read all about that in Artigenda’s contribution on the day.
Tourists on Lake Geneva in 1889.
Tourists on Lake Geneva in 1889.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
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