HISTORY OF TOURISM

INTRODUCTION EARLY TRAVEL: Earlier travel was essentially to seek food or to escape danger. Travel was also undertaken for trade. Growth of cities along fertile river banks like Nile etc encouraged water travel. Ancient empires like the Romans helped shape modern travel.

THE EMPIRE ERA - Three major civilizations dominated the world between 4800BCE-300CE 1. The Egyptians At its peak the travel for business and pleasure flourished. Travel to outlining cities was necessary. Various amenities were offered to travelers. They travelled for pleasure and festivals were held every year. People used to travel to attend these festivals.

2. The Greeks: Greeks were the first, who shaped the modern day travel. Pleasure travel was popular. They loved to shop, eat and drink – theatres, spectator sports, entertainment Travel was advanced by two developments: Currency exchange: Greek cities accepted foreign currency, making it easier for travelers. Communication: The Greek empire covered the entire Mediterranean thus the language was widely understood. They provided all the amenities required.

3. The Romans The prosperity of the roman empire was reflected in the development of travel. The Romans included a large group of middle class who had money and time to travel. They built excellent roads, transportation and communication systems. They built rest houses – Developed fast food style restaurants to accommodate travelers

RENAISSANCE AND GRAND TOUR (AD 1763-1773) The rise of Italy as intellectual capital of Europe . GRAND TOUR – a tour to the principal cities and places of interest in Europe, formerly said to be an essential part of the education of the young man of ‘good birth’ and ‘fortune’. Main travelers were diplomats, business people, and scholars Mainly for career, education, culture, literary, health, scientific, business, and economic reasons.

FATHER OF TOURISM AND TRAVEL Thomas Cook is the Father of Tourism. His first organized trip was ‘Leicester to Loughborough ’ in 1841. It covered a distance of 22 km for 570 members. He acted as an agent by buying tickets in bulk and selling it to others on a non profit basis. This gave him an idea to package tours in a profitable manner.

He organized the travel arrangements, accommodations, transport at the destinations and return to the homeland. He organized the first ‘inclusive tour’ to Paris Exhibition in 1855. ‘Hotel voucher’ was introduced by Thomas Cook in 1867 and ‘Circular Note’ in 1873 which made travel easier. First ‘Round the world tour’ in 1872.

YEAR MILESTONE 01 4000BC Invention of money by Sumerians (Babylonia) 02 5th-15th century AD Dark Era of Tourism 03 AD 1763-1773 Renaissance stage of tourism 04 1820 Introduction of regular steamboat services 05 1830 First passenger train service begins 06 1841 Thomas Cook began running a special excursion train from Leicester to Loughborough (England) 07 1867 Thomas Cook introduced Hotel voucher 08 1872 Thomas Cook first organized ‘the round the world trip’ 09 1873 ‘Circular note’ was introduced by Thomas Cook 10 1888-89 The Savoy, Claridges, and Carlton hotels were opened in London

11 1903 Airplane’s first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina by the Wright brothers 12 The first major hotel company-Trust Houses- opens a chain of hotels through out Britain 13 1920 Chartered flights appear in tourism 14 AD1945 IATA was established 15 1947 IUOTO was constituted 16 1950 Commercial air transportation increased and air transportation became cheaper 17 1958 Boeing 707 jet was introduced 18 1966 UFTAA was founded 19 1970 First wide-bodied jet (Boeing 747) appeared in service(capable of carrying 400 pax) 20 1975 WTO began its legal existence