History of travel and tourism

2000 years before Christ, in India and Mesopotamia

Trade travel was an important feature from the beginning of civilization. The port of Lothal was an important center of trade between the Indus Valley Civilization and the Sumerian Civilization.

600 BC and after

The oldest form of leisure tourism dates back to the Babylonian and Egyptian empires. A museum of historical antiquities was open to the public in Babylon. The Egyptians celebrated many religious festivals that attracted devotees and many people who flocked to the cities to see famous buildings and art.

In India, as elsewhere, kings traveled to build an empire. Brahmins and common people traveled for religious purposes. Thousands of Brahmins and common people crowded into Sarnath and Sravasti to be greeted by the inscrutable smile of the Enlightened One, the Buddha.

500 BC, the Greek civilization

Greek tourists traveled to sites of healing gods. The Greeks also enjoyed their religious festivals which became more and more a pursuit of pleasure and, in particular, sport. Athens had become a major site for travelers visiting major sights like the Parthenon. Inns were established in large cities and seaports to meet the needs of travelers. Courtesans were the main entertainment offered.

 

This era also saw the birth of travel writing. Herodotus was the world’s first travel writer. Tourist guides also made their appearance in the fourth century covering destinations such as Athens, Sparta and Troy. Announcements in the form of signs that direct people to the inns are also known in this period.

The Roman Empire

With no foreign borders between England and Syria, and with seas safe from piracy due to Roman patrols, the conditions favoring travel had arrived. First-class highways along with inns (forerunners of modern motels) promoted the growth of travel. The novels traveled to Sicily, Greece, Rhodes, Troy, and Egypt. Beginning in AD 300, trips to the Holy Land also became very popular. The Romans introduced their tourist guides (itinerary), listing hotels with symbols to identify quality.

Second homes were built by the wealthy near Rome, occupied mainly during the spring social season. The most fashionable seaside resorts were found around the Bay of Naples. Naples attracted retirees and intellectuals, Cumae attracted the elegant while Baiae attracted low-energy tourists, and was noted for its rowdy, drunken, and late-night singing.

Travel and tourism never achieved a similar status until modern times.

In the middle Ages

Traveling became difficult and dangerous when people traveled for business or out of a sense of obligation and duty.

Adventurers sought fame and fortune through travel. The Europeans tried to discover a sea route to India for trade purposes and in this way they discovered America and explored parts of Africa. Traveling gamblers and minstrels made their living performing while traveling. Missionaries, saints, etc. he traveled to spread the sacred word.

The Mughals introduced leisure travel to India. Mughal kings built lavish palaces and enchanting gardens in places of natural and scenic beauty (for example, Jehangir traveled to Kashmir attracted by its beauty.

Empire-building trips and pilgrimage were a regular feature.

The Grand Tour

From the beginning of the 17th century, a new form of tourism developed as a direct result of the Renaissance. Under the reign of Elizabeth 1, young men seeking court positions were encouraged to travel to the Continent to finish their education. Later, it became customary for the knights’ education to be completed with a ‘Grand Tour’ accompanied by a tutor and lasting three or more years. Though seemingly educational, pleasure-seeking men traveled to enjoy the life and culture of Paris, Venice, or Florence. By the end of the 18th century, the custom had become institutionalized in the nobility. Gradually, leisure travel displaced educational travel. The advent of the Napoleonic Wars inhibited travel for some 30 years and caused the decline of the Grand Tour custom.

The development of spas

Spas grew in popularity in the 17th century in Britain and a little later on the European continent as awareness of the therapeutic qualities of mineral water increased. taking the cure at the spa it quickly acquired the nature of a status symbol. Resorts changed in character as pleasure became the motivation for visits. They became an important center of social life for high society.

In the 19th century they were gradually replaced by the spa.

The sun, sand and sea spas

Seawater was associated with health benefits. Therefore, the first visitors drank it and did not bathe in it. In the early 18th century, small fishing resorts sprang up in England for visitors to drink and soak in the seawater. With the overcrowding of inland resorts, the new seaside resorts grew in popularity. The introduction of steamboat services in the 19th century brought more resorts to the circuit. Little by little, the spa became a social meeting point

The role of the industrial revolution in promoting travel in the West

Rapid urbanization due to industrialization caused massive immigration into the cities. These people were drawn to travel to escape their surroundings to places of natural beauty, often to the countryside from which they had come after a routine change from physically and psychologically stressful jobs to a leisurely pace in the countryside.

Highlights of travel in the 19th century.

· The advent of the railroad initially catalyzed business travel and then leisure travel. Gradually, special trains were chartered to carry only leisure trips to their destinations.

· Tourist packages organized by businessmen such as Thomas Cook.

European countries often made many business trips to their colonies to buy raw materials and sell finished products.

The invention of photography acted as a tool to improve status and promoted travel abroad.

· The formation of the first hotel chains; initiated by the railway companies that established large railway terminal hotels.

· The spas began to develop different images in terms of hikers, the elite, for gambling.

· Other types of destinations: ski resorts, mountain resorts, mountaineering sites, etc.

Technological development in steamships promoted travel between North America and Europe.

The Suez Canal opened direct shipping routes to India and the Far East.

The cult of the guide followed the development of photography.

 

 

Tourism in the 20th century

 

World War I provided first-hand experience of the countries and first sparked a sense of curiosity about international travel among the underprivileged. The large scale of migration to the US meant many trips across the Atlantic. Private motoring began to encourage domestic travel in Europe and the West. The seaside resort has become an annual family holiday destination in Britain and has grown in popularity in other western countries. Hotels proliferated in these destinations.

The birth of air travel and after

The wars increased interest in international travel. This interest took the form of mass tourism by the aviation industry. The surplus of aircraft and the growth of private airlines helped the expansion of air travel. The plane had become comfortable, faster and increasingly cheaper for trips abroad. With the introduction of the Boeing 707 jet in 1958, the era of air travel for the masses had arrived. The start of charter flights boosted the market for tourist packages and led to the establishment of organized mass tourism. The Boeing 747, a 400-seat vessel, drastically reduced the cost of travel. The seaside resorts of the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Caribbean were the initial hot spots for mass tourism.

A corresponding growth in the hotel industry led to the establishment of global chains. Tourism also began to diversify as people began flocking to alternative destinations in the 1970s. Nepal and India received throngs of tourists drawn by the Hare Krishna movement and transcendental meditation. Individual travel in significant volume only began in the 1980s. Air travel also led to continued growth in business travel, especially with the rise of multinationals.