Introduction to travel and tourism

Travel Agency & Tour Operations Management

INTRODUCTION TO TRAVEL AND TOURISM

OBJECTIVES:
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
• describe the history and development of tourism
• explain the composition of the tourism industry
• describe the tourism product
• explain how to protect the environment for the benefit of tourism
• describe what a tour operator does


THE HISTORY OF TOURISM

Mass travel and tourism is a relatively recent development. In early history, only rich and powerful people travelled while ordinary people stayed at home. The little free time people enjoyed was normally connected with religious festivals or ‘holy days’. It is from these holy days that we get the word holidays. In later centuries, wealthy people travelled for health reasons, and visited health spas, where the water for drinking and bathing, together with a change of climate, was considered beneficial. The common people, however, rarely moved outside the confines of their own town or village, as they lacked the four essentials to take a holiday:

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  Time- (to leave their essential subsistence work)
  
  
  
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  -Money - (to pay for the journey, and maintain the home)
  
  
  
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  Transport- (most had only their own feet or an animal and cart)
  
  
  
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  Motivation- (poor education meant that they feared unknown places and foreigners and so had no desire to travel abroad).
  
  
  

Some people had travelled on government business such as during colonial service but it was with the coming of the ‘Industrial Revolution’ in Europe and North America that conditions for the urban people changed. Gradually, working people were given some paid free time and wage levels also improved. Transport changed with the 19th century invention of the steam engine, and travel became cheaper and faster. However, holiday making for ordinary people was still very limited even up to the middle of the 20th century. It was initially confined to the home country of the traveler. People travelled mostly by steam train and chose destinations such as seaside or beach locations to enjoy new experiences, and to escape from the noise and dirt of the cities.
It was really after the end of the Second World War that travel and tourism began to accelerate. A combination of higher wages and salaries, better and cheaper modes of transport, including private cars, and more paid free time led to a huge increase in the numbers of people travelling. Furthermore, many men had travelled as part of the armed services. They were often the first family member ever to go abroad and they came home keen to revisit other places and cultures they had only glimpsed during war. At this time the coming of motion pictures and television also showed people what foreign places were like and so the desire to travel was fostered.

The concept of tourism as we know it today is relatively new. With the development of cars, railways, steamships, motor vehicles and airplanes, travel became easier. Some enterprising people saw the potential of tourism and created the concept of ‘package tours’. These tours included the cost of transport, meals, accommodation and sometimes entertainment at a price people could afford, and with the security of travelling with a pre booked group it was easy for the inexperienced to enjoy travelling.

In more recent times, improvements in aircraft technology and design opened up new long haul destinations. Many locations can now be reached in a matter of hours. This has led to a dramatic growth in international tourism as people can reach faraway places during their annual leave from work.