A Brief History of Travel & Tourism

Hulah Travel
Aug 27, 2017 · 5 min read

Nowadays, mostly thanks to technology and transport, the world has become much smaller and the potential to explore its surface much greater. However, for most of human history the ability to explore different countries around the globe was either confined solely to the rich or used only for the purposes of conquest and necessity. As travel now forms such an integral part of our lives, we’ve decided to write a quick rundown of the history of travel and tourism, from the cultural exploits of the ancient Greeks to the package holidays and gap years we all now enjoy.

During the Greek and Roman periods, travel and tourism was a privilege confined almost exclusively to the wealthy aristocratic classes. As the upper classes of these societies prided themselves on artistic, scientific and philosophical pursuits, travelling abroad was considered a method of expanding this search into other cultures and potentially provide additional enlightenment and learning opportunities (it seems the phrase ‘travel broadens the mind’ has been passed down successively since this time). This mostly took the form of learning about other societies through exploration their art, languages and culture. Eventually, this passion for travelling filtered down into the lower classes, particularly in the expansive Roman Empire, with historical evidence indicating that the Romans constructed some of the earliest travel resorts and spas designed purely for relaxation while travelling. This travel phenomena was not only confined to the European aristocracy, as it was also popular for nobles in East Asia to travel across the countryside for religious and cultural experiences, often visiting temples and sacred sites along the way.

As time passed, the Middle Ages gave rise to a new form of travel, the religious pilgrimage. While the rich still travelled for cultural and leisure reasons, the lower classes were encouraged to travel to certain religious sites, often unaided on foot with perhaps a horse to carry supplies. The Middle Ages also saw the emergence of connected shipping routes, whose growth and networking encouraged a rise in journeys taken and the possibility of long-distance travel to more distant locations.

This paradigm of travel continued more or less unchanged until the mid-17th century when the next major travel development became established in European culture, the concept of the Grand Tour. Undertaken mainly by the elite of Western and Northern European countries, the Grand Tour was seen as a ‘rite of passage’ for young men, designed to educate them following completion of formal education but before the onset of adulthood. The concept of the Grand Tour is cited by many to be the origin of the modern tourism industry and as an indicator that the idea of travel for pleasure and cultural exposure had been firmly established in European culture by this time. The Grand Tour eventually developed a more rigid structure, with travellers expected to abide by a strict itinerary and to travel with an educational tutor. A traditional route would depart from England, then through France into Italy for a few months before returning via Germany and Holland. These trips utilised the most modern travel technology of the time, including ships and collapsible coaches, and it was not uncommon for servants to follow a traveller throughout the entire trip.

The Grand Tour remained a cultural staple until the 1840s, when the construction of widespread railway systems allowed easier and cheaper travel across Europe. With rail travel, the idea of taking a Grand Tour became available to the growing middle classes and it soon became popular for middle and working class people to also travel for leisure purposes. The industrial revolution and its related developments in specific leisure time contributed massively to tourism development, with Englishman Thomas Cook establishing the first ever travel agency in the 1840s. The growth in travel planning businesses lifted the burden of travellers having to do all research and pricing themselves ahead of time, and thus increased the ability of many to plan and execute long periods of travel to multiple destinations with little personal effort. When this structure combined with rapidly decreasing railway fares, long distance travel was cheaper and faster than at any previous point in human history. The growth in railway travel and agency organisation also contributed to the establishment of business travel as a common practice.

Much like the railways before it, the advent of airplane travel in the early-20th century would prove an enormous boon for the travel and tourism industry, more than any other technological development. It also finally realised the idea of mass international tourism beyond a single continent. Huge multinational carriers including PanAmerican, Delta and American Airlines arose during the 1900s, rendering most physical travel barriers obsolete in less than 50 years. In modern times, with faster aircraft and more comfortable ways of travelling long distance, it is now possible to get almost anywhere in the world within 48 hours.

Today, the travel industry represents an economic behemoth and one of the most economically important leisure activities in the world. With the advent of trips into the outer atmosphere, dubbed ‘space tourism’, a new and exciting chapter in travel technology is developing and could change the face of tourism for centuries to come.

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