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 works of art and famous buildings.
In India, as elsewhere, kings traveled to build an empire. Brahmins and common people traveled for religious purposes. Thousands of Brahmins and common people thronged Sarnath and Sravasti to be greeted by the inscrutable smile of the Enlightened One, the Buddha.
500 BC, Greek civilization
Greek tourists traveled to sites of healing gods. The Greeks also enjoyed their religious festivals which increasingly became a pursuit of pleasure and, in particular, sport. Athens had become an important site for travelers visiting major sights like the Parthenon. Inns were established in large cities and seaports to cater to the needs of travellers. 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 directing people to inns are also known from this period.
The Roman Empire
With no foreign borders between England and Syria, and with seas safe from piracy due to Roman patrols, 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. From the year 300 AD, trips to the Holy Land also became very popular. The Romans introduced their tourist guides (itineraries), 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 located around the Bay of Naples. Naples attracted retirees and intellectuals, Cumae attracted the fashionable while Baiae attracted the low-end tourists, and was noted for its rowdy, drunkenness 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. Europeans tried to discover a sea route to India for trade purposes and in this way discovered America and explored parts of Africa. Itinerant gamblers and minstrels made a living by performing while travelling. Missionaries, saints, etc. traveled to spread the sacred word.
The Mughals introduced leisure travel to India. The Mughal kings built luxurious palaces and enchanting gardens in places of natural and scenic beauty (for example, Jehangir traveled to Kashmir attracted by its beauty.
Voyages for empire building and pilgrimage were a regular feature.
the grand tour
From the early 17th century, a new form of tourism developed as a direct result of the Renaissance. Under the reign of Elizabeth 1, young men seeking positions at court were encouraged to travel to the Continent to finish their education. Later, it became customary for the education of knights to be completed by 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, pleasure travel displaced educational travel. The advent of the Napoleonic wars inhibited travel for some 30 years and caused the custom of the Grand Tour to decline.
The development of spas
Spas grew in popularity in 17th century 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 took on the nature of a status symbol. The resorts changed in character as pleasure became the motivation for visiting. They became an important center of social life for high society.
In the 19th century they were gradually replaced by the spa.
Spas of sun, sand and sea
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 who drank and dipped in the sea water. 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. The spa gradually 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 to 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 of physically and psychologically stressful jobs at a leisurely pace in the countryside.
Highlights of travel in the 19th century.
· The advent of the railroad initially catalyzed business travel and later pleasure travel. Gradually, special trains were chartered to carry only pleasure trips to their destinations.
· Tour packages organized by entrepreneurs such as Thomas Cook.
European countries made many business trips, often to their colonies to buy raw materials and sell finished products.
The invention of photography acted as a status-enhancing tool and promoted foreign travel.
· The formation of the first hotel chains; started by the railway companies that established large railway terminal hotels.
· The resorts began to develop different images in terms of hikers, the elite, for games of chance.
· Other types of destinations: ski resorts, mountain resorts, mountaineering places, etc.
Technological developments in steamships promoted travel between North America and Europe.
The Suez Canal opened direct sea 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 a first-hand experience of the countries and sparked for the first time a sense of curiosity about international travel among the disadvantaged. The large scale of migration to the US meant many journeys 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
Wars increased interest in international travel. This interest took the form of mass tourism by the aviation industry. The surplus of airplanes and the growth of private airlines helped the expansion of air travel. The plane had become comfortable, faster and 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 beginning of charter flights boosted the package tour market and led to the establishment of organized mass tourism. The Boeing 747, a 400-seat craft, dramatically 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 to the Hare Krishna movement and transcendental meditation. It was only in the 1980s that individual travel began in significant volume. Air travel also gave rise to continued growth in business travel, especially with the emergence of multinationals.
