By looking at the history, there are five ages of tourism: the Pre-industrial Revolution age, the Railway age, the Automobile age, the Jet Aircraft age, and the Cruise Ship age. We will talk about in the followings.
This article will talk about how tourism evolved though these five ages, and discuss how these ages affect the way people travel with real-life examples of travel in the past and present.
This article will talk about how tourism evolved though these five ages, and discuss how these ages affect the way people travel with real-life examples of travel in the past and present.
The Pre-industrial Revolution age
Generally, this age is defined as year prior to 1840. We can trace back to the Paleolithic age (30,000 B.C.-10,000 B.C.) when human was first able to discover fire and tool and settle down in a shelter, having a usual region to live, which provide the basic element of travel, moving from regions to regions.
In around 4000 B.C., ancient Egyptians invented sailing vessels, which encouraged the intentional travelling to explore the world, instead of only unconscious travelling for food.
Later on, the invention of money and wheels by Sumerians(Babylonia) shows the earliest development of tourism. The ruler of Babylonia collected wayfarers for providing protection and rest houses to travelers.
In the earliest form of tourism, travelers are mostly merchants, scholars and pilgrims who were looking for wealth, new knowledge and experiences or for religious reasons.
For example, India and China were very famous between early some travelers who were searching for fortune. Many merchants went to India and China for sole purpose of trade and commerce. Merchants and trading routes (e.g The Silk Road) reflect the strong force trading had on the development of tourism.
Also, travelling was undertaken by pilgrims. They traveled for religious purposes, very little of them were pleasure travel. They traveled to strengthen their faith, search for their "holy land" and spread their religion out.
In this age, wealthy Romans was the first group of travelers who developed the sense and habit of pleasure travel. They traveled for natural beauty, music, sports, religion and pleasure in their leisure time because they can afford the time and money. All thanks to the good communication system and security of Roman Empire.However, the fall of Roman Empire between 400 A.D and 500 A.D forced Roman to have a great step back in travelling.
The Railway age
The first passenger carried by rail happened in 1830 in England. A complete railway track was newly built between Liverpool and Manchester, featuring the special function of carrying passengers rather than only freights. Before that, people usually traveled by horses and carriages.
In 1841, the first organised railway travel was undertaken. 570 passengers made a journey by the Midland Country Railway which included lots of beautiful spots seeing in the way. Followed by that, a circular tour of Scotland with 5000 passengers was conducted from 1848 to 1863.
Besides, the idea of a railroad linking America's east and west coast (a transcontinental railway) had appeared since 1830, especially when people tried to go to California for gold mining. The route by wagon or ship around South America can take them almost four months. However, the construction of railroad hadn't started since Northern States and the Southern States had argument about the path of the railroad until 1861.
Eventually the Railroad was completed in 1869, the transcontinental railway was a big success, shortening the time taken for the travel from four month to within a week.
In 1870, first-class railway was introduced by G.M.Pullman, who turned the train into a place with luxury furnishing and dinning facilities, allowing passengers to have long travel comfortably.
In the 1881, railways operated by 100 different companies had carried over 600 million passengers.
Comparing to the pre-industrial revolution age, we can see the invention of railways realized the possibility of mass traveling in short time and allow people to have pleasure travel, which greatly facilitated the development of tourism. Even now, rail trip is still a popular choice for travelers, which allows them going to different places while watching the beautiful view on the train. And the trains are often equipped with dining facilities, beds, toilets or even internet service.
The Automobile age
Automotive production on a commercial scale started in US and Europe in 1900's. However, it was uncertain that which kind of engines to be used in automobile, and the price for the steam-driven engine was high, also with the danger of explosion. In May 1990, a steam-powered "Locomobile" was offered for $750. In 1904, imported cars are sold in US at a price of $8000 while domestic cars are sold at $3700. At that time, automobiles is for rich people.
In 1914, Henry Ford decided to sell affordable car, he launched the Model T for $490, about a quarter the cost of the previous decade. Also, he used the idea of assembly line for automobile manufacturing to enhance the productivity and lower the production cost.
By the record of 1920 census, there were 9.5 million registrations of car and truck already. By the end of decade, the number of registered drivers almost tripled to 23 million. Automobiles became an usual means of private transportation. With the more frequently use of bicycles and automobiles, the greatly increased demand for "goodroads" and highways forced the federal government to start a large road construction.
With the use of automobile, people were encouraged to have a travel at holidays or leisure time. It made urban people easier to go to country sides and also made rural people easier to shop in towns. Merchants are also encouraged to built up shops and hotels beside highways. Although private automobile may be more suitable for short distance travel within the country, but it doesn't mean it doesn't contribute to international traveling. Actually, there are more and more travelers who go to other countries and have a "self-driving tour".
The Jet Aircraft age
The aircraft technology is definitely the key factor for the development of long distance travel, especially for international travel. The first successful human-carrying aircraft was built by Wright brothers in 1903. Although by 1919, there was already scheduled aircraft service offered between London and Paris. But mass traveling by aircraft had been a post second world war activity.
The main period of growth of mass traveling by aircraft took place in 1960s after the advent of jet. The 707 jet aircraft which can carry 200 people was invented, compared to the Comet which can only carry 70 people, it greatly reduced the cost and fare of traveling for both travelers and the service provider. Cheaper package tours could then be provided. Since Boeing 707 started serving the New York to London route, there were more trans-Atlantic passengers travel by aircrafts than by ships. Moreover, with the more advance aircraft technology, travelling by aircraft is much safer, faster, and more comfortable than before. All these factors providing travelers a new choice of transportation and more choices of places to travel.
Now, aircraft is the most common mean of transportation for long distance travel. According to the International Air Transport Association director general and CEO, aviation contributed around 2.4 trillions in GDP in 2014. And there will be more and more new fleet models and destinations for travelers.
The Cruise Ship age
The first vessel built for cruising purpose was the Prinzessin Victoria Luise in 1990. To complete with others, ocean liners keep adding other luxuries and entertainments into the cruise. Cruising industry finally becoming more than just a transatlantic trip, but also with services like cinema, library, casino and so on.
The cruise ship market is becoming more and more popular that it has an average annual growth rate of passenger of 7.4% from 1990 to 2007. It facilitates tourism a lot, contributing a total economic output of US$38 billion in 2007, there is an estimation of 13.2 million passengers in 2008.
There are different kinds of cruising offered to travelers, such as coastal cruising around the world which focuses on fishing, diving and sailing; adventure cruising which usually have smaller ship that let travelers to visit some unusual destinations.
Conclusion
After research of the details of the five ages of tourism, we learnt more about the beginnings and the evolution of the five ages. From the details of the five ages of tourism, we can conclude that the advance of transportation has huge impact on how people travel. And older ages are not equal to out-fashion, there can still be innovations of the older travelling ways, for example, new route of railways and new models of flight. Therefore, we expect to see more different kinds of tourism under the popular trend of travelling.
Reference
- http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/goldenspike.htm
- https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=ThVAnD9nZXkC&pg=PA11&dq=tourism+pre+industrial+revolution+age&hl=zhTW&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAWoVChMIz_OPpOKDyAIVBgWOCh23ywjH#v=onepage&q=silk&f=false
- http://slideplayer.com/slide/765981/
- http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/agentsheets/New-Vista/automobile/
- http://www.ushistory.org/us/46a.asp
- https://www.codot.gov/programs/environmental/archaeology-and-history/highways-to-the-sky/ch5.pdf
- http://marketrealist.com/2014/11/global-airline-industry-contributes-economic-development/
- http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/kla/pshe/nss-curriculum/tourism-and-hospitality-studies/ACCI%20Part%202.pdf
- https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=gZ3_28wi_UkC&pg=PA419&lpg=PA419&dq=cruise+ship+age+tourism&source=bl&ots=9SaD0yp1GW&sig=l7VCCmXFpBh5eQrDJWZ35epsV_c&hl=zh-TW&sa=X&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAWoVChMIzujA_7SEyAIVwnCOCh0-2AbG#v=onepage&q=cruise%20ship%20age%20tourism&f=false
