HISTORY OF TOURISM

HISTORY OF TOURISM
Early Travel
Early peoples tended to stay in one place. Travel was essentially to seek food or to escape danger.
The Bible makes reference to travel for purposes of trade.
In ancient times we began to see the development of routes for the purpose of facilitating trade and the creation of specialized, if somewhat crude, vehicles specifically for traveling.
The growth of cities along water ways, such as the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea, encouraged the development of water travel.
THE EMPIRE ERA
Egyptians
At the peak of the Egyptian era, travel for both businessand pleasure began to flourish.
Travel was necessary between the central governmentand the outlying territories.
To accommodate travelers on official business,hospitality centers were built along major routes and inthe cities.
Egyptians also traveled for pleasure, and public festivalswere held several times a year.

Assyrians and Persians
The Assyrians means of travel were improved, largely for military use. Roads were improved, markers wereestablished to indicate distances, and posts and wells weredeveloped for safety and nourishment.
Even today we see the influence of military constructionaiding pleasure travel.
The Assyrian military traveled by chariot, others by horse,while the donkey was the principal mode of transportationof the common people.
The Persians, who defeated the Assyrians, continuedimprovements in the travel in frastructure. New kinds of wagons were developed including a four-wheeled carriagefor the wealthy.
Greeks
The Greeks continued in the tradition of the great traders. Because water was the most important means of moving commercial goods, Greek cities grew up along the coast, thus ensuring that travel was primarily by sea.
Travel for official business was less important as Greece was divided into city-states that were fiercely independent.
Pleasure travel did exist in three areas: for religious festivals, for sporting events (most notably the Olympic Games), and to visit cities, especially Athens.
Romans
Travel flourished in Roman times for several reasons.
The control of the sprawling Roman Empire stimulated trade and led tothe growth of a large middle class with the money to travel;
Roman coins were all the traveler had to carry to finance the trip;
The means of transportation, roads and waterways, were excellent;
Communication was relatively easy as Greek and Latin were theprincipal languages; and the legal system provided protection fromforeign courts, thereby ensuring the safety of the traveler.
The sporting games started by the Greeks were copied in the fights-to-the-death of the Roman gladiators.
Sightseeing was also popular, particularly trips to Greece.
Touring was also popular to Egypt, site of the Sphinx and the Pyramids,and to Asia Minor, scene of the Trojan War. Aristotle visited Asia Minor before establishing his famous school.
It was at this time that an unknown scholar developed the idea of theSeven Wonders of the World.
A final development was that of second homes and vacations associated with them. Villas spread from Rome south to Naples, near the sea, to the mountains, and to mineral spas.

EUROPEANS
Pilgrims
As the Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century, roads fell intodisuse and barbarians made it unsafe to travel. Whereas a Romancourier could travel up to 160 kilometers a day, the average daily rate of journey during the Middle Ages was 32 kilometers.
It was not until the twelfth century that the roads became secure again.This was due to the large numbers of travelers going on pilgrimages.
Pilgrims traveled to pay homage to a particular site or as an atonement for sin.
Beginning in 1388 King Richard II required pilgrims to carry permits, the forerunner of the modern passport.
Renaissance
Pilgrimages were still important although journeys to Jerusalem declined because of the growth of Protestantism in Europe.
The impetus to travel in order to learn was aided by the arrival of Renaissance works from Italy.
Stable monarchies helped assure travelers„ safety, although, as can be seen in the writings of this sixteenth-century traveler, certain precautions still had to be taken
Grand Tour
This was initially a sixteenth-century Elizabethan concept brought about by the need to develop a class of professional statesmen and ambassadors.
The practice developed into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until it became almost routine. No gentleman's education was complete until he spent from one to three years traveling around Europe with a tutor.
Thus, travel became a requirement for those seeking to develop the mind and accumulate knowledge.
The Grand Tour began in France, where French was studied together with dancing, fencing, riding, and drawing.
Before Paris could corrupt one's morals or ruin one's finances, the student would head for Italy to study sculpture, music appreciation and art. The return was by way of Germany, Switzerland and the Low countries (Holland,
Belgium and Luxembourg).
Travel was by coach and could be rather uncomfortable.
While travel was primarily by the English, some 20,000 people a year, the aristocracy of Scandinavia and Russia soon followed the Grand Tour practice.
The Grand Tour reached its peak of popularity in the mid-eighteenth century, but was brought to a sudden end by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars
THE VICTORIAN AGE
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries two major factors affected the development of tourism.
First, the Industrial Revolution accelerated the movement from rural to urban areas. This produced a large number of people in a relatively small area. The desire to “escape”, even for a brief period, was present. Associated with this was the development of steam engines in the form of trains and steamships. This allowed the means to escape.
Development of spas
The development of spas was largely due to the medical profession,which, during the seventeenth century, began to recommend the medicinal properties of mineral waters. The idea originated, however, with the Greeks.
Spas on the continent of Europe were developed two hundred to threehundred years before their growth in England. Development occurredbecause of three factors: the approval of the medical profession; courtpatronage; and local entrepreneurship to take advantage of the first two.
By the end of the seventeenth century, the influence of the medical profession had declined and spas were more for entertainment than for health.
Their popularity continued, however, into the nineteenth century.

*EARLY BEGINNING PERIOD*
-based on early records, many cultures and nations moved great armies and navies to conquer and control resources and trade routes. Although military forces often traveled great distances, it was probably not until the emergence of the Egyptian, Eastern Mediterranean, and Roman Empires that travel began to evolve into tourism as we know it today.
Early record history provides a glimpse into ancient tourism activities. For example, The Phoenicians were interested in travel because of sense of curiosity and discovery as well as a means of establishing trade routes. it can be concluded that people traveled for participation in politics, commerce and trade, war, and adventure in an early beginning period.