Th and 19th century

In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, two major factors affected the development of tourism. Increased industrialisation accounted for both of them. 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 or motivation to escape, even for a brief period, was there. Associated with this was the development of steam engines in the form of trains and steamships. This allowed the means to mobility to escape. It was into the second half of the eighteenth century before the working classes in Britain had regular holidays and sufficient income to use their leisure time to travel.

The development of spas was largely due to the members of the medical profession. During the seventeenth century, they began to recommend the medicinal properties of mineral waters. Patronage by court helped establish spas as the place to be.

The medical profession, the British court, and Napoleon all helped popularise the seaside resort. The original motive for sea bathing was reasons of health. Another reason for the growth of the seaside resort was stimulated by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Those who would have taken the Grand Tour could not travel to the Continent anymore.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the seaside resorts in Europe became the palaces for the working classes due to the introduction of paid holidays and better wages. Vacations became an issue and were negotiated between employer and workers and were again due to economic and social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

Prior to World War I, the principal mode of domestic transport was the railway. This meant that development was concentrated at particular points. Regional development occurred with particular resorts growing to serve specific urban areas. Mass production of the automobile allowed the dispersion of destination developments.

Tourism in the U.S. developed for the same reasons as in Europe.

How could the current phenomenon of global mass tourism evolve?

Mass tourism as we know it today is a post-World War II phenomenon. Women who had to work during the war felt more independent; men and women who travelled overseas to fight wanted to return as visitors; travel overseas was encouraged as part of the U.S. attempt to aid war-torn European economies. The introduction of the passenger jet reduced travel time from the U.S. to Europe form five sailing days or 24-flying hours to eight hours and surplus propeller aeroplanes were made available to charter operators to transport travellers, not troops, as airlines rushed to purchase new jet aircraft.

The sixties marked the democratisation of travel. In the U.S. the growth of the population -the baby boomers- together with the 40-hour workweek that increased numbers of three-day weekends and higher levels of disposable income, enabled large numbers of people with the time and money to indulge themselves. Travel was a right. A hedonistic attitude (pleasure for the sake of pleasure increasingly overtook the self-denial of the work ethic.

Temporarily stunned by the energy crises of the seventies and the Gulf War in the early 1990s tourism continued to grow. The late seventies and eighties saw the development of single-parent families and low-income families, together with an increased accent on individual awareness and self-improvement. For many, the indulgence was replaced by a concern for physical fitness. However, the sun sea and sand mass tourism trend increased in Europe. The Mediterranean coast locations especially in Turkey were build, more supply for the increasing demand.

Tourism today is greater in size and scope than it has ever been. Tourist arrivals increased to nearly 593 million tourist arrivals in the world (WTO, 1997). Furthermore, this tourism management course is the best proof that tourism is considered as an independent field of study. The amount of information available to us on travel and tourism destination areas is mind-boggling as the digital era moves into high gear. But tourism at the end of the 1990's is at a crossroads. The winds of change are blowing strong and the shape of tourism will be much different in the future. Some of these forces include:

· the increased concern with the world's environment;

· the shifts in economic power among the peoples of different continents;

· the globalisation of tourism;

· the deregulation and removal of barriers to travel and tourism;

· the increasing sophistication and expectations of travellers; and

· the creation of new tourism partnerships commission "capping'" and the impacts of new technologies.

The sustainable development movement has gained a strong foothold in tourism. The Internet is in the early stages of revolutionising how travel information is distributed and how trips are booked. Global partnerships of airlines are an early indicator of how the global business of tourism might be played in the future.

What is the future of tourism?

One thing is evident to many authors tourism will be different in the future. Major trends are:

· The relative power of different origin markets for international tourism is shifting more toward the Asia-Pacific, and people are still awaiting the travel boom from and to China, the world's most populated country.

· Technology will already have a huge impact on tourism, and will almost certainly revolutionise tourism in the next century.

The World Tourism Organisation has noted the following trends and expects these to continue into the future:

Old travel patterns to new travel patterns. The old east west flows of travellers are shifting to north-south flows.

Established destinations to emerging destinations. The principle new destinations include Indochina, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Latin America. In addition, countries such as Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore are emerging as new generating markets.

Old products to new products. New leisure products will move away from environmentally- and culturally-sensitive areas and use new technology to crate artificial environments close to origin markets. Artificial ski hills and virtual reality experiences are two examples.

Fragmented tourism to economic development tool. Government will acknowledge the economic importance of tourism and encourage increased co-operation between the public and private sectors.

Developer control to community control. As host communities become increasingly sophisticated, developers will have to demonstrate economic, social and environmental benefits before development can occur.

Financial illusion to financial reality. Increased emphasis will be placed on: first, improving the performance of existing assets and, second, acquiring strategic undervalued assets before considering major new investments.

Mass markets to speciality markets. Targeted communications to speciality markets will increase.

Passive consumers to involved consumers. As more travellers become increasingly sophisticated, they will want new experiences, interaction with the community, and knowledge about the destination.

Mass marketing to direct customer communication. As marketers harness the new technology, they will turn to tailored and targeted marketing to individuals through the management of sophisticated database management systems.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16