A. Where it all began.
The Romans were the first people who thought about leaving their homes to go travelling for fun. There was peace during the Roman Empire (27 BC to 476 AD), so Romans with money – and leisure time – went on holiday for as long as two years! The Empire contained parts of North Africa and West Asia, as well as Western Europe, so people could travel a long way without crossing a border. Travelers needed a place to eat and sleep, so inns and restaurants opened, where they could spend the night or have a meal.
B. A royal holiday.
In 15th-century England, it was mainly kings and queens who went on holiday. They usuall took about a thousand people with them – Henry VIII once took four thousand! Their destination was the country house of a ‘friend’ of the royal family, where they stayed from one night to a few weeks. In total, they were away for about a month. These holidays happened twice a year ; once in summer, to escape the heat of the city, and again in winter, so that they didn’t get bored in the palace.
C. The Grand Tour
In the middle of the 17th century, the sons of rich families in Western Europe began spending time abroad to complete their education. This trip was called the Grand Tour, and the idea was to experience different cultures and learn foreign languages. The first tours lasted up to three and a half years, but later tours were usually ‘only’ two years long. The young men visited, among other countries, France and Italy because of their famous artists and works of art. Later, rich young women also began going on a Grand Tour, but an older family member always went with them.
D. Mass tourism
During the Industrial Revolution, travel became easier because there were new forms of transport, such as the train. In the 1840s, the businessman Thomas Cook began arranging trips that included travel, food and hotels, but these were still for the rich. The invention of the plane in the 1900s made it quicker to travel long distances, but the first flights were expensive. In the 1960s, flights became cheaper, and companies began offering trips to the Mediterranean that ordinary people could afford. Today, these holidays are still popular, but many tourists prefer to travel further away, to places like Machu
Picchu in Peru.
The Mediterranean.