Historical Trends and Developments in the Tourism Industry

This essay discusses the historical trends and developments that have contributed to the formation of the tourism industry as it is known today. It explores the impact of technology, transportation, and cultural shifts on the industry, highlighting the role of the internet, advancements in transportation, and the use of social media in promoting destinations. The essay also examines the environmental and socio-cultural impacts of tourism.

Essay

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Critically discuss the historical trends and developments which have contributed to the
formation of the tourism industry as it is known today..........................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is considered to be a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which involve the
movement of the people across nations or places that attracts them. It is considered to have
developed gradually with the developing interest of the people to travel to different places and
this leads to various trends (Pizam and Tasci, 2019). Megatrends in the industry such as the use
of internet for each and every service, technological advancement have affected the industry
globally such as development of the roads, airlines, accommodation facilities, online booking,
automation in the services etc. In addition to this the development in the technology has
impacted the tourism industry. Some of the places have natural beauty while some have
developed infrastructure in such a manner that attract significant number of tourist to the place.
As this industry contributes to the GDP of the economy the development of the entire industry is
focussed by the governments of the particular countries. In this report an essay is written on the
various historical trends and development that has contributed to the formation of the present
tourism industry.
Critically discuss the historical trends and developments which have contributed to the formation
of the tourism industry as it is known today
Global tourism industry is improving since the nineteen century when the travellers started
moving from one place to others by way of riding their animals. With the development of the
technology various modes of transportation emerged which made travelling easy for the people.
Gradually the roads started developing with the stability in the government and this enhanced the
interest of the people in travelling either for leisure or for studies, businesses etc. More than 100
years before turnpike roads developed on which tolls were charged and specific number of
people were allowed in the buses for travelling form one place to other. After the Second World
War the number of travellers increased in spite of various restrictions on the movement and lack
of sufficient funds with the people and this put trend went on which leads to various
development in the history of tourism industry such as air transport, water transport, road

transport emerged which made travelling simple (Annals for Tourism Research, 2020). The
tourism industry today amount to $8 trillion on the global level and this is because of the shift in
the focus of the people and the government for making the travelling related activities as their
business and profession. The tourism industry includes various facilities that has been offered to
the which includes the accommodation services, transportation services, foods and catering,
visiting to the tourist destinations etc. and significant development has been taken place in each
and every segment such as road transportation developed with the technology from cemented
road to permanent roads with better concrete that made the travelling smooth with no restriction
for the distance and number of passengers etc. The technology is the factors which has played a
crucial role in the development of the tourism industry from development of transportation to the
online booking of the services, to the culture of call centres, to reviews from customers, to
customisation etc.
For long distances steam trains used to operate which turned into metros and trains of diesel
that can carry greater loads and a large number of passengers and in lesser possible time. The
travel business changed due to advancement in the airplane technology as with this commercial
flights industry was encouraged (Koseoglu, 2019). Various airlines companies were established
with developed airline industry and brought various innovation in the segment such as aircraft
which could travel faster with larger capacity were developed that can enable the travellers to
reduce the time of travelling. More and more airlines company were established due to which
stiff competition raised among them which leads to better services to the travellers and with the
innovation so made the cost of travelling at both national and international level reduced. With
the time various historic trends took place within the industry due to which the importance of
tourism industry in the countries increased as it contributes to the growth of the nations and GDP
in a larger share. This is because it includes various services that are offered to a person when
they travel and with the increase in the number of travellers significant development took place
in each and every service (Khawas, 2017).
The modern technology has helped in transforming the services that has been offered and
the ways in which they are offered such as package travel, package holidays, package tours
which improves the experience of the customers and ensures that they get each and every
services at their door step i.e., when they visit to the destinations. With the increasing use of the
internet the booking are made for each and every service such as hotels, transportation, food and

local travelling and many more. Modern technology are transforming the way people travel as
the communication is improved with the service providers, with the help of various mobile
applications tickets for the trains and airways can be booked. Even the holiday packages and the
plans are customised as per the taste and preference of the customers and as per their requirement
in context of services in room, luxurious or comfort travel in terms of economic or business class
seats etc. This gives more spare time to the customers to focus upon their travelling purpose
rather than making arrangement for various services. The professionals operating in the industry
attracts the customers and communicates with them through various social media platforms such
as facebook, instagram, direct mail marketing which enables them to create awareness among the
people and persuade them to travel to different destinations (Inkso and Minnaert, 2018). Due to
this the customers now searches various destinations on internet with different purposes such as
travelling with friends, travelling with family, travelling with partners etc. and this occurred
because the marketer promote destination in this manner only which developed perception of the
people.
In addition to this, the development of the industry implies that focus is laid on the better
experience of the customers and due to this feedbacks are taken from the customers regarding
their experience. For this the customer are asked in the hotel to feel feedback forms, to give
reviews on the websites as with this the organisation can improve their services in that particular
context (Cunill and et. al., 2019). Also the customers now with the help of modern technology
compare the services that are offered by various related organisation on the basis of the reviews
provided by various clients and then accordingly they book the services and due to this the
companies ask their customer to give reviews as with this they can attract more customer to
experience their services. Nowadays most of the holiday companies and airlines companies
extensively use call centres for resolving the queries of their customers and to improve the
customer satisfaction. The use of the internet has revolutionaries the tourism industry as the
internet has improved the connectivity of the service providers and this enables them to ensure
timely services to the customers. On the website of the companies the customers provides the
represents and their accordingly plan tours for them. The technological advancement has
contributed a lot to the development of the tourism industry as it enables the organisations to
improve the travelling experience (Bowie and et. al., 2016).

The development of the tourism industry had various impacts on the environment and the
couture and society as for the construction of the roads deforestation took place due to which the
natural habitat got destroyed. Similarly for construction of various hotels and building the natural
habitat had to face adverse impact. In addition to this the increasing use of transpiration increases
pollution due to which the health of the people is compromised and the quality of life is affected.
The airlines industry contributes to the global warming due to fuel even when with the
innovation they are made fuel efficient (Baum and et. al., 2016). When people visit to other
countries or places they get to know about their customers and cultures due to which they learn it
and tries to adopt it and this brings changes in the socio-cultural behaviours of the local people as
well as on the tourists. Increased in the number of the travellers improved the tourism industry
and facilitated movement of the different culture to different places as well as it supports
reduction in the negative stereotyping of having difference among people of different places as
travelling ensures direct interaction among local people and tourists (Sanz-Ibáñez and Clavé,
2016).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that tourism has great importance throughout the world
and it contributes in the development of the economy. It offers various advantages to the host
countries such as their incomes increase offers employment opportunities etc. the development
of the tourism industry has taken place with the gradual development of technology. It has
various impacts on the environment which are to be taken into consideration while it has positive
impact such as mobility of the culture and people from one place to other.

References
Books and Journals
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agenda. Annals of Tourism Research. 60. pp.1-22.
Bowie, D., and et. al., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Taylor & Francis.
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Management: A bibliometric overview. International Journal of Hospitality
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Inkson, C. and Minnaert, L., 2018. Tourism management: An introduction. Sage.
Khawas, A., 2017. TOURISM EDUCATION IN DEHRADUN–A STUDY OF THE STATURE
OF TOURSIM COLLEGES IN DEHRADUN. Journal of Services Research. 17(1).
pp.43-69.
Koseoglu, M.A., 2019. Evolution of the social structure of hospitality management literature:
1960-2016. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
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multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary approach (invited paper for ‘luminaries’
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Sanz-Ibáñez, C. and Clavé, S.A., 2016. Strategic coupling evolution and destination
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Su, R., Bramwell, B. and Whalley, P.A., 2018. Cultural political economy and urban heritage
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Xiaoyan, Z., 2019. A Study on Developing Rural Community Tourism Based on Rural Tourism
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Online
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