Growth and Transformation: Tourism Trends in the Late 20th Century

This essay examines the significant tourism trends that shaped the latter half of the 20th century, focusing on the rise of mass tourism, the pivotal role of the aviation industry, and the economic factors that drove these changes. It discusses the introduction of paid holidays, the development of affordable holiday packages by tour operators, and the impact of chartered flights on international travel. The essay also highlights the evolution of hotel chains and the influence of technological advancements, such as computer reservation systems and online booking platforms, on the tourism industry. Furthermore, it touches upon emerging trends like spiritual and niche tourism, reflecting a shift towards more customer-oriented and specialized travel experiences. The growth of tourism during this period spurred the development of related industries, including hotels, restaurants, transportation, and entertainment services.

TOURISM TRENDS IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
DISCUSSION.....................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
The tourism industry is one of the largest revenue generating industry in the world and it is
providing livelihood opportunities to one out of every 10 people on the planet. The history of
tourism dates back to the nomadic period when humans travelled from one place to another in
search of food and shelter. Later, in 3rd-century people started the pilgrimage to holy places
associated with the life and death of Jesus Christ. After the advent of communication media like
ships or trains, people started exploring faraway places. In the current report, a discussion will
be made on the growth of tourism in the latter half of 20th century. This period is associated
with the rapid development of tourism facilities and the introduction of readymade holiday
packages which have made the travelling to overseas destinations affordable and convenient.
Improvement in the transportation facilities and increase in disposable income of people have
encouraged people to take holidays more often, the introduction of low-cost airline facilities
has also fuelled this trend. However, increase in the tourism activities has caused
environmental concern in the host countries and the concept of responsible tourism has gained
much importance.
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DISCUSSION
In the early 20th century the transportation system was not much developed and the road
system was developed only in European countries, the fastest medium to travel from one place
to another was through trains. Other regions of the world did not have access to modern
systems of communication (Swanson and Edgell Sr, 2013). The emergence of better roads,
highways, fast trains and aviation facilities has increased tourism activities in developing
countries too, and they have experienced high growth in their economies. In the latter half of
20th century, the development of aviation industry opened new avenues for the tour operating
companies and the tourism industry starting taking shape of a mass industry which is capable of
influencing the economic condition of a country and providing employment opportunities to
millions of people (Law, et al. 2014).
After the Second World War, the world economies started to recover and some special rights
were provided to the workers to improve the working conditions. Some European countries
started giving ‘salaried holidays' which initiated a new trend of mass tourism (Sezgin and Yolal,
2012). These new vacationers were willing to explore new destinations but the facilities were
not adequate. The air transport was not yet developed and the trains and ships were not able
to carry bulk passengers. The hotels only accommodated the high-income class guests. But the
conditions slowly started changing due to huge demand for the holiday tours. Many private
tour operating companies started tour packages to Italy and France which included the
accommodation and travel facilities in the form of a combined package. These changes made
the tourism facilities available to the middle-class people also. In 1960’s Jumbo Jets started
their services and carried a large number of passengers from one country to another in
minimum possible time (Ghimire, 2013). The improved maps and increased knowledge about
the weather facilitated the air travel and a large number of companies started providing
professional aviation services. In 1958, American Express launched its first credit card and later
Bank America card also started its credit card facilities. These plastic cards provided an ease to
the customers and eliminated the need to carry cash on the holidays. In addition, these plastic
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cards also saved the customers from money loses and robbery. The computer reservation
facilities (CRSs) were started in the 1950s by tour operators but these services were not very
efficient and there was lack of coordination between different agencies. After 1978, the global
distribution systems (GDS’s) were started which enabled transitions between different tourism
service providers like airline, hotel and transportation service providers (Rayner, et al. 2014).
Air transportation has played a great role in the tourism development in the 20th century. Even
today, the two most important factors of international tourism are the accommodation
facilities and the air travel facilities. The foundation of modern air travel facilities was laid with
the established Air transport association (IATA) in 1945. This organisation was established with
an aim of providing safe and regular transportation services and enhancing the cooperation
between airline services of different countries (Vukonic, 2012). The other important
development in the aviation industry was the introduction of chartered flights in 1960. These
chartered flights provided the facility of inclusive tours to the new destinations.
This period also witnessed the conversion of small independent hotels into multinational hotel
groups. This multinational hotel did considerable investments in the developing countries and
helped in the economic development of these countries as well as provided employment
opportunities at a large scale. Hotels like Holiday Inn and Hilton cooperation expanded in
different countries of Europe and other parts of the world. These large hotel groups acquired
small hotels in the region and improved the services of these small hotels by applying
standardised customer services (Cetin and Yarcan, 2017). These hotels also provided a number
of leisure facilities to the international tourists. In addition, these hotels also provided a variety
of entertainment services like dance and music shows which attracted a large number of
tourists. The local government also provided a variety of facilities to these multinational
companies as these multinational hotels helped in the development of tourism in the country
and provided employment opportunities to the local population.
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Technological advancements in the last century have revolutionised the tourism industry and it
has become one of the major source of employment in various developed as well as developing
countries. In 1952, American airline invented a system of vacuum tubes and magnetic storage
which made it possible for the airline companies to keep a check on the seat availability
statistics on a centralised platform. Later, Trans Canada airlines developed the first electronic
reservation system in the world which was named as ‘reserve’. In 1996, Expedia group which
was a part of Microsoft Corporation launched a website which offered online booking facilities
for airlines, hotels and rental cars (Van Horn and Isola, 2014). Modern digital communication
mediums have made the process of choosing a tourist destination and booking the tickets, very
fast and convenient. Consistent changes in the tourism industry have not only influenced the
economy of countries, it has also changed the way the people travel. Tourists can get all the
information regarding the history and the importance of tourist destination before visiting the
place. A modern tourist does a lot of google search about a tourist destination before finally
deciding to buy a holiday package. A number of travel blogs are available on the internet
providing detailed information regarding places to visit in a particular country (Mokyr, et
al.2015).
Tour operating companies also witnessed an increase in their income and to satisfy the demand
of mass tourism they developed a specialised tour package which was a combined package of
different tourism requirements like accommodation, transport and entertainment (Cooper,
2012). Tour operating companies made contracts with the hotels and aviation companies and
prepared a combined package which was offered to the travellers at affordable prices. The
brochures also played an important role in marketing these tour packages. These brochures
contained detailed information regarding the importance of the tourist destination and the
services to be provided during the tour. The tour operating companies in the 60s and 70s
mainly focused on standardising the tourism business and they were sales oriented rather than
being customer oriented (Spiller, 2014). After the end of mass tourism era, the tour operator
companies started offering more customer oriented tour packages and some new trends in the
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tourism have also been surfaced in the latter 20th century which included spiritual tourism and
niche tourism. The spiritual tourism is primarily related to the visit to countries like India, China,
Srilanka which are the centres of some ancient religions of the world like Buddhism, Hinduism
and Taoism. A large number of tourists from European and American countries visit these
countries to explore their inner peace and get some change from their fast-moving lives
(Hjalager, 2015).
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CONCLUSION
The current report discussed the tourism trends in the latter part of the 20th century which
caused a rapid growth in the tourism industry. A discussion is made on the trend of mass
tourism which was started in the 50’s in which companies started offering paid holidays to its
employees and the demand for holiday packages suddenly increased. This gave an opportunity
to tour operating companies to offer cheap holiday packages. The development of aviation
services also increased the demand for holiday packages and with the introduction of chartered
planes; tourists got an opportunity to visit different countries of the world at affordable prices.
The traditional tourism industry used to be an affair of upper-class people. But rapid economic
developments in the countries have caused improvement in basic infrastructure facilities like
highways, bridges and hotels, and the tour operating companies have become able to offer low-
cost holiday packages. Increase in the tourism activities around the world has also caused the
growth of allied industries such as hotels, restaurants, transportation services providers, tour
guides and entertainment service providers
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REFERENCES
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communication technologies in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of
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the future of economic growth: Is this time different?. Journal of Economic
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