Tourism in the Latter Half of the 20th Century: An Overview

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Assessment 1: Tourism trends in the latter half of the 20th
Century
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
The last fifty years of the twentieth century can be referred to as the “latter half of the 20th
Century”. On the other hand, the term tourism trends can be referred to as the generation
direction or manner, in which an aspect is transforming or developing. At present, tourism has
been capable of becoming a segment of the lives of various people due to a number of reasons,
such as conducting business, going for a holiday, visiting family and friends and many others.
During the period mentioned above, the industry of travel and tourism has gone through
evolution all across the world. During this time, the rate of global tourism has elevated in a rapid
manner, due to various factors such as increases in wages and salaries, availability of various
kinds of cost effective tour packages and many others. In this study, the major trends related to
the sector of travel and tourism during the latter half of the 20th century will be discussed in a
critical manner.
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Discussion
The most important trend related to travel and tourism towards the latter part of the 20th century
was the rapid increase of international tourism. During this time, people started earning more,
which allowed them to travel to the foreign countries, which in turn gave rise to mass
international tourism. Moreover, during this time the accessibility of transportation had
improved as well, providing the tourism industry the scope of developing. In addition to that,
improvements in the communication system, such as roads, as specifically the motorways had
decreased the time required to drive from one location to the other. This in turn, encouraged
more number of individuals to go for short trips. On the other hand, during the same time,
decrease in the airfares, along with cost effective holiday packages, as well as more efficient
and larger airports also encouraged the travellers in the same manner.
According to Baum (1996), global tourism arrivals during the period of 1950 were estimated at
around 25 million. By the end of the 21st century, it is predicted to increase to at least 600
million. During the latter part of the 21st century, travel and tourism had transformed from an
elite activity towards a status of mass consumption, but only within the developed world. This in
turn had affected the nature of employment in the concerned sector. In addition to that, it also
influenced the relationship between the tourism service providers, and the travellers as
consumers. The Grand Tour can be held accountable as the ancestor of the modern mass
tourism. Originally, it was a selective and primarily an aristocratic privilege, providing an
educational journey, which is classical in nature, starting form the destination of Britain for
covering Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, along with the Low Countries (ThoughtCo.com,
2019). The initial beginning of Grand Tour along with the related travelling to the resorts and spa
fashionable in nature was a normal activity of the aristocrats of the people living in the United
Kingdom. This also reflected in the framework of employment, which prevailed in support of
this kind of travel during the period.
As stated by Korstanje (2012) the evolution of travel and tourism seems to be connected to the
combination of three different factors, which are relevant. The first factor is advancements in
technologies in terms of transportation, which had developed after the conclusion of the two
consecutive world wars. On the other hand, the second aspect can be considered as the decrease
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of working hours all across the United Kingdom, as well as the entire Europe. In addition to that,
the increase in the salaries of the people had also assisted to augment the purchasing power of
the common people; thus considered as the third factor.
The increasing amount of wealth has allowed the individuals of the United Kingdom with stable
employment earning high amount of salaries to utilise the income, disposable in nature, which
is considerably greater than what it used to be in the former half of the 20th century, for
travelling overseas. In addition to that, individuals with full time stable employment also began
to acquire paid holidays, which in turn enabled them to go for more number of holidays
(Walton, 2005). On the other hand, the utilisation of internet along with the technological
developments during the concerned period has allowed the tourists to travel around the world in
a feasible manner. This gave rise to various kinds of holiday camps, different tour packages,
along with long-haul destinations, which in turn appealed to a wide variety of travellers all
across the world.
The conventional perspective of the history of tourism is dominated by the past of the “western
culture experience”. The concept of tourism had started with the wealthy people, along with the
illustrations of prestigious visits to seaside resorts and spas, Grand Tour, along with the
different activities of the business entrepreneurs, for instance, Thomas Cook, prior to it
commenced to filter down, in terms of the social ladder. During the latter part of the 20th century,
it was seen that the entire movement has accelerated due to the arrival of jet airplanes as well as
charter flights (Towner, 2005). Additionally, within this procedure, travel and tourism can be
observed as scattering geographically to other regions form its origination, which was in Britain
and Western Europe. This in turn developed a number of 'pleasure peripheries', along with
spreading in a social manner from the elite class, towards the down through the middle classes,
and eventually to the mass working class.
As stated by Walton (2009), the European Grand Tour can be considered as they key ancestor
of the contemporary form of culture tourism. On the other hand, Thomas Cook can be
considered as the father who had introduced the concept of tour packages, as well as the very
much liked global tourism. On the other hand, the development of the European airborne mass
tourism after the conclusion of the Second World War gave rise to tourism across the northern
parts of Europe to the sunny coasts of the region of Mediterranean. Apart from that, the
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concept known as mass tourism is considered to be distorted (Walton, 2000). During the entire
20th century, the concept of travel and tourism had continued to develop, as a result of the
increase in the interest, wealth as well as outgoing attitudes of the people. In addition to that,
improvements in the system of transportation also boosted this factor. Better transportation
systems enabled people, especially in the developed nations, to travel from one to the other in
masses. Moreover, it can also be said that mass production along with mass consumption, both
the aspects can be considered as the rationale during the concerned period. Even though the
roots can be traced back to many years back, tourism was still considered as a novelty for the
general masses. Moreover, the homogeneous character regarding the demand has resulted in the
production of standardised travel and tourism products, which could be suitable for all kinds of
travellers.
As opined by Yousaf et al. (2018), factors such as people retiring early during the latter part of
the 20th century was another reason behind the changing trends in travel and tourism. This aspect
allowed the retried individuals to take advantage of the comparatively young age as well as life
savings. Propel having stable employment, were seen to be taking long off period for taking
breaks to lay off stress. In addition to that, it was also found that the transformation in the
tourism trends during the concerned period gave rise to more numbers of beach holidays, health
resorts, winter sun and many others. Other than that, there has also been an elevation in sports
tourism. It was seen that people are opting for destinations with snowboarding, waterskiing and
many others as such. Apart from that, noticeable growth in terms of cruise holidays has also
been observed towards the end of the 20th century. Thus, it can be stated that the industry of
travel and tourism went through massive evolution during the period mentioned above, which
allowed the ordinary public to travel around the entire world.
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Conclusion
Form the above study, it can be conveyed that in the twentieth century, during the latter half,
international travel and tourism developed at a rapid pace. In addition to that, it was also found
that entire sector of travel and tourism had evolved during this time due to various reasons, such
as increase demands of the tourists, availability of financial resources form investors and many
others. The enhancements in accessibility along with transport were also a key reason behind
modified tourism trends. Apart from that, it was also discovered that the short length of working
weeks along with longer amount of paid holidays in the United Kingdom allowed people to
acquire more spare time for travelling domestically, as well as internationally. On the other hand,
it was also discovered that towards the end of the concerned century, cruise holidays along with
theme parks, such as Disneyworld and others become popular among the tourists travelling
internationally.
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Bibliography
Baum, T., 1996. Images of tourism past and present. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 8(4), pp.25-30.
Booksite.elsevier.com. 2019. [online] Available at:
https://booksite.elsevier.com/samplechapters/9780750684927/9780750684927.pdf [Accessed 12
May 2019].
Korstanje, M.E., 2012. Examining the Norse mythology and the archetype of Odin: The
inception of Grand Tour. Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis, 60(4), pp.369-384.
Sezgin, E. and Yolal, M., 2012. Golden age of mass tourism: Its history and development. In
Visions for Global Tourism Industry-Creating and Sustaining Competitive Strategies.
IntechOpen.
ThoughtCo.com., 2019. The Grand Tour of Europe in the 17th and 18th Centuries. [online]
Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/grand-tour-of-europe-1435014 [Accessed 12 May
2019].
Towner, J., 1995. What is tourism's history?. Tourism management, 16(5), pp.339-343.
Walton, J.K. ed., 2005. Histories of tourism: Representation, identity and conflict (Vol. 6).
Channel View Publications.
Walton, J.K., 2000. The British seaside: Holidays and resorts in the twentieth century.
Manchester University Press.
Walton, J.K., 2009. Prospects in tourism history: Evolution, state of play and future
developments. Tourism Management, 30(6), pp.783-793.
Yousaf, A., Amin, I., Santos, C. and Antonio, J., 2018. Tourist's motivations to travel: A
theoretical perspective on the existing literature. Tourism and hospitality management, 24(1),
pp.197-211.
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