Travel And Tourism Development

Atlas of travel and tourism development Daniel Leitner 5 BT English January 09

Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 Table of contents: I.

Overview of the travel and tourism development .......................................................................... 3 a)

Motivations for early travel and the creation of destination awareness: .................................. 3

b)

Travel in the ancient world:......................................................................................................... 4

c)

Medieval trade and travel: .......................................................................................................... 5

d)

Roots of modern travel ............................................................................................................... 5

e)

Industrial Revolution: .................................................................................................................. 6

f)

The twentieth century: ................................................................................................................ 7

g)

And in the future? ....................................................................................................................... 9

I.

Examples for tourism development ................................................................................................ 9 a)

Ski resorts .................................................................................................................................... 9 Effects of the climate change – Schladming.................................................................................. 11

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009

I. Overview of the travel and tourism development Within this essay I want to give you an overview how tourism has established over thousands of years and I want to point out the historical connection of nowadays destination. I aim to show the basic models of travel patterns such as “push” factors (culture, sociality, environmental pressures) and I want to achieve the impacts of bygone human activity to the modern tourism. At least I will list a few examples for tourism development. Since the first ancient cultures, humans have achieved and developed new ways to expand their culture all over the world. As I will mention in the next few chapters, there were also a few tourist attractions established. The first proven records that civilisations crossed their home border were found in the Mediterranean area, in Greek, Egypt and Persia. In the next chapter I want to list a few motivations for the ancient travel and how they created destination awareness.

a) Motivations for early travel and the creation of destination awareness: The first mentionable motivation for travel in the ancient world was war. The Greeks have tried to conquer the Persian Empire under Alexander the great and as a result of these wars they explored unknown areas in the Middle East and founded new cities like Alexandria, stunning monuments like the Seven Wonders of the World and destination myths. Attracted by the conquests people began to travel. Cultures like the Egypt, Persians, the Roman Empire and other peoples vying to conquer new areas in order to ensure their commodities and spread their culture. The second motivation for travel in the ancient world was sport events. For instance travelling to the first Olympic Games in 776 BC increases the travel mobility. It is recorded that visitors came to Mount Olympus from all over Europe and the Middle East. A few centuries later, at the century of the crusades, European empires travelled into the Middle East to spread the western civilisation in Islamic areas. These crusades were often unsuccessful and so the Islamic culture has remained its sources till today and attracting people of every continent on earth.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 With the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in the year 1492 political and commercial reasons were the motivations for travel. In the century of the colonialisation European empires spread European culture all over the world with the motivation to expand royal dominions, exploit new commodities or conquer new people. However, these travellers were technically recorders, not explorers because someone else actually got there first. Additionally, the European empires exploited the colonies, altered their culture and left traces of their culture all over the world. Later on, after the age of colonisation, European scientist travelled for academic and scientific enquiry. The knowledge of exotic destinations and species created a need of the public to travel into the new world. I can summarize that the motivations for travel in the ancient world were military, sport events, religion, cultural interests, political and commercial interests and finally personal needs.

b) Travel in the ancient world: The first evidences for travel were found in the Near East, with the focus moving towards the Greek world around 500 BC and to the Roman world between 300 BC. In the ancient world people travelled basically by foot (or by pack animals) or used ships. Tourism was confined to a relatively small geographical area on a global scale, and, as mentioned before, culturally and politically motivated. Trade routes established, like from the Euphrates and Tigris valley to the Nile delta. The River travel also developed especially quickly on the Nile. An extensive network of trade routes has evolved throughout Europe and Asia. The most significant example for these trade routes is the Silk Road, which linked china with the Middle East by 600 BC via Central Asia, and had extended to Europe by Roman times. In these centuries tourism was a very dangerous and seasonal business. Sea travel was determined by weather and prevailing winds and the land travel take generally place in summer. The travel itself was neither easy nor pleasant. Tourists have had to face with no proper guest cabins, pirates, poor roads, bad inns or bandits.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 The era of short-haul cargo boat routes are still used today in this area of the Mediterranean Sea. This area is the only place in the world were coastal shipping is very important. The shipping routes are the same like in ancient centuries, ferry routes like Venice – Patras or Izmir still existing.

c) Medieval trade and travel: The Romans were the first who built up a working network of paved roads. This network was necessary to connect major harbours and strategically points together. For the military achievements of the Romans these paves were a major milestone which has enabled the roman troops to march over Europe. The pave network has also ensured the supply with commodities and important trade routes have evolved. By the first century, the pave network literally spread all over Europe deep into Asia and the north coast of Africa. Travelling in Europe over the Roman paves was very fast, safe and convenient to a degree unknown till the 19th century. For instance Julius Caesar travelled from Rhone to Rome in eight days by using horses, and also messengers could go 150 miles per day. Accompanied to the development of travel accommodation facilities evolved along the paves. The first were so called posting houses, were horse could be changed and travellers found a bed and food. Some of them could only used if the traveller owns a tractatoium, some kind of an ancient VIP-pass. When the Roman Empire declined, the whole road system disintegrated with it, because no nation had the necessary money to maintain it. But most of the roman roads surpassed till the 19th century.

d) Roots of modern travel Since the Roman Empire declined, long distance travel on the scale of the Romans was not possible till the 18th century. Only military and religious purposes enabled people to face severe risks like bandits to travel over long distances. Sometimes those purposes were combined like in the Crusades.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 There is little evidence about the travel in the middle ages excepted of information on pilgrimages and travel for political, diplomatic or military purposes. The only some kind of non-domestic travel for individuals were pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem and Compostela. Long-distance travel was nearly impossible in the early medieval period because the Silk Road were cut and sea travel become difficult because of pirates. In the thirteenth century trade fairs pushed the travel in Europe and old trade routes become re-established. The Champagne and other regions were the host of these faires were goods from the Near East were exchanged for cloth. Big rivers like the Rhine, Rhone and Danube were used as a trade route; also new passes over the Alps were founded. In the north of Germany, the Hanseatic League with its members Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen has evolved at the beginning of the fourteenth century and formed a network of linked trading routes. By the year 1500 the Portuguese reached India and Christopher Columbus has reached America and inaugurating a New World. From now on the travel was focused on the New World. However, travel was still dominated by trade and exploration. The normal European would seldom travel over two days. The Renaissance continued with the pre-existing patterns of festivals, markets, fairs and events and so boosted the domestic tourism. After the Reformation of Luther the growth of tourism was stimulated because due to the “Protestant work ethic” the portrait of leisure as idleness didn’t exist anymore.

e) Industrial Revolution: However, until the eighteenth century travel was basically undertaken by small and wealthy elite for education and official purposes. Domestic travel for pleasure began with the emergence of fashionable spas and seaside resorts (Bath and Brighton). The cure forces of thermal water were even known by the Romans, but their knowledge disappeared with their decline. Leisure tourism got a boost and many famous spas have evolved, even in North America: Philadelphia, Bristol and Yellow Springs were the first spas in the USA.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 In Scotland, late Victorian and Edwardian entrepreneurs founded hydro hotels for health tourism in the areas of Dunblane and Crieff.

f) The twentieth century: In Europe tourism was mainly based on destination on the coast because most of the bigger cities were located nearby the coast. However, just a small amount of people could afford the search for exclusive and undiscovered destinations – a process which developed the tourism in areas like the French Riviera. In the 1920 the process was underlined by the popularity of sunbathing. Around the 1800 culture and nature related travel was on a high level and so Switzerland found its way to a popular destination, facilitated by new modes of transport on land and the steamers on Swiss lakes. The first package tour for skiing was organized by Henry Lunn in the 1880s. Very little overseas travel took place, but just for a small amount of wealthy people, but travelling remained still dangerous and expensive for a long period of time. Tax and tolls and high exchange rates forced travellers to take enormous amounts of money with them, also gold, and made them vulnerable for bandits. Nevertheless the most important innovation for travel in the early 19th century was the development of a railway network in Europe, with help by the foundation of the steam locomotion. Travellers could reach nearly every region in Western Europe by train except from Spain, Portugal and southern Italy. The railways took place in the Colonies and so India, southern Africa and parts of North America established a functional network of railways. In the early 19s some kind of a wealthy middle class established in Europe. This new society joined the aristocracy at the seaside resorts and there was still a distinction between them who could afford long-term holidays and them who just can stay overnight. All these new travel patterns lead to an extensive hotel-building in Europe (especially in Switzerland) and in America.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 In the early 20s, due to the influence of the North American trade and the replacement of sail by steam, the transatlantic passenger cruises established – the era of the great ocean liners was born. In common, this era was known for luxury: The famous Orient Express was founded; luxury liners like the Titanic were constructed and palace-style hotels like the Ritz were built. The luxury era was ended by the fast growing technical advances, efficiency replaced luxury. Finalized was this process after the Second World War. Meanwhile, the growth of commercial aviation was stimulated by the World wars. The first city-to-city connection was from Paris to London. But at this times, air travel wasn’t luxury and very expensive. At the year 1922 more than 22 000 passengers were carried over the Channel and the business was growing on. The first national airline was KLM, founded in 1919, followed by Imperial Airways (afterwards BA) and Pan American World Airways. Intercontinental travel developed rapidly, pushed by the growing air business. Business conference travel was founded by American business man and the holiday camp was invented. All the wealthy Europe populated the French Riviera, which was very posh for them, and tuned this area to a large resort at the end of the 30s. The Second World War declined the development of tourism, but after the war tourism was accelerated. Incoming tourism in the UK rose from 200 000 in 1946 to 1.7 mil. in 1960. By 1965 Spain become the leading tourism destination in Europe with 14 million visitors per year, but later this number was quadrupled. In return, travel was still limited by a small number of wealthy people. The development of the budget airlines in the 90s amplified this trend. New travel patterns have evolved: active holidays, adventure and ecotourism, fashion for spa holidays, VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) and cultural tourism. During the 1970s, Europe and North America continued to dominate world tourism both as generators and as destinations. Three quarters of all tourism in the world continues to be domestic, just 20 per cent of all flights were long-haul.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 g) And in the future? In the future the most important innovation will be the development of space travel. Till the year 2008, just a small amount of people got the possibility to travel into space like the American millionaire Dennis Tito. The visit of the ISS cost him more than US $20 million. A company, Space Adventures Inc., still provides a wide range of space related travel programs like Astronaut training and zero-gravity experiences. In future, they expect to offer stays in an orbital hotel. The development of space travel is hard to predict, but for sure there are enormous cost for the construction of space hotels and their maintenance. In addition, there are environmental concerns like atmospheric pollution. Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson, maybe will be the future of space tourism, they providing privately built spaceships and planned first commercial flights in the year 2008. In the future, cybertourism (an electronically stimulated travel experience) may become an alternative to physical travel. The technology has to develop further, otherwise that trend will not be possible.

I. Examples for tourism development a) Ski resorts This example describes how ski resort has become very popular and very important for the tourism worldwide. I have chosen this example because ski resorts are the most important tourism push factors for the Austrian winter tourism. Winter holidays become very fashionable as resorts, like St. Moritz with its famous bobsleigh, emerged from Alpine summer tourism to winter tourism. The first purpose-built resort was Megeve in 1933. The growth was accelerated after the Second World War because of the improvements in equipment and clothing, so that skiing became more comfortable and safer. Due to other technical innovations, ski resorts were more accessible. In the late 1940s and the 1950 ski centres like Chourcheval and Tignes evolved in France. In Austria, Lech am Arlberg was the first ski destination. These destinations not offered plenty of skiing but were also very famous for their off-piste and après-ski facilities.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 In the 1960s and the 1970s the ski-boom was still continuing because of the creation of new fully-integrated ski stations and the technical changes to metal skis. Many skiing areas were closed in the 1980s because the market gets saturated and there was a high competition for customers. As a result, many bad-managed ski resorts were closed down. Since the 1990s Eastern Europe skiing areas came on line, boosted by the break-up of the UDSSR. These new destinations offering much cheaper ski vacation than the traditional Alpine destinations. Meanwhile, new types of skiing and some ski-related trend sports have gained more and more popularity. Cross-country skiing, mono-ski, ski touring and snowboarding gained more and more supporters. Traditional ski resorts have also to cater for non-skiers, who need facilities for winter walking and bobsleigh. The estimated number of skiers worldwide was at least seventy million, with Europe on its peak, followed by the USA. The market expands rapidly, especially in Eastern Europe. In future, it seems that destinations of the Polish Tatra, Czech Republic, Romania and Russia will attract more people than the traditional skiing resorts in the Alpine regions. However, Europeans even travelling more and more to North American ski destinations because they are more stable snowfall patterns. Nevertheless, ski resorts have to face with the problems of the climate change. It is estimated that between 37 and 56 per cent of all ski areas in Europe will vanish due to the climate change. Unreliable and unpredictable patterns of snowfall are the results of the climate change, triggering costs for plastic snow and offend guests. Low –lying ski resorts in Austria are likely to be worst affected, the snow line will rise between 200 and 300 feet in the next 40 years. Under the worst-case scenario, none of our ski resort will be economically viable by 2070. It seems that Europe’s ski industry may have lasted not much more than a century. The tourism patterns in our country will have to change and to adapt to the climate change. Due to the climate change new types of tourism in Austria shall arise.

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Atlas of travel and tourism development 2009 Effects of the climate change – Schladming The ski resort Schladming, located in the North-West of the Styria, were one of the most famous ski areas in Austria. The city is located nearby the Planai, the famous skiing mountain. The Planai cable cars are the flagship of Austrians winter resorts. Many innovations were established at the ski resort, and many other Austrian resorts followed their example. Especially the development of snow cannons was a milestone for the Austrian winter tourism in the early 70s. Effects ffects of the climate change: However, the effects of the climate change are visible for the Schladming ski resort. Recently published studies have shown that the climate change has severe effects. The number of hours, where plastic snow can be produced is declined to 60 per cent (between 1988 and 2006). The data shows also, how important the micro-climate and the relief for the snow are. In return, the requirements for the snow production are better in low-lying areas than in 1000 meter height due to the narrow valley. Snow and the winter experience are a major factor for the guests in the ski resorts. In future, changes in the guest behaviour will be the result of the climate change: tendency to highlying ski resorts, holidays in snow-safe months and bookings will be handled short-dated. There will be also a need for additional programs if there is no snow. Strategies Strategies against the climate change: Maintenance of the winter tourism: tourism:
Production of plastic snow
Disclosure of high-lying areas Replacements: Replacements:
Temporary tasks in the ski resort.
Service Improvement, more Leisure offers... Alternatives lternatives to the Ski tourism:
Strengthening of the whole-year tourism
Summer tourism
Activities without snow

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