The travel and tourism sector Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The travel and tourism sector - Coursework Example Leisure tourism was a common thing even in the Egyptian and Babylonian empires. Most of the travelling had to do with visiting religious temples. In those days most people travelled by foot, with only the wealthy being borne in litters from place to place. Many centuries later, in the fourth century, even had advertisements posted on city walls which informed people travelling to religious festivals about the available inns in the towns of Sparta, Athens and Troy. During the era of the Roman Empire, Roman soldier patrols allowed Roman citizens to be able to travel in relative safety within the empire’s jurisdiction. The Roman Empire also built high quality roads to places like Rhodes and Sicily- thus easing the travelling expeditions of its citizens. From 300 AD, many people from all over the world would travel to the Holy Land on spiritual pilgrimages. The Romans were the first civilization to use (itineraria) guidebooks which had lists of inns and different marks indicating varying quality. The areas near the city, Rome, even had homes that were constructed to house the multitudes of visitors who came to the city in springtime to enjoy the entertainments that were common at this time. The tourist resorts around ‘Naples’ were mainly favoured by Roman intellectuals as well as retired wealthy citizens. The region of ‘Baiae’ was more frequented by the lower elements of Roman society and was notorious for all- night singing. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, travel became much more dangerous for people as there were no patrols to keep the roads safe. The Pre-Industrial Age Between the 16th to 18th centuries in Europe, the citizens of many nations were more mobile than was the case during the Middle Age s (Veal 2006). The Northern European landed gentry often sent their sons to places like Greece and Italy to learn more about different cultures as part of the "Grand Tour". For the most part, people still walked to different places; it is only the wealthy who used carriages to travel. When travelling longer distances, citizens from different nations would also use horses and ships. The ships did not have motors, but used the wind’s power. Due to the fact that the speed of travel was limited most governments authorized the building of cities near the major waterways so as to make trade easier. The Industrial Revolution started in the 1700s in England and subsequently spread North America and Europe. Nations in Western Europe stopped being cantered around agricultural activities began to identify as industrial societies. When manufacturing facilities began to engage in mass production many citizens moved into the cities. To facilitate this, canals were developed to ease water t ravel and railways were created to speed travel into the main cities. These alterations made it easier for people to be able to travel over long distances. The subsequent creation of the combustible engine, the automobile, and the airplane further enabled more effective and faster travel across both water and land, while also increasing the number of regions in which people could engage in trade. While this increased the incidences of tourism, it is not until the 1950s when commercial jets became affordable for ordinary citizens that masses of people were able to visit tourist destination that they had only previously read about. The 1960s so the beginning of a new trend- backpacking- in Europe and America. Hippies would travel to areas of interest such as Morocco, Guatemala, Bali, and, most often, India. Backpackers wanted to experience life as citizens of different nations and so did not want to be secluded from the populations of the citizens they travelled through. The 1980s saw other nations outside Europe and America start to take a keen interest in travelling for leisure. Today,