Nowadays, tourism may be rightfully viewed as extensively growing and rapidly changing sphere. Notwithstanding the fact that tourism dates back to the ancient times, travelling keeps attracting a constantly increasing number of people all over the world, impacting multiple world processes. As it is claimed, “over the past 20 years, tourism has become one of the most dynamic elements of the global economy (Richards, 2011). This essay aims to consider the key tendencies in modern tourism and relate them to the history of tourism specifically, drawing the connections and pointing out the changes which the field of tourism has undergone throughout the centuries.
In this modern digital age and the era of globalization, technology seem to penetrate into all the fields of human life and activities, and the tourism is not an exception of it. In fact, technologies impacted media like nothing else, having opened a wide range of opportunities for its growth and development. It concerns foremost the modern technological tools applied in the tourism field: “websites, booking platforms, apps and using social media all provide the opportunity to engage and connect with customers on a variety of levels to allow an enhanced travel experience” (Twist, 2016). Comparing to the past ways of navigation such as magnetic compasses and bulky paper maps, the new tourist technological advancements are convenient and easy to use.
Besides that, the excessive usage and coverage of the internet has turned the world into the global image, making tourism closer to everyone: as Tom Twist claims, “the concept that globalization and technology allows us to overcome the limitations of physical distance” (Twist, 2016). Within one click of the mouse, we may find ourselves in the middle of any world's capitals, contemplate the mountainous landscapes or the sea views, and even communicate literally with anyone all over the globe regardless of the distances. These are the features of modern tourism which the one could not even imagine a couple of decades ago.
As the overall information of the tourism sites and destinations became widely accessible, so did the tourism itself. Perception of a travel as an exquisite pleasure for particularly privileged groups which was common in the classical world during the early development of tourism has been in a process of a gradual change since the medieval times, when the mobility of travel started raising due to “understandings of travel tailored to diverse groups, including merchants, students, soldiers, pilgrims, journeymen, beggars and robbers” (Gyr, 2010). Today, a vast variety and type of tourist may be seen, as well, starting from the expensive all-included resort holidays, business and educational trips, up to the student hitchhiking trips and the commonly cheap alternative of eco-tourism. The perception and values of tourism and travelling nowadays are quite similar to the one which used to be in the middle ages: “the desire to experience the world emerged as an individual, unique guiding principle” so long as the travelling “tuned from a means into an end” (Gyr, 2010).
Finally, another evident tendency in modern tourism is changing the travel destination map due to the safety issues risen from the challenges of wars and terrorism. “Terrorism has influence on the economic bases of states such as Egypt, Israel, Turkey or Cyprus” – states Chrisina Elen Albu in her research on the tourism and terrorism, claiming that the economic costs of terrorism are very significant. A threat to people's safety is what stifles a touristic interest towards a certain place and prevents many of going to the places which are commonly famous by its natural and cultural beauty or the historic heritage. The sphere of tourism is highly profitable for the countries; thereby the economy of the questionably safe countries is greatly weakened. An analogical situation may be seen in the war and post-war period in Europe which was definitely unfavorable for the tourism and showed a gradual shift from these historic events in the society.
References
Albu, C. E. Tourism and Terrorism: a Worldwide Perspective. CES Working Papers , vol. 8
(1), 1-19.
Gyr, Ueli (2010, December 3). The History of Tourism: Structures on the Path to Modernity.
European History Online. Retrieved from http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/the-history-of-tourism/ueli-gyr-the-history-of-tourism#TourismasaGlobalisedSystem
Richards, Greg (2011). Tourism Trends: Tourism, Culture and Cultural Routes.
Academia.edu. Retrieved from
http://www.academia.edu/1473475/Tourism_trends_Tourism_culture_and_cultural_routes
Twist, Tom. (2016, May 9).The Impact of Technology on the Travel and Tourism Sector.
Linked In. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-technology-travel-tourism-sector-tom-twist
