Tourism After The Second World War

INTRODUCTION

International tourism has grown very fast after second world war. Today, tourism has become a part of the everyday life for most people and is now a major source of employment in developed countries. The growth of the tourist industry after second world war can be linked with increasing wealth, increased mobility, improvements in accessibility and transport, more leisure time, product development and innovations, improvements in technology, changes in lifestyles and fashion, an increased awareness of other places and the need for ‘green’ tourism. Every factor is responsible for the rapid growth of tourism which is the biggest industry in the world at the world employing nearly one third of the whole world population.

Since the beginning of early days, humans have travelled for various reasons. . Food, water, safety or acquisition of resources (trade) were some of the early travel motivations. But the reason for travel changed when people had the idea for pleasure and exploration. Travel is always depended upon technology as the means or mode of travel. Travellers before walked or rode domesticated animals. The invention of technology like the wheel and the sail provided new modes of transportation. Each technological improvement increased individuals’ opportunities to travel. Interest in travel increased for education, sightseeing, and religious purposes when infrastructure were developed by governments and other facilities were meet.

The development of International Tourism after the Second World War

The most common factors that are responsible for international tourism development after Second World War, can be discussed under three main headlines

• Changes in technology
• Product development
• Social or economic factors

A. CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY

1. Developments of Jet Aircraft

The development of jet engine was started after the Second World War and before that it was very expensive to travel and also took long time to reach destinations. In 1958 the first jet aircraft carried passengers in the transatlantic route and the travel time was cut some five days to seven hours which was really a great breakthrough for the development of tourism worldwide. And after 1970 the jet aircraft started carrying more and more passengers and also become cheaper for people.

2. Computerised Reservation Systems

CRSs are systems that store current information about all available service providers and have the necessary infrastructure to transfer such data. This system started at the beginning of 1960s and the main objective was to book airline seats automatically. In todays world the best known CRSs are Galileo, Amadeus, Sabre, Worldspan and these CRSs have developed the tourism market dramatically.

3. High speed Trains

After the Second World War, significant development happened in the railway system. In the United States, All over Europe and in Asia, high speed trains were introduced which brought revolutionary change in mass tourism. This high speed trains has given the passengers comfort and choice of transport which play a vital role in the development of tourism.

4. Communication.

The communications revolution happened in the last few decades which had a major impact in tourism. Companies like GO and Last minute.com and others are already developing the Internet to book online and selling their product through web pages. People are now walking through their hotel online, check out the views, find out about the nightlife – and all this before they book! It’s advertised more faster and more cheaper than going down to the high street.

B. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

1. Package Holidays

The development of package holidays had a great impact in tourism development. All tour operators are now selling package tours which are all inclusive, which means accommodation, transfer, meals are all included in the deals. The tour operators buys the package in bulk so they can sell to customers in cheap price which attracts customer to take a holiday.

2. Theme Parks

Theme Parks have been created in almost every countries of the world to attract tourists. These are the amusement parks where many rides are installed and lots of attractions are made to entertain a large group of people. Example include Thorpe Park in UK or Disney Land in Paris.

3. Introduction of Holiday camps

Holiday parks like Central Parks and Butlins had led to a big growth in the tourism industry. In the holiday camps holidaymakers pay for their accommodation and also can go for full board, half board or self catering.

4. Low cost Airlines

In the last few decades’ low cost airlines contributed hugely in the development of tourism. Low cost airlines like Ryan Air, Easy Jet made it easy for tourists to travel for very cheap prices.

5. Long Haul Destinations

The possibility of taking a long haul flights made it very attractive for tourists to go far away form home. People can go from one part of the world to another part in couple of hours and explore the world which gives them immense pleasure.

C. Social and Economic Factors

1. Increase in car ownership

The greatest factor that increased for travel is the increase in car ownership. Car ownership were increased mostly in the year between 1951 and 1970 and then there were even bigger increase in the mid 1990s. Increased car ownership is now a great facility for people to visit places of interest and spend leisure time with friends and families.

2. Increase in leisure time

People around the world now think there are more things to be done other than work in life. So, people now try to mange leisure time from their work which they want to spend travelling to different places just to relax and enjoy. This time spent not only relaxes people but also boost their energy to perform at workplace because of freshen of mind.

3. Holiday entitlement

People now are entitled to few days to few weeks holiday every year they work which gives them chance to go somewhere and spend some. From 1938 it was legal requirement that people have to get paid holiday every year. This holiday entitlement also motivates people to travel and thus develop tourism worldwide.

4. Early retirement with pension

Todays workplace encourage to recruit fresh talents and so also gives the older people the chance to retire early with pension facilities. So, people now have time in their life to spend and the money they need, which makes them motivate to travel.

5. Aging population

Aging population is another factor that develop tourism. People who are aged have more time to spare than others and that encourage them to go for holiday and contribute towards tourism.

6. Large incomes

People are earning more money than before and so are able to spend on holidays and other recreation. When there is disposable money available for people that tends people to spend on travel and explore places and hence develop tourism.

7. Less children

This is another important factor towards the growth of tourism. People wants to be more free in life than before and lots of people don’t want to get tied with family and children and which lets them go wherever and whenever they want. They move to different places and help tourism.

CONCLUSION

After the second world war, tourism has grown in scale, distribution and origins of tourists. According to Geofact 2001, there were 25 million international tourists in 1950 and according to WHO, there were 160 million tourists in 1970. And they forecasted that it would be 1000 million in 2010. In 1997 the UK tourist industry generated £40 billion which is approximately 4% of the GDP and the industry employed 1.6 million people which is 6.2% of the total workforce. From these figures it is clearly visible that international tourism had developed since the second world war and the growth is continuing.