The Development of Tourism in the 20th century
Within the last century, tourism industry has undergone consistent
changes which have influenced not only destinations and the impact of
tourism on economy of countries, but also on the tourism industry
proper and the way people get used to travel in the modern world. At
the same time, the changes that occurred to tourism industry were, to a
significant extent, determined by the technological changes that had
been introduced within the last century. In this respect, it is worth
mentioning the rapid development of infrastructure, introduction of new
means of transportation, including the development of railroads and
airways, and the development of new technologies which facilitate
traveling, such as Internet that includes online booking and planning
of the journey beforehand. As a result, the traditional tourism
industry, which used to be oriented on the upper-class, while tourism
was rather a prerogative of the elite than the industry oriented on
mass consumers, is the emerging industry now, which attracts investors
and brings consistent profits not only to travel operators and other
companies operating in the industry, but travel industry can boost the
economic development of countries and regions of the world, which are
desirable destinations for tourists. In such a context, the development
of tourism industry in the contemporary world is characterized by the
rapid changes and introduction of new strategies. At the same time, one
of the major trends in the contemporary market is the sustainable
development of tourism destination which opens new opportunities for
the development and further growth of tourism industry. Basically,
tourism is very popular in the contemporary world and the number of
tourists steadily growth. The development of new forms and trends in
tourism industry stimulates the development of both niche and mass
tourism, which, being quite different from each other, still persist
and coexist in the international as well as national markets.
The development of tourism industry in the 20th century was
influenced by several changes, which defined the further development of
the industry (Gomory, 2002). In general it is possible to distinguish
technological changes and socio-cultural changes that influenced the
development of tourism industry. Speaking about technological changes,
it is primarily necessary to focus on the change of transportation
system of the modern world. In the early 20th century, the most
advanced means of transportation were trains, while the railroad system
was well-developed only in Europe and North America, i.e. in the most
developed countries of the world, while the rest of the world had a
poorly-developed transportation system and infrastructure.
Nevertheless, the emergence of railroads, the development of roads
and infrastructure worldwide stimulated the development of tourism
because the better infrastructure and transportation system facilitated
travels. In addition, by the mid-20th century, their aviation industry
had started to grow rapidly. In fact, in the middle of the 20th
century, the aviation was booming and air flights became very popular
and available to large number of people (Trout and Rivkin, 2000). At
this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that it is due to the
aviation industry tourism industry has been emerging since the mid-20th
century. However, it is only by the late 20th century, tourism
industry had reached an unparalleled level of development and, today,
it still keeps growing.
Other important technological changes emerged in the second half
of the 20th century and they were related to the development of
telecommunication and information technologies. In fact, new
telecommunication and information technologies have changed tourism
industry consistently. Due to these technologies, tourism outgrew into
mass industry, while in the past it was rather exotic, even extreme
industry because traveling was accompanied by the lack of information
about destinations, while tourists had relatively low opportunities to
communicate with each other and their relatives or friends worldwide.
Moreover, in the first half of the 20th century, they could stay in
isolation from their motherland, if tourists from Europe, for instance,
travelled to an African or any other developing country (Murdaugh,
2005). Instead, the development of modern telecommunications, including
mobile phones and information technologies, including Internet, has
eliminated physical boundaries between countries and places making them
available to masses of tourists. In such a way, tourists could not be
just informed about potential destinations, but they could travel to
any place in the world and maintain communication with their friends,
relatives and others by means of modern telecommunication systems.
At the socio-cultural level, the world tends to grow homogeneous.
In the past, especially in the first half of the 20th century, the
world was extremely diverse culturally and each country was the unique
destination for tourists. In the mid-20th century, the world became
bi-polar when two super-powers, the USA and the USSR, divided the
world into two distinct parts. Such division limited opportunities for
the development of travel industry worldwide because people from
democratic countries had limited access to countries of the Soviet Bloc
and vice versa (Morrison, 2002). By the end of the 20th century, the
world has changed dramatically after the end of the Cold War. The
elimination of physical barriers to traveling and the fast development
of economic globalization stimulated the growth of economic cooperation
and development of tourism industry. The US, being the only superpower
in the world, contributed to the fast growth of the impact of Western
civilization on the rest of the world, English became the vehicle
language of international communication. In such a way, people got an
opportunity to travel anywhere they want and such socio-cultural and
technological changes determined the development of modern tourism
industry.
Basically, the current development of tourism industry and the
technological progress determined the rapid development of mass tourism
which was traditionally considered to be more economically effective
compared to niche tourism. The latter may be viewed as a recent or
relatively new trend. This fact, actually determines the skepticism of
some specialists in relation to niche tourism as economically effective
tourism (Murdaugh 2005, 194). At any rate, many specialists (Edgell
2006, p.126) stand on the ground that the development of mass tourism
is economically more effective compared to niche tourism.
First of all, it should be said that the emergence of mass tourism
was stimulated by the development of technologies and the improvement
of the infrastructure, especially transport that contributed to the
facilitation of large number of tourists from one place to another. In
such a situation, the development of mass tourism implies the
development of the infrastructure of the local economy as well as the
growing international cooperation of the local economy with external
markets if the local tourism industry is oriented on foreign tourists.
This means that the development of the local infrastructure can be
stimulated by the mass tourism (Van der Borght, 2000). It is obvious
that the development of infrastructure will stimulated the development
of economy because in the contemporary world the effective logistics is
one of the major conditions of the successful business, while the
effectiveness of logistics increases in areas where there is a
well-developed infrastructure. Consequently, mass tourism may be viewed
as a stimulus to the development of the local economy.
Furthermore, the development of mass tourism can bring profits to
the local economy as well as companies operating in the tourist
industry due to the large number of tourists. In fact, in accordance
with the canons of the open market economy and modern economic trends
mass consumption is one of the major conditions of the effective
functioning and profitability of any business (Florida, 2002). In
relation to mass tourism it should be said that it can be really
profitable due to the large number of tourists who will naturally spend
their money and, therefore, stimulate the development of the local
industries, especially hotel and resort industry, restaurant industry,
entertainment industry, etc., i.e. industry which are directly linked
with the supply of services or products that will be consumed by
tourists.
On the other hand, along with the relatively high profitability of
mass tourism due to the large number of tourists, it is necessary to
remember about certain risks that accompany this type of tourism. What
is meant here is the necessity of the permanent and stable flow of
tourists to the tourism destinations. In this respect, it is possible
to estimate that this problem can be solved if the sustainable
development of tourism industry continues and there are no crises in
the industry. However, even the stable development cannot fully prevent
mass tourism from crisis (Ries and Ries, 2002). For instance, it is
possible to refer to the experience of South-Eastern Asia which was
practically deserted after the notorious tsunami that had occurred
recently in the area. In the result of this natural disaster,
South-Eastern Asia transformed from one of the most desirably tourism
destinations into the territory of the highest risk where tourists were
simply afraid to visit. Moreover, many tourists and insurance
companies had to pay huge compensation to those tourists that affected
by the natural disaster that deteriorated the position of these
companies in the market. In this regard, the large of tourists was a
serious problem and disadvantage rather than a merit because it
actually increased substantially the general volume of pay-offs.
In such a situation, it is possible to estimate that mass tourism
is more vulnerable to negative impact of such extraordinary situations
as natural disaster, for instance, while niche tourism is more flexible
in this regard. Moreover, it is necessary to remember about the fact
that the modern world faces a lot of threats which can affect tourism
at large and mass tourism in particular. For instance, international
terrorism may undermine mass tourism substantially, especially after
terror attacks on September 11 (Novelli et al, 2005). Obviously, if a
similar attack occurs, the interest of tourists will decrease
substantially. Consequently, it will be impossible to attract a large
number of tourists to the area.
It proves beyond a doubt that niche tourism proves to be more
flexible in this respect and it is less susceptible to the negative
impact to natural disasters or terror attacks, for instance. It should
be pointed out that niche tourism is traditionally related to a
particular event or area and it is not so oriented on the large number
of customer but rather on the particular target group of customers
which could be attracted by companies operating in tourism industry.
Basically, the flexibility of niche tourism may be achieved due to the
less dependence of this type of tourism on the constant and large flow
of tourist. Instead, it is basically oriented on some specific group of
customer that is interested in some specific even or area.
For instance, it is possible to speak about ecotourism. In fact,
it is a relatively new trend and it does not imply the attraction of a
large number of customers and there are objective reasons for such a
situation. In fact, often local facilities cannot afford the presence
of a large number of customers at a time (Van der Borght, 2000).
Naturally, this may be viewed as a drawback, but, on the other hand, it
is necessary to point out that this does not need significant
investments in the development of the local infrastructure and building
of special hotels, restaurants, and development of the recreation area
at large. In the case of ecotourism, as a part of niche tourism, the
closer the tourism destination is to its original, natural state the
better and the more attracting the destination will be for tourists.
Moreover, it should be said that niche tourism is really more
flexible because along with ecotourism niche tourism also includes such
directions in the development of tourism as sport-oriented activities,
which may attract a large a number of customers. For instance, the
organization the football World Cup or the Olympic Games may be viewed
as one of the most profitable events for the niche tourism. In fact,
niche tourism uses such events as the attraction to customers and the
recent Olympic Games or the football World Cup in Germany proved to be
profitable. For instance, specialists estimate that the organization of
the football World Cup in Germany brought milliards of investments
into the national economy, while the number of foreign tourists was the
highest compared to all the other World Cups in the past (Novelli et
al. 2005, 227). This means that niche tourism may very profitable
because it can also attract mass audience.
However, it is naturally possible to argue that this type of
tourism attracts the large number of tourists for a very limited period
of time, for instance, for the period of the competitions and after
that the interests of tourists to tourism destination rapidly declines.
In such a situation, companies working in niche tourism should simply
redirect their attention to another sport event or just attempt to
develop ecotourism, or any other type of niche tourism in the area
after the sports event, which has attracted a large of tourists (Knapp
and Sherwin, 2005). In this respect, it should be said that the sports
event may be viewed as a kind of promotional campaign used tourist
companies and local government to attract the attention of tourists to
the specific destination and after that it is just necessary to
organize special tours, develop ecotourism for instance and continue
develop tourism in this area. However, it is obvious that it is
impossible to count for the mass flow of tourists similar to that which
was stimulated by the sports event.
In such a way, speaking about the economic impact of niche and
mass tourism in the situation of the sustainable development of
tourism, it is necessary to underline that the mass tourism may be
viewed as more economically profitable because it is focused on the
large and constant flow of tourists but such a dependence makes mass
tourism extremely vulnerable to crisis provoked by some natural
disasters or any other external threats, such as terror attacks. In
such a situation, the negative impact of such crisis on mass tourism
will be more serious than on niche tourism (Ries and Ries, 2002). The
latter is more flexible and does not need a constant flow of a large
number of tourists, instead, it is more mobile since it needs either
the large number of tourists but for a short period of time, or small
number of customer who could visit destination but it does not
significant investments into the development of the local
infrastructure and recreation area that leads to the situation that
lower revenues may be more profitable because of the lower costs of
this type of niche tourism, while in case of the short-term attraction
of the large number of tourists for some specific event, the higher
costs will bring higher profits compared to mass tourism.
Thus, it is possible to conclude that technological and
socio-cultural changes, including the development of transportation
system, telecommunications and information technologies, growing
economic and cultural cooperation between countries, the growing
popularity of western culture in the world, contributed to the
consistent change of tourism industry. Tourism industry ceased to be the
industry oriented on elite, instead it became the emerging industry
oriented on mass-customers. At the same time, the aforementioned
changes influenced target destinations since people could travel not
only within their countries and regions where they lived, but, today,
people can travel anywhere they want because they have technological
opportunities to travel worldwide and costs of traveling decreased
substantially compared to the early 20th century. As a result, today,
exotic countries, including African, Eastern-Asian and other remote
countries became major destinations for tourists from the US, Europe,
Canada, Japan and other developed countries, which comprise the core
of tourists in the world. In all probability, tourism industry will
keep growing in the future and tourists from developed countries will
be more inclined to green tourism, while tourists from developing
countries may be more interested in educational tourism, which allows
them to visit new countries and attend language schools, for instance.
Finally, taking into account the current economic globalization, it is
possible to forecast the development of business tourism in the future.
