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E A R LY T O U R I S M B U S I N E S S E S 7

that economists have tended to concentrate on studying the economic sustainability of

tourism whereas sociologists, anthropologists and geographers have tended to focus
more on the sociocultural and environmental impacts of tourists. Although this book
emphasises the managerial dimension of tourism businesses, it does not focus solely on
economic impacts, positive or otherwise, at the expense of sociocultural and environ-
mental impacts. It is to the emergence of the first businesses which might be considered
as tourism businesses we now turn.

Early tourism businesses

The first businesses which we might view from a modern perspective as being tourism
businesses emerge in two strands in medieval times. Historically the first of these that
arose in Europe were associated with a cultural and educational phenomenon – The
Grand Tour. This differed from our view of what might be considered conventional
tourism in that the motivation was educational rather than for pleasure purposes. The
sons of rich families were sent to broaden their education by visiting major centres of
European culture and learning such as Paris, Vienna and Florence. It was common to
employ a guide to accompany the travelling student, this guide acting as mentor, per-
sonal tutor and tourist guide. In this last capacity we can recognise a function which still
offers employment to large numbers of people today. However, the ‘Grand Tourists’
came from a tiny elite of medieval society and often undertook Grand Tours lasting up
to three or four years, a form of tourism which is effectively extinct today.
The second strand does, however, show some characteristics through which we might
see it as a form of tourism recognisable as such today. As a wealthy middle class began to
develop, with time and money available to travel, in many European countries spas began
to emerge as ‘tourist destinations’, with visitors coming to spend two or three weeks to
take the waters. While some undoubtedly came to seek medical treatments as cures for
various ills, a large number started to come to these spas not only for some generally pre-
ventative medical treatment but also because of the lifestyle and status which started to
emerge at the more successful spas. This form of tourism is still easily recognisable in spas
in Belgium (the very name ‘spa’ comes from the town of Spa in Belgium), Germany,
Austria and Switzerland, although in the United Kingdom (UK) it is perhaps difficult to
imagine places such as Tunbridge Wells, Leamington Spa or Droitwich as health resorts
which employed a master of ceremonies to arrange social activities which would give each
of them a competitive edge. Today most inland spas in the UK show their origins mainly in
the form of trying to develop heritage tourism – the best example of this is at the appropri-
ately named spa of Bath, where the taking of waters re-emerged after years of inactivity
following the withdrawal of the Romans in the early fifth century.
As the inland mineral-water spas started to decline, so a new form of ‘spa’ began to
emerge – the coastal resort. Again, there was an emphasis on the health-giving aspect of
visiting such a spa, with the added attraction of recreational activity in the form of
swimming in the sea, but the social and recreational dimension of making such a visit
remained to the fore.
It is with the growth of what are now considered traditional seaside resorts that we
can clearly see the beginnings of today’s mass tourism. While the inland spas had catered
for a wealthy middle-class tourist, it is to the seaside resorts that working-class tourists
first went in large numbers.