Know the developments that have shaped the present day travel and tourism sector - Travel and Tourism - page 39

Know the developments that have
shaped the present day travel and
tourism sector

SECTION 3

Travel for purposes of trade, religion, leisure, education
and to fi ght in battles goes far back in history, but for
the purposes of this unit we will concentrate on key
developments in travel and tourism from the 1960s to
the present day.

dramaticall y in t he last 50 years. Figure 1.13 lists the key
mileston e s in the development of travel and tourism
since the 1960s.

Figure 1.13 shows us that tourism has grown into a
major economic activity, both in the UK and worldwide.
If we look at the fi gures for international arrivals, i.e.
the number of people travelling around the world for
leisure, business and VFR purposes, this has grown
from just 25 million in 1950 to more than 880 million
in 2009. Figure 1.14 charts this growth in international

Key developments

Mass tourism, i.e. the movement of large numbers
of people across the world for tourism, has grown

1965 Lord Thoms o n t ook the fi rst steps towards

creating Thomson Holidays

1998 25.7 million overseas came to Britain, spending

more than £12 billion

1968 Firs t cr o ss-Channel hovercraft service introduced 1999 UK government's tourism strategy Tomorrow's

Tourism launched

1969 T h e Development of Tourism Act established the

English, Wales and Scottish Tourist Boards, plus the
BTA (British Tourist Authority) - now VisitBritain

2002 UK people made more than 59 million visits

abroad, including 40 million holidays

1970 Introduction of the Boeing 747 'jumbo jet' 2002 Car ownership in the UK reached 22 million

1970 Car ownership in the UK reached 11 million 2003 Concorde taken out of service

1974 The then number one UK tour operator Clarkson

went into liquidation

2003 50 per cent of UK households had access to the

Internet

1976 Concorde came into service 2003 Value of UK tourism reached £74 billion,

employing 2.1 million people

1982 UK people made 20 million visits of all kinds

abroad

2003 24.7 million overseas visitors came to Britain

1986 The number of UK package holidaymakers

topped
10 million for the fi rst time

2004 Worldwide international tourist arrivals reached

760 million

2004 27.5 million overseas tourists visited Britain

1989 Worldwide international tourist arrivals topped

400 million

2005 Airbus A380 'super jumbo' aircraft unveiled

2006 Worldwide international tourist arrivals reached a

record 840 million 1989 Tim Berners-Lee invented the Internet

1991 The Intasun holiday company ceased trading 2006 Over 32 million overseas tourists visited Britain

1994 Channel Tunnel opened 2007 Thomas Cook and MyTravel, and TUI/Thomson

and First Choice, announced they were to merge

1994 easyJet launched

2009 International tourist arrivals reach 880 million

1994 National Lottery launched in the UK

Fig 1.13 - Milestones in the development of
travel and tourism since the 1960s