Tourism through the Ages - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 47

1959 American Airlines ies the first transcontinental B-707 flight from Los Angeles to New York.

1961 The U.S. Congress creates the U.S. Travel Service.

1964 American Airlines inaugurates the SABRE computerized reservation system (CRS).

1970 Pan American World Airways ies the first Boeing 747 ''jumbo jet'' plane with

352 passengers from New York to London.

1978 British Airways and Air France begin passenger service on the supersonic Concorde airplane.

The U.S. Airline Deregulation Act is passed.

1990 The Berlin Wall falls.

1994 The wherein the most complex trip can be planned and arranged by a single

phone call from the traveler; might involve numerous airlines, a cruise ship, sightseeing
tours, a local rental car, other ground services, and entertainment

'' age of travel, ''

all reserved by amazing
computerized reservation systems worldwide, the entire trip, except for incidentals, paid for
by a single credit card.

—

1994 The undersea railway opens, providing rail travel under the English Channel

between England and France.

'' Chunnel ''

1995 Delta Air Lines introduces commission caps, putting a ceiling on payments to travel agents

for domestic tickets. Denver International Airport (DIA) opens as the first new U.S. airport in
20 years.
The first White House Conference on Travel and Tourism is held.

1996 Alaska Airlines becomes the first carrier to accept online bookings and take payment

through a Web site on the Internet.

1998 Hong Kong opens new $20 billion airport.

2001 Dennis Tito takes the world s first paid space vacation.

September 11 attacks on the United States.

'

2003 The Concorde is retired.

2006 Anousheh Ansari is the first woman to take a paid space trip.

2007 Singapore Airlines launched the Airbus A380 in commercial service.

2009 The travel industry took a tremendous hit in 2008 and 2009 as the Great Recession took

hold in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere and kept travelers at home.

2011 ANA launched the Boeing 787 in commercial service.

SUMMARY

Early explorers, traders, and shippers laid the groundwork upon which our modern age of travel
is based. Human needs to arrange trips and facilitate movements have not changed over the
ages: building roads, vehicles, and ships and providing overnight rest accommodations go back into
antiquity. The brave explorers who went into the unknown made available to their contemporaries
knowledge of what the world was really like.
Over the centuries, inventions such as the sandglass to measure time, the line to measure

distance, and the compass to gauge direction made possible successful sea exploration. The roads of
early Persia and those of the Roman Empire were used for exploration, for military purposes, for
transporting tribute, and for pleasure trips and recreation.
Subsequent inventions of better roads, stagecoaches, passenger railroads, passenger ships,
automobiles, motorcoaches, and airplanes created an ever speedier and more pleasant means of
travel. Hotels and inns became more commodious and comfortable, with the added convenience of
location, services, and appointments.
However, the conditions for an ever-expanding tourism market are little different now than from
Roman times. Tourism will flourish if prospective travelers are convinced that they will be safe and
comfortable and well rewarded by their trip. When the Roman Empire declined, tourism declined. The
wealthy class was reduced, roads deteriorated, and the countryside was plagued by bandits and

'' log ''