4 articles
History Lessons
How the places on this site got here, and how travel itself did.
How the Guidebook Was Invented
Two rival publishers in the 1830s worked out that travellers would pay for practical information, and in doing so created the idea that a place could be ranked with stars.
The Invention of the Holiday
Paid leave, the seaside, the railway excursion and the charter flight. Travel for pleasure by ordinary people is about 150 years old and every stage of it was fought over.
Why People Travel, and What They Say It Is For
Pilgrimage, education, health, escape and status. The stated reason for travelling has changed every century and the actual reasons have barely moved.
What Tourism Does to a Place
The economics of visitors arriving in numbers: what it pays for, what it prices out, and why the same pattern repeats from Venice to Bali to Barcelona.