Have you ever wondered how the first trip happened?
What is the real history of travel and tourism?
How the heck did travel and tourism begin?
I have always been intrigued by it but had never taken the time to research how the first travel in humanity’s history happened, until now, when I realised this is the most logical way to start a travel blog.
History can be difficult to understand and absorb at times.
To spare you the effort, I’ll summarise hours of my research so you can discover how travel and tourism originated and how they have shaped travelling as we know it today.
What geology teaches us about travel and tourism
– And it’s mind-blowing!
If I haven’t mentioned it already, I have long internal dialogues.
As soon as one side of my brain kept pestering me, asking about the origin of travelling, the other side immediately responded, thinking about our Neanderthal cousins.
Wouldn’t seasonal changes and their saga for food be valid reasons for their groups to travel long distances?
And this, my friends, is my favourite discovery while writing this post: some archaeologists believe Neanderthals may have crossed the Mediterranean by boat more than 100,000 years ago! It’s still hotly debated, but stone tools found on islands like Crete are hard to explain otherwise.
Even wilder, New Scientist reports that stone tools about one million years old were found on Flores Island, Indonesia, suggesting that Homo erectus may have crossed the sea long before Neanderthals even existed.
Can you believe it? 🤯
Imagine yourself on an improvised boat, without a map or a compass, simply running into the unknown without a clue where you’re going.
Would you be brave enough to do something like this?
History of travel as tourism
With me, my friend, you’ll always have access to the complete gossip.
Do you know the origin of the word “tourism” and what other terms have been used in its place throughout history?
Tourism” first appeared in English in 1811, from “tour”, which comes via Latin from the Greek tornos, a tool for drawing circles. A tour is, literally, a round trip.
Despite being totally into etymology — “a little less conversation, a little more action, please”.
Historically, how and where did tourism start, and how did it become so popular?
Genetic evidence shows that Neanderthals travelled far beyond Europe and Western Asia, all the way to Siberia, where they met and bred with another archaic human group, the Denisovans. In 2018, scientists even identified a girl, nicknamed “Denny”, whose mother was Neanderthal and whose father was Denisovan.
These incredible discoveries reveal they were creative and intelligent people with highly developed survival skills.
Yet, they did not travel for leisure, or at least there are no recorded instances of science being aware of such travel.
A brief(ish) timeline:
Travel and tourism in Ancient times
So, how did people start travelling for fun?
Ancient Greeks were already on the road for the Olympic Games and to consult the oracle at Delphi, and the historian Herodotus toured Egypt in the 5th century BC, taking notes like a proto travel blogger.
But the same people who conveniently popularised the roads turned leisure travel into a lifestyle: the Romans, specifically (but not surprisingly), the rich ones.
The first Roman roads were constructed in the earliest days of the Roman Republic (from approximately 509 BC to 27 BC) and expanded during the Roman Empire (from 27 BC to 476 AD).
They were built mainly for military purposes, but over time they also became routes for trade, communication, and transport, and for the wealthy to access their summer villas for holidays.
Through tourism, the Romans began to learn about other cultures, literature, cuisine, art, and more.
Travel and tourism in Medieval times
Spirituality and tourism are intertwined with our society’s history.
In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage became very popular among Christians, Buddhists and Muslims.
Some of the most detailed early travel records in China come from Buddhist pilgrims. One of the first, Faxian, set out for India in 399 AD, already in his 60s, to find Buddhist texts and learn the language. Xuanzang and Yijing followed in the 7th century.
Their accounts mixed geography and topography with songs and philosophical poems.
Asian Studies estimates that one of the first Chinese travellers was a 60-year-old man named Faxian, a pilgrim monk who visited India to learn the language and explore many temples to understand Buddhist spiritual beliefs.
Modern Tourism or Grand Tour
What is the history of travel as tourism?
As we know today, travelling for leisure has its roots in the Grand Tour, which was (big news!) an exclusive activity for upper-class European men. 🤡
One of the earliest people to record a Eurotrip was a dude named Władysław Vasa, no less than the King of Poland.
It happened in 1624-25, while he was still a Prince, and he travelled to learn about military weapons and war tactics around Europe.
Only in March 1842, Ida Pfeiffer set off on the journey that would make her one of the first famous female solo travel writers.
She lied to her friends and family, saying she would travel to Constantinople so they wouldn’t worry or drag her off the ship.
The Austrian was indeed going to Constantinople, but from there she was already intending to go further, as far as the Red Sea. She decided to stay away for nine months.
The 19th century saw the introduction of the first trains and travel agencies.
In 1841, an English cabinet-maker and preacher named Thomas Cook chartered a train to take around 500 people from Leicester to Loughborough for a temperance meeting. It was such a hit that he turned it into a business: affordable, all-inclusive trips for the working and middle classes of the Industrial Revolution.
His son, John Mason Cook, later joined him, and Thomas Cook & Son took travellers across Europe, Egypt and beyond. No wonder Thomas is often called “the father of modern tourism”.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, tourism reached a new level with the rise of buses and cars.
In 1881, the SS Ceylon became the first worldwide cruise to depart from Liverpool for a ten-month journey.
It passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, across the Arabian and Indian Seas, and then via the South China Sea into the Pacific, before heading down the west coast of the Americas to round Cape Horn.
In the 20th century, particularly during World War I, so many people migrated that it became difficult for governments to determine their origins and repatriate them to their countries of origin.
As this National Geographic article shows in detail, things were getting so out of control that the League of Nations recognised the urgency of creating what we now know as a passport and secured the United States’ full support to limit the inflow of immigrants.
Why is travel so important in human history?
In summary, travelling has shaped humanity, facilitating commerce, cultural exchange, exploration, migration, religious diffusion, education, and leisure.
Historic routes, classic destinations, and practices established in early times continue to attract travellers to this day.
The evolution of our transport system has made travelling more accessible and efficient for modern society.
Does the history of travel still connect
with today’s tourism? How?
Yes, it does. We have inherited historic investments in infrastructure, such as roads, buses, hotels, and railway systems.
Due to interconnected global networks, today’s travellers can access a broader range of destinations and experiences.
We cannot deny or minimise the impact of travelling as a means of survival, an impulse for change, or a source of inspiration for humans.
However, this practice has also impacted native people and our environment, and the time for action is now.
The historical exploitation of resources in tourism has led to a contemporary focus on sustainable practices, reminding the industry of the lessons we’ve learned about environmental and cultural preservation.
Crystal ball…
What is the future of tourism?
How has tourism evolved?
In this new technological era, tourism workers can analyse travel history to better understand and adapt their methods to modern society’s behaviours and demands.
They can also utilise AI tools to analyse feedback and identify emerging behaviours, helping them maintain a strong market ranking.
To enhance our clients’ experiences, we can utilise virtual immersions, digital storytelling, interactive content, robots, high-tech exhibits, and new technologies that can be easily integrated into customer service, enabling our services to evolve.
Still, we cannot ignore the significant impact of our actions on our planet and its ecosystems, simply because we profit from them.
We must transform passive travel into active travel, promoting tourism that educates and repairs the beautiful planet we love exploring.
No matter how digital our society has become, authentic experiences and deep connections with nature and people will always be essential human necessities.
Tourism promises a dynamic, evolving landscape shaped by trends and innovations.
Sustainability will be at the forefront in 2026, with travellers increasingly seeking eco-friendly options that minimise their environmental impact
Resilience and flexibility will be key elements in the future of tourism as the industry adapts to global changes, including economic fluctuations and climate challenges.
With an increasing focus on cultural awareness and sustainability, the future of travelling is set to be more conscious, personalised, and technology-driven.
If Einstein taught us that mass and energy are two sides of the same thing, maybe that’s true for people too: where the masses go, the energy and the movement follow.
Let’s observe and learn from our history to create a new and powerful movement of reparation, equity, and respect for our home and others, reshaping the history of travel and tourism and creating experiences that are more than memorable – They are meaningful.
