Introduction: The 5 Ages of Tourism In our current era, travel requires nothing more than a computer and a couple hundred dollars in the bank. Anyone can simply get on a computer and buy a ticket for the next day to go anywhere in the world he or she wants. Travel has never been faster or more convenient as it is today, and that convenience is what leads to tourism. Tourism is the largest industry in the world when all of its subgroups are combined; it is difficult to come up with one definition for tourism, but it can be looked at as: The commercial organization and operation of vacations and visits to places of interest, or as listed by the World Tourism Organization: a person traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. Both these definitions for the most part capture the essence of tourism. Throughout history there have been a lot of developments that led up to what we can call “modern tourism”. The most definitive developments have been split up on to five ages called The Five Ages of Hospitality. These ages consist of: The Pre-Industrial Revolution, The Railway Age, The Automobile Age, The Jet Aircraft Age, and the Cruise ship Age. It is difficult to pinpoint the beginning of travel but it is assumed that since the beginning of humanity people were traveling. All travel that took place before any type of engine was invented can be classified as The Preindustrial Age. As early as 312 A.D. Romans built a 100mile road the Bay of Naples because it was a common place for them to visit. The fact that the Romans traveled 100 miles away from home for leisure qualifies them as tourists. This kind of traveling was common from the 1st- 12th centuries. Even though Islam and other religions were born prior to 700C.E., religious pilgrimages to Mecca, and Rome did not really start till the early
Introduction: The 5 Ages of Tourism In our current era, travel requires nothing more than a computer and a couple hundred dollars in the bank. Anyone can simply get on a computer and buy a ticket for the next day to go anywhere in the world he or she wants. Travel has never been faster or more convenient as it is today, and that convenience is what leads to tourism. Tourism is the largest industry in the world when all of its subgroups are combined; it is difficult to come up with one definition for tourism, but it can be looked at as: The commercial organization and operation of vacations and visits to places of interest, or as listed by the World Tourism Organization: a person traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. Both these definitions for the most part capture the essence of tourism. Throughout history there have been a lot of developments that led up to what we can call “modern tourism”. The most definitive developments have been split up on to five ages called The Five Ages of Hospitality. These ages consist of: The Pre-Industrial Revolution, The Railway Age, The Automobile Age, The Jet Aircraft Age, and the Cruise ship Age. It is difficult to pinpoint the beginning of travel but it is assumed that since the beginning of humanity people were traveling. All travel that took place before any type of engine was invented can be classified as The Preindustrial Age. As early as 312 A.D. Romans built a 100mile road the Bay of Naples because it was a common place for them to visit. The fact that the Romans traveled 100 miles away from home for leisure qualifies them as tourists. This kind of traveling was common from the 1st- 12th centuries. Even though Islam and other religions were born prior to 700C.E., religious pilgrimages to Mecca, and Rome did not really start till the early