History of Tourism

The earliest forms of leisure tourism can be traced as far back as the Babylonian and Egyptian empires. A museum of “historic antiquities” was open to the public in the sixth century BC in Babylon, while the Egyptians held many religious festivals attracting not only the devout, but many who came to see the famous buildings and works of art in the cities. The local towns accommodated tourists by providing services such as: vendors of food and drink, guides, hawkers of souvenirs, touts and prostitutes. 

From around the same date, Greek tourists travelled to visit the sites of healing gods. Because the independent city-states of ancient Greece had no central authority to order the construction of roads, most of these tourists travelled by water, hence seaports prospered. 
The lands of the Mediterranean Sea produced a remarkable evolution in travel. People travel for trade, commerce, religious purposes, festivals, medical treatment, or education developed at an early date. 

Guidebooks became available as early as the fourth century BC, covering a vast area of destinations, i.e. Athens, Sparta and Troy. Pausanias, a Greek travel writer, produced a noted “description of Greece” between AD 160 and 180, which, in its critical evaluation of facilities and destinations, acted as a model for later writers. Advertisements, in the form of signs directing visitors to wayside inns, are also known from this period. However, under Romans rule is where international travel became first important. With no foreign borders between England and Syria, and with the seas safe from piracy due to the Roman patrols, conditions favoring travel had arrived. Roman coinage was acceptable everywhere, and Latin was the common language. Romans travelled to Sicily, Greece, Rhodes, and Troy, Egypt and from the third century AD, to the Holy Land. 

Domestic tourism also flourished within the Roman Empire. Second homes were built by the wealthy within easy travelling distance...

2000 years Before Christ, in India and Mesopotamia

Travel for trade was an important feature since the beginning of civilisation. The port at Lothal was an important centre of trade between the Indus valley civilisation and the Sumerian civilisation.

600 BC and thereafter

The earliest form of leisure tourism can be traced as far back as the Babylonian and Egyptian empires. A museum of historic antiquities was open to the public in Babylon. The Egyptians held many religious festivals that attracted the devout and many people who thronged to cities to see famous works of arts and buildings.

In India, as elsewhere, kings travelled for empire building. The Brahmins and the common people travelled for religious purposes. Thousands of Brahmins and the common folk thronged Sarnath and Sravasti to be greeted by the inscrutable smile of the Enlightened One- the Buddha.

500 BC, the Greek civilisation

The Greek tourists travelled to sites of healing gods. The Greeks also enjoyed their religious festivals that increasingly became a pursuit of pleasure, and in particular, sport. Athens had become an important site for travellers visiting the major sights such as the Parthenon. Inns were established in large towns and seaports to provide for travellers' needs. Courtesans were the principal entertainment offered.

  
This era also saw the birth of travel writing. Herodotus was the worlds' first travel writer. Guidebooks also made their appearance in the fourth century covering destinations such as Athens, Sparta and Troy. Advertisements in the way of signs directing people to inns are also known in this period.

The Roman Empire

With no foreign borders between England and Syria, and with safe seas from piracy due to Roman patrols, the conditions favouring travel had arrived. First class roads coupled with staging inns (precursors of modern motels) promoted the growth of travel. Romans travelled to Sicily, Greece, Rhodes, Troy and Egypt. From 300 AD travel to the Holy Land also became very popular. The Romans introduced their guidebooks (itineraria), listing hotels with symbols to identify quality.

Second homes were built by the rich near Rome, occupied primarily during springtime social season. The most fashionable resorts were found around Bay of Naples. Naples attracted the retired and the intellectuals, Cumae attracted the fashionable while Baiae attracted the down market tourist, becoming noted for its rowdiness, drunkenness and all- night singing.

Travel and Tourism were to never attain a similar status until the modern times.

In the Middle Ages

Travel became difficult and dangerous as people travelled for business or for a sense of obligation and duty.

Adventurers sought fame and fortune through travel. The Europeans tried to discover a sea route to India for trade purposes and in this fashion discovered America and explored parts of Africa. Strolling players and minstrels made their living by performing as they travelled. Missionaries, saints, etc. travelled to spread the sacred word.

Leisure travel in India was introduced by the Mughals. The Mughal kings built luxurious palaces and enchanting gardens at places of natural and scenic beauty (for example Jehangir travelled to Kashmir drawn by its beauty.

Travel for empire building and pilgrimage was a regular feature.

The Grand Tour

From the early seventeenth century, a new form of tourism was developed as a direct outcome of the Renaissance. Under the reign of Elizabeth 1, young men seeking positions at court were encouraged to travel to continent to finish their education. Later, it became customary for education of gentleman to be completed by a 'Grand Tour' accompanied by a tutor and lasting for three or more years. While ostensibly educational, the pleasure seeking men travelled to enjoy life and culture of Paris, Venice or Florence. By the end of eighteenth century, the custom had become institutionalised in the gentry. Gradually pleasure travel displaced educational travel. The advent of Napoleonic wars inhibited travel for around 30 years and led to the decline of the custom of the Grand Tour.

The development of the spas

The spas grew in popularity in the seventeenth century in Britain and a little later in the European Continent as awareness about the therapeutic qualities of mineral water increased. Taking the cure in the spa rapidly acquired the nature of a status symbol. The resorts changed in character as pleasure became the motivation of visits. They became an important centre of social life for the high society.

In the nineteenth century they were gradually replaced by the seaside resort.

The sun, sand and sea resorts

The sea water became associated with health benefits. The earliest visitors therefore drank it and did not bathe in it. By the early eighteenth century, small fishing resorts sprung up in England for visitors who drank and immersed themselves in sea water. With the overcrowding of inland spas, the new sea side resorts grew in popularity. The introduction of steamboat services in 19th century introduced more resorts in the circuit. The seaside resort gradually became a social meeting point

Role of the industrial revolution in promoting travel in the west

 The rapid urbanisation due to industrialisation led to mass immigration in cities. These people were lured into travel to escape their environment to places of natural beauty, often to the countryside they had come from change of routine from a physically and psychologically stressful jobs to a leisurely pace in countryside.

Highlights of travel in the nineteenth century 

·        Advent of railway initially catalysed business travel and later leisure travel. Gradually special trains were chartered to only take leisure travel to their destinations.

·        Package tours organised by entrepreneurs such as Thomas Cook.

·        The European countries indulged in a lot of business travel often to their colonies to buy raw material and sell finished goods.

·        The invention of photography acted as a status-enhancing tool and promoted overseas travel.

·        The formation of first hotel chains; pioneered by the railway companies who established great railway terminus hotels.

·        Seaside resorts began to develop different images as for day-trippers, elite, for gambling.

·        Other types of destinations-ski resorts, hill stations, mountaineering spots etc.

·        The technological development in steamships promoted travel between North America and Europe.

·        The Suez Canal opened direct sea routes to India and the Far East.

·        The cult of the guidebook followed the development of photography.

Tourism in the Twentieth Century

The First World War gave first hand experience of countries and aroused a sense of curiosity about international travel among less well off sector for the first time. The large scale of migration to the US meant a lot of travel across the Atlantic. Private motoring began to encourage domestic travel in Europe and the west.  The sea side resort became annual family holiday destination in Britain and increased in popularity in other countries of the west. Hotels proliferated in these destinations.

The birth of air travel and after

The wars increased interest in international travel. This interest was given the shape of mass tourism by the aviation industry. The surplus of aircrafts and growth of private airlines aided the expansion of air travel. The aircraft had become comfortable, faster and steadily cheaper for overseas travel. With the introduction of Boeing 707 jet in 1958, the age of air travel for the masses had arrived. The beginning of chartered flights boosted the package tour market and led to the establishment of organised mass tourism. The Boeing 747, a 400 seat craft, brought the cost of travel down sharply. The seaside resorts in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Caribbean were the initial hot spots of mass tourism.

A corresponding growth in hotel industry led to the establishment of world-wide chains. Tourism also began to diversify as people began to flock alternative destinations in the 70s. Nepal and India received a throng of tourists lured by Hare Krishna movement and transcendental meditation. The beginning of individual travel in a significant volume only occurred in the 80s. Air travel also led to a continuous growth in business travel especially with the emergence of the MNCs.

Contributions of Entrepreneurship in Society

Entrepreneurs have much to give to society. Their contribution to the welfare of society is of high order. A business person apart from making money for him or herself also helps the society in many ways financially and socially.

Financially, of course the respective country benefits by the business carried out by entrepreneurs. At the same time many of the welfare activities of the businessman improve the living conditions of the people of that particular society.

How does an entrepreneur help the society?

Donations – A business person donates a lot of money for charity purposes. From his or her earnings, he or she would like to help the downtrodden and try to improve their living conditions.

Charitable institutions – A businessman or woman sets up various educational, medical and vocational training institutions to provide the less privileged with benefits which they normally cannot afford. The fees may be less or waived in the case of a meritorious student. Hospitals are also run by these charitable institutions.

Sponsorship – Many business people sponsor a candidate for higher education or fund a child in an orphanage. In fact, many orphanages are backed by these business people. Scholarships are provided to a poor student for him or her to avail of better educational opportunities.

Welfare programs – A businessman or woman financially contributes to various welfare programs, like helping the blind, orphans, widow etc. In times of crisis, they help by donating items such as blankets, clothes, medicines etc.

Advisors to respective government – Many successful business people participate in government activities in order to promote the well-being of the citizens. The government often seeks their advice on certain social and economic activities.

Business is essential for the progress of a nation. A successful businessman or woman is an asset to the society. He or she can contribute to the wellbeing of a society in several ways that improve the living conditions of the people.

Break Even Analysis

                                                                                                

If you can accurately forecast your costs and sales, conducting a break even analysis is a matter of simple math. A company has broken even when its total sales or revenues equal its total expenses. At the break even point, no profit has been made, nor have any losses been incurred. This calculation is critical for any business owner, because the break even point is the lower limit of profit when determining margins.

Defining Costs: - There are several types of costs to consider when conducting a break even analysis, so here’s a refresher on the most relevant.

·         Fixed costs: These are costs that are the same regardless of how many items you sell. All start-up costs, such as rent, insurance and computers, are considered fixed costs since you have to make these outlays before you sell your first item.

·         Variable costs: These are recurring costs that you absorb with each unit you sell. For example, if you were operating a greeting card store where you had to buy greeting cards from a stationary company for $1 each, then that dollar represents a variable cost. As your business and sales grow, you can begin appropriating labor and other items as variable costs if it makes sense for your industry.

Setting a Price: - This is critical to your break even analysis; you can’t calculate likely revenues if you don’t know what the unit price will be. Unit price refers to the amount you plan to charge customers to buy a single unit of your product.

Psychology of Pricing: Pricing can involve a complicated decision-making process on the part of the consumer, and there is plenty of research on the marketing and psychology of how consumers perceive price. Take the time to review articles on pricing strategy and the psychology of pricing before choosing how to price your product or service.

Pricing Methods: There are several different schools of thought on how to treat price when conducting a break even analysis. It is a mix of quantitative and qualitative factors. If you’ve created a brand new, unique product, you should be able to charge a premium price, but if you’re entering a competitive industry, you’ll have to keep the price in line with the going rate or perhaps even offer a discount to get customers to switch to your company.

One common strategy is "cost-based pricing", which calls for figuring out how much it will cost to produce one unit of an item and setting the price to that amount plus a predetermined profit margin. This approach is frowned upon since it allows competitors who can make the product for less than you to easily undercut you on price. Another method, referred to by David G. Bakken of Harris Interactive as "price-based costing" encourages business owners to "start with the price that consumers are willing to pay (when they have competitive alternatives) and whittle down costs to meet that price." That way if you encounter new competition, you can lower your price and still turn a profit. This presentation from Harris Interactive offers a further explanation of these methods, and About.com offers an overview of common pricing methods.

The formula: To conduct breakeven analysis, take your fixed costs, divided by your price, minus your variable costs. As an equation, this is defined as:

Breakeven Point = Fixed Costs / (Unit Selling Price - Variable Costs)

This calculation will let you know how many units of a product you’ll need to sell to break even. Once you’ve reached that point, you’ve recovered all costs associated with producing your product (both variable and fixed). Above the break even point, every additional unit sold increases profit by the amount of the unit contribution margin, which is defined as the amount each unit contributes to covering fixed costs and increasing profits. As an equation, this is defined as:

Unit Contribution Margin = Sales Price - Variable Costs

Recording this information in a spreadsheet will allow you to easily make adjustments as costs change over time, as well as play with different price options and easily calculate the resulting break even point. You could use a program such as Excel’s Goal Seek, if you wanted to give yourself a goal of a certain profit, say $1 million, and then work backwards to see how many units you would need to sell to hit that number.

Limitations: - It is important to understand what the results of your break even analysis are telling you. If, for example, the calculation reports that you would break even when you sold your 500th unit, decide whether this seems feasible. If you don’t think you can sell 500 units within a reasonable period of time (dictated by your financial situation, patience and personal expectations), then this may not be the right business for you to go into. If you think 500 units is possible but would take a while, try lowering your price and calculating and analyzing the new break even point. 

Alternative tourism

Alternative tourism can be defined as ‘forms of tourism that set out to be consistent with natural, social and community values and which allow both hosts and guests to enjoy positive and worthwhile interaction and shared experiences’. It involves traveling to relatively remote, undisturbed natural areas with the objective of admiring, studying and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals and cultural attributes. It also considers the conservation of the environment and sustenance and well-being of local people. Further, clients are expected to be individuals. Accommodations are locally owned and small-scale. In general, alternative tourism is an alternative to the mass standard tourism as philosophy and attitude. The main accent in these travels is the preserved natural environment, authentic atmosphere and cuisine, and local traditions. The alternative forms of tourism combine tourist products or separate tourist services, different from the mass tourism by means of supply, organization and the human resource involved. These are rural, ecotourism, adventure (biking, horseback riding, snowshoeing, ski mountaineering, rafting, diving, caving, climbing), thematic tourism – connected with the cultural and historical heritage, the esoteric, religion, wine, traditional cuisine, ethnography and traditional music and handicrafts.

Features of Alternative Tourism

- The attempted preservation, protection and enhancement of the quality of the resource base which is fundamental to tourism itself.

- The fostering and active promotion of development, in relation to additional visitor attractions and infrastructure, with roots in the specific locale and developed in ways that complement local attributes.

- The endorsement of infrastructure, hence economic growth, when and where it improves local conditions and not where it is destructive or exceeds the carrying capacity of the natural environment or the limits of the social environment whereby the quality of community life is adversely affected.

- Tourism which attempts to minimize its impact upon the environment, is ecologically sound, and avoids the negative impacts of many large-scale tourism developments undertaken in areas that have not previously been developed.

- An emphasis on not only ecological sustainability, but also cultural sustainability. That is, tourism which does not damage the culture of the host community, encouraging a respect for the cultural realities experienced by the tourists through education and organized 'encounters'.