Business
TRAVEL
AS YOU LIKE IT
Shannon Frandsen discusses the history of tourism and how several Thailand-based entrepreneurs are riding the wave of bespoke and targeted travel into the future .
“ To travel is to live .”
— Hans Christian Andersen
Travel has been integral to human life for 2 million years , ever since the earliest of our kind in East Africa first left for North Africa , Europe and Asia . From there , to humid jungles , rugged coastlines and arid deserts , our nomadic ancestors spread across the world . Some died along the way . And others Mother Nature would weed out , if their genetics did not bode well in newly-settled climes . Because of this , humans evolved in different ways , and it ’ s believed that at least six human species once concurrently inhabited the Earth .
Somehow , Homo Sapiens became the last human species standing . While we may never know the precise reason why or how Sapiens proved to be the fittest , one thing is for certain : Humans evolved the way they did , in large part , because of travel .
Fast forward a few ages later , and travel is still a central part of our lives . It is now completely different , of course . Modern travel is infinitely more comfortable , a lot less dangerous , and much easier to arrange , due to a number of factors , including mass transport , increasing wealth , and most recently the internet . But if we had to pinpoint a single father of modern tourism , it would be a relatively recent ancestor : an Englishman born in the early 1800s , named Thomas Cook .
Cook was a cabinet-maker turned tourism innovator and entrepreneur . A religious man , he believed that many societal ills could be cured if people abstained from alcohol and furthered their education . One day in 1841 , Cook considered using the railways to aid his mission of social reform . This idea lead to the departure of his first organized group tour , in which 500 passengers gathered for a simple , 12-mile train journey at the rate of one shilling per ticket .
With the success of this maiden voyage , Cook planned more excursions : first , domestically in England ; then to Europe ; and finally , around the world . A Victorian carpenter ’ s random thought thus gave rise to the Thomas Cook Group ( a global company now worth 1.6 billion USD ), and to mass tourism as we know it today . By the 1950s , the post-WWII travel industry underwent a shift toward package tours , which wrapped transport and accommodation into a single , low-cost bundle . Travel quickly became the most affordable it had ever been , and those with cash to spare flocked to sun-drenched beaches and other tourist hotspots . Package tours reigned as a popular form of travel until the early 2000s , when consumers took travel into their own hands , booking accommodation and budget flights online .
In 2017 , the popularity and convenience of tourism-related websites and apps continue to encourage independent travel bookings . Along with this “ do it yourself ” streak has come a craving to visit places off the beaten path : According to a 2016 survey by www . booking . com , 47 percent of polled travelers would like to vacation in destinations “ their friends have never been to before .” This could indicate some travelers are still willing to go through agencies , if it means their trips will be a bit more unusual , or more in line with their tastes .
For many , it ’ s no longer enough to hit the biggest attractions or retreat to wherever the sand is white and sunshine bright . Modern travelers want to reach the far-flung , untouched corners of the Earth , those rare frontiers few have explored — and fewer still have Instagrammed . But to do so is a challenge : With much of the planet already charted , plotted and mapped , this desire is not so easily fulfilled .
One way forward for 21 st -century wanderers is to seek enriching , satisfying experiences and unique stories , wherever they may go . And in Thailand , this is the lead several expat upstarts are following . They are building tourism businesses in a sharing economy , by catering to the identities and requests of their increasingly knowledgable and fastidious clientele .
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