Tourism as a Means of Colonialism - Essay Example

Tourism as a Means of Colonialism Without the advances of the industrial revolution, much of the organization of mass tourism that took place in the mid-nineteenth century would not have been possible. At the same time, much of the mass tourism that took place had the effect of imposing a largely European ideal upon those lands most traveled to. As Rana Kabbani wrote, the primary function of travel was to impose power over the lands and peoples to which one traveled. In order to gain the riches and benefits brought in by the travel industry, many countries found it necessary to allow the construction of the instruments of mass tourism in the form of mass transit. Mass tourism depended upon easier and faster modes of travel as well as the emerging concept of ‘leisure’ time, the creation of disposable income through the urban factories and the media possibilities of advertising and widespread distribution of literature. One of the major means of obtaining power over a region was the necessary development of a railroad system as a means of encouraging both trade and tourism. With the railroad, “a given spatial distance, traditionally covered in a fixed amount of travel time, could suddenly be dealt with in a fraction of that time … this meant a shrinking of space” (Schivelbusch, 1986: 33). The concept of the suburb was born with the birth of the railway as it suddenly became convenient for individuals to live with their families in the more spacious homes of the country and still make it into town in time to open their shops in the early morning and return home for dinner. In addition to opening up the economic frontier, these new technologies also made other new concepts available. “A hugely important development in the history of travel took place when the journey ceased to be regarded as an uncomfortable and possibly dangerous means to an end, and was appreciated instead as an expression of personal freedom and a route to re-definition of the self” (Jarvis, 2004: 84). The introduction of steam ships and railways meant that travel between countries was more available to a wider proportion of the population on both sides of the channel. As the tourism industry grew, making travel between countries easier, individuals given the luxury of movement represented in the automobile gained even freer movement as they were suddenly able to determine for themselves start and stop times without sacrificing much of the speed of railway travel. Other innovations, such as the bicycle, led to the development of specialist tourism clubs. However, in bringing the railway to the various places and spaces of the country and the world, the individual identities of these spaces were subjected to the industrialized ‘factory system’ beginning with the need to standardize practice. Because each area had its own unique conception of time, it eventually became necessary for the railways to institute a ‘standard’ time that continues to exist today in such concepts as Greenwich Standard Time and the various time zones existent in the United States. While these time zones were originally considered to be used for railway purposes alone, they were eventually adopted throughout these regions (Schivelbusch, 1986: 43-44). In order to take best advantage of these available, more comfortable and faster modes of transportation, the tourist also had to schedule itineraries to meet with the demands of the passenger trains, sometimes being forced to rise very early in the morning in order to catch the appropriate train or boat to get to the next destination. These were sentiments that were reflected in the increasingly objective tone of the guidebooks that fostered tourism. “Compared with the previous generation, these guidebooks systematically concentrated on practical information and eliminated all personal feelings about the country described” (Tissot, 1995: 26). In addition to this shift, the focus of the guidebooks also changed from one concerned with the various people encountered to one detailing the various monuments or geographical features to be enjoyed as they were understood from the European rather than the local point of view. To be ‘modern’ in the nineteenth century meant understanding the duplicitous nature of the technological beast. For example, the introduction of the steam engine was seen by some to be a divorce between the human animal and the natural world. This is particularly evident in De Quincey’s description of the mail train as compared to the old mail-coaches: “This speed was incarnated in the visible contagion amongst brutes of some impulse, that, radiating into their natures, had yet its center and beginning in man … But now, on the new system of traveling, iron tubes and boilers have disconnected man’s heart from the ministers of his locomotion” (De Quincey cited in Jarvis, 2004: 79). There is a sense of being out of control, entirely removed from the equation of motion previously incorporated between man and beast. At the same time, the railway served as a sort of heart beat for the country, connecting it in much more intimate ways than had been possible in the past and bringing the nation into cohesion like some vast organism thus enforcing a more unified ideological understanding across the nation and the world. From this sense of confusion and disorientation introduced by new technology, tourism offered a form of ‘escape’ from the mob, a chance for the individual to relax away from the rapidly changing world and gain a new insight into their own changing inner selves even as it served to shape who this ‘inner self’ might be. There is reason to believe that part of the fascination with travel that emerged in conjunction with the greater spread of steam was as a means of equalizing the social classes. “Supporters of the new mobility would agree that steam, as George Rose put it … was ‘a great leveler, not only of roads, but of social rank’” (Buzard, 1993: 45). In writing about tourism, Thomas Cook suggested that there was no reasonable means by which specific places, those offering the most beautiful scenery for instance, could be reserved to be enjoyed solely by the elite few. “God’s earth, with all its fullness and beauty, is for the people; and railways and steamboats are the results of the common light of science and are for the people also” (cited in Buzard, 1993: 45). This seems to have been at the heart of his tourism materials as Cook continuously works to present travel as the equalizer of the classes. As can be seen in his handbooks (Cook, 1991), arrangements made for steamship travel are praised for the willingness to make both deck and cabin available to all passengers on the tour. Changes taking place within the workplace had also contributed to a new sense of leisure as automated factories and regulated hours of work began to introduce concepts such as holidays or days off. “With the Industrial Revolution, which had truly taken hold, many workers were no longer tied to the land, so they were free to get away sometimes” (Feifer, 1986: 166). Part of Thomas Cook’s impetus for promoting the concept of tourism was an effort to offer individuals of the working classes another alternative to filling their free time other than drinking. As an active member of the Temperance League, this could be said to have been his driving goal while the auxiliary benefits of carving out a new career for himself, the wealth and notoriety this brought for him, were perks that continued and focused his interest. Cook and other writers such as Murray and Baedeker sought to provide tourists with “an educational course – a system of practical teaching of the highest value” (cited in Buzard, 1993: 45) that encouraged greater knowledge of the areas visited and helped to redefine tourism as an activity equally open to all classes. According to Feifer (1986), there were many more women traveling in the various tours offered by Cook than men. “For the Victorian woman, deeply imbued with a sense of duty and of her proper station in life, a trip abroad was a bold step: upwards, by means of cultural self-improvement, and outwards, into realms of danger and freedom, one of the most liberating things she could do” (169). By placing all the information that the tourist would need to know for the entire success of the trip – from the train rides and fares to the necessary steamboat passages and times to the specific information regarding points of interest both along the way and at the final destination (Cook, 1999) – these writers began to define tourism as something independently done by anyone under the leadership of an alleged ‘expert’. With the Industrial Revolution, the characteristics of travel changed dramatically from previous conceptions. Where before travel had been a long, arduous journey through large open spaces interspersed with occasional and welcome small towns and villages along the way at which one could stop and enjoy for a short space of time, the railway introduced the concept of point A and point B as being the only important destinations. “They were no longer travelers – rather, as Ruskin puts it, they were human parcels who dispatched themselves to their destinations by means of the railway, arriving as they left, untouched by the space traversed” (Schivelbusch, 1986: 39). Tourists were so easily satirized because of the nature of the goals of tourism. Rather than acquiring a true appreciation for the locations to which they traveled, understanding the place, getting to know the people and taking part in the activities of the community, tourism generally held itself as a passive activity. Tourists were characterized as wandering aimlessly through fields and country sides with a foolish expression and a notebook or flitting about like aimless butterflies. As Wordsworth put it, “instead of travelers proceeding, with leisure to observe and feel’, one would find ‘pilgrims of fashion hurried along in their carriages, not a few of them perhaps discussing the merits of ‘the last new novel’, or poring over their Guide-books, or fast asleep” (cited in Buzard, 1993: 29). As they flitted through the various tourism destinations, tourists managed to gain only a superficial impression of the area as well as fundamentally change it by introducing those elements that would make touring easier, such as the macadam covered roads. Works Cited Buzard, James. The beaten track: European tourism, literature, and ways to culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993: 18-79. This book presents a number of different primary texts regarding the travel industry in an attempt to reveal how ‘culture’ was defined as an element of the colonial tourist. It presents writers such as Thomas Cook and publishers like Murray and Baedeker. Cook, Thomas. A hand book of the trip from Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby to Liverpool and the coast of North Wales. London: Routledge, 1999 (1845): iii-13; 37-54. One of the 19th century’s biggest travel writers, Thomas Cook helped to set the tone for travel books and made the travel industry attractive. His book reveals how a common ideology is applied to the various sights and experiences that essentially enforce a European understanding upon the local populace. Feifer, Maxine. ‘The Victorian’ in Tourism in history: From Imperial Rome to the present. New York: Stein and Day, 1986: 163- 200. This book takes a somewhat humorous look at the principle characteristics and purposes of travelers throughout the various centuries. There are eight different periods examined, but the chapter on the Victorians reveals how the underlying purpose for travel was considered as a means of learning but that tourism became a business during this era, enforcing dominant ideals upon the travel destinations. Jarvis, Robin. “The Glory of Motion: De Quincey, Travel and Romanticism.” The Yearbook of English Studies. Vol. 34, Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing, 2004: 74-87. This essay is an in-depth look into the meanings of travel as it emerged in the early nineteenth century. It demonstrates the great differences that were taking place in people’s understanding of themselves and of others as they became more acquainted. Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. “Railroad Space and Railroad Time.” The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the 19th Century. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1986: 33-44. This article demonstrates how the railroads managed to inflict such a large impact on the rest of the world simply by forcing compliance to a specific means of measuring time. This is the beginning of colonialism through the tourist industry as not only the travelers but also the communities to which they travel and through which they travel must operate according to an industrially-imposed, thus colonial, system. Tissot, Laurent. “How did the British conquer Switzerland? Guidebooks, railways, travel agencies, 1850-1914.” Journal of Transport History. Vol. 16, No. 1, (1995). This book provides a good deal of information regarding how the travel industry, with an intended purpose being to learn about other cultures and people, actually functions as a form of colonialism by imposing European or industrial standards upon the less developed regions to which tourists tend to go. Read More