The individual traveler is concerned about where to go, how to get there, where to stay, where to eat, and what to see. The travel industry is organized to meet these concerns in a variety of ways: travel agents and tour companies, transport companies, hotel reservation systems, ground transport companies, restaurant reservation systems, and local or national tourism boards.
Destination.
Unless the trip is a business or family necessity, the first interest in the mind of the prospective traveler is where to go and what to see. The mass of information available to satisfy the traveler's curiosity is virtually unlimited. Nearly every nation has a national tourism board, and within nations there are tourism bureaus in states, provinces, and cities. All of these advertise extensively in order to attract tourists. Competition in the travel business is intense, and many localities depend heavily on tourism for income.
In addition to advertising by governmental bureaus, travel companies publish many pamphlets and brochures. And there are thousands of travel books available on every place a tourist might wish to visit.
Transportation.
There are two categories of transportation used by travelers. First is the means used to get from home to the destination, and second is the type used at the destination. In some cases the two may be identical. If a family drives from Denver to Los Angeles, the family car serves both purposes. But a businessman making the same trip would probably fly to the Los Angeles International Airport and rent a car there.
Tourists who fly to Europe may rent cars, ride the extensive railway networks, get about by motorcoach, or even go from one place to another by ship, ferry, or riverboat. If they stay in one location, they often take advantage of local public transportation—streetcars, buses, and subways.
The age of international travel was revolutionized on Oct. 26, 1958, when Pan American World Airways flew a Boeing 707 jet airplane from New York City to Paris with 123 people on board. Jets cut long-distance air travel time in half.
In the following decades the airline industry expanded greatly and used a variety of airplanes. Among the smaller, short-haul jets were the Boeing 737 and the DC-9. Larger planes included the wide-bodied Boeing 747, 757, and 767, the Lockheed L-1011, the DC-10, and the European Airbus (see Airplane). There are now more than 200 airlines serving Europe—the most popular tourist destination—from all parts of the world. Nearly every country has its own domestic airlines, including the new commuter services that provide inexpensive intercity transportation.
Thousands of years before the airplane, ships provided transportation between widely separated landmasses. As late as the 1950s, travel by ship was one of the most popular ways to get across the Atlantic. In the same week that Pan American flew its jet to Paris, at least a dozen ships sailed from New York City to Europe. But jet air travel doomed international travel by ship. Fortunately the world's shipping lines found a new use for their ships—the cruise business (see “The Cruise Industry” in this article).
In the century before the airplane was invented, the railroad became a primary means of ground transportation in North America and Europe. Rail passenger service in the United States has become limited, but it is still a major form of transportation in Europe, Canada, Mexico, and many other parts of the world. In Europe, where travel distances are often short, it is usually more convenient and inexpensive to go by train than by airplane.
Countries and cities eager for tourist business often offer transportation bargains. The best known is probably the Eurail pass, which allows unlimited train travel in Western European countries for specific periods of time. Many countries have their own rail passes as well. Cities such as London and Paris offer passes for unlimited travel on local buses, underground railways, or streetcars.
