Editing Tourism (section)

===Emergence of leisure travel===
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2013}}
[[File:Alsfeld-marktplatz-1900.jpg|223x223px|English postcard of the old town of [[Alsfeld]] in Germany, with tourists on the market square|thumb]]
[[File:Banja_Slatina_ljeto.jpg|223x223px|The Slatina Spa in [[Slatina, Foča|Slatina]], Bosnia and Herzegovina, is famous for its characteristics and had attracted tourists since 1870s.|thumb]]

[[Leisure]] travel was associated with the [[Industrial Revolution]] in the [[United Kingdom]]{{spaced ndash}}the first European country to promote leisure time to the increasing industrial population.<ref name="singh">{{cite book|last=Singh|first=L.K.|title=Fundamental of Tourism and Travel|year=2008|publisher=Isha Books|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-8205-478-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWf4PtzRmwUC&q=the%20first%20European%20country%20to%20promote%20leisure%20time%20to%20the%20increasing%20industrial%20population&pg=PA189|page=189|chapter=Issues in Tourism Industry}}</ref> Initially, this applied to the owners of the machinery of production, the economic oligarchy, factory owners and traders. These comprised the new [[middle class]].<ref name="singh" /> [[Cox & Kings]] was the first official travel company to be formed in 1758.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/aboutus-history.aspx|title=History: Centuries of Experience|publisher=[[Cox & Kings]]|access-date=23 December 2011|archive-date=25 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525050010/http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/aboutus-history.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The British origin of this new industry is reflected in many place names. In [[Nice]], France, one of the first and best-established holiday resorts on the [[French Riviera]], the long esplanade along the seafront is known to this day as the ''[[Promenade des Anglais]]''; in many other historic resorts in [[continental Europe]], old, well-established palace hotels have names like the ''[[Hotel Bristol]]'', ''Hotel Carlton'', or ''Hotel Majestic''{{spaced ndash}}reflecting the dominance of English customers.

A pioneer of the travel agency business, [[Thomas Cook]]'s idea to offer excursions came to him while waiting for the stagecoach on the London Road at [[Kibworth]]. With the opening of the extended [[Midland Counties Railway]], he arranged to take a group of 540 [[Temperance Movement|temperance campaigners]] from [[Leicester]] [[Leicester Campbell Street railway station|Campbell Street station]] to a rally in [[Loughborough]], {{convert|11|mi|km|spell=in}} away. On 5 July 1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the rail company to charge one [[shilling]] per person; this included rail tickets and food for the journey. Cook was paid a share of the fares charged to the passengers, as the railway tickets, being legal contracts between company and passenger, could not have been issued at his own price.{{clarify|date=April 2017}} This was the first privately chartered [[excursion train]] to be advertised to the general public; Cook himself acknowledged that there had been previous, unadvertised, private excursion trains.<ref>Ingle, R., 1991 ''Thomas Cook of Leicester'', Bangor, Headstart History</ref> During the following three summers he planned and conducted outings for temperance societies and [[Sunday school]] children. In 1844, the Midland Counties Railway Company agreed to make a permanent arrangement with him, provided he found the passengers. This success led him to start his own business running rail excursions for pleasure, taking a percentage of the railway fares.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thomascook.com/thomas-cook-history/|title=Thomas Cook History|website=Thomas Cook |access-date=12 May 2017|archive-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919024847/https://www.thomascook.com/thomas-cook-history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1855, he planned his first excursion abroad, when he took a group from Leicester to [[Calais]] to coincide with the [[Exposition Universelle (1855)|Paris Exhibition]]. The following year he started his "grand circular tours" of Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thomascook.com/thomas-cook-history/key-dates/|title=Key Dates 1841–2014 |website=Thomas Cook |access-date=12 May 2017|archive-date=5 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805015222/https://www.thomascook.com/thomas-cook-history/key-dates/|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the 1860s he took parties to Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, and the United States. Cook established "inclusive independent travel", whereby the traveller went independently but his agency charged for travel, food, and accommodation for a fixed period over any chosen route. Such was his success that the Scottish railway companies withdrew their support between 1862 and 1863 to try the excursion business for themselves.