‘Under the Wing of Mr. Cook’: Transformations in Tourism Governance

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of pastoral governance within one organisation – the Thomas Cook Travel Agency, from an extemporaneous Temperance trip to a heavily organised structure to a system of tourist tickets where tourists could travel independently. Cook began the project of tourism to reform the subjectivity of the working classes and middle‐class women by diverting them away from alcohol and other wasteful activities and exposing them to new sights and cultures. Cook developed a form of tourism whereby he, the promoter, organiser and conductor, would create tours that would attend to the needs of clients while providing them with an ennobling and sobering experience. As his tourists became more experienced, they came to resent Cook's overarching superintendence. As a conductor who attended to his tourists, Cook developed a ‘Circular System’ of tickets, hotel coupons and currency notes that allowed tourists to travel independently while still benefiting from Cook's organisation, guidance, and governance – if now from a distance. Tourism as a form of pastoral governance allows for a better understanding of the evolution of tourism but also for an enhanced conception of the relationship between tourists and the tourist industry.

Keywords:

• Thomas Cook
• history of tourism
• gender
• class
• governance
• subjectivation

Notes

1. John Murray was the publisher of a series of popular guidebooks for the English market.

2. All quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from The Excursionist originally titled Cook's Exhibition Herald and Excursion Advertiser, the Cook agency's magazine that communicated upcoming trips, published letters from excursionists, advertised goods such as walking sticks and travel chests that might be of interest to excursionists and acted as a forum for Cook not only to expound upon the benefits of travelling but also to counter his opponents who criticised his arrangements and ridiculed his excursionists.

3. Only banks and hotels that had agreements with Cook would exchange the Notes.