Popular tourism in Western Europe and the US in the twentieth century: a tale of different trajectories

Abstract

Historians have labelled the development of modern mass-consumer societies in Europe as a process of ‘Americanisation’. Until today, the consumption of immaterial goods like vacations has been rather neglected by historiography. The purpose of this article is to verify the hypothesis that the United States served as a role model for European vacationing patterns and the evolution of the European travel industry. The paper demonstrates that a simple model of ‘Americanisation’ does not adequately represent the process of partial imitation, adaptation and alteration of American travel patterns through European societies and, more particular, through European holiday providers. National traditions and cultural differences of vacationing continue to exist until today.

Keywords:

• popular tourism
• Americanisation
• tourism industry

Notes

^1.Trentmann, Oxford Handbook, 5.

^2.Saldern, “Transatlantische Konsumleitbilder.”

^3.Wirsching, “Konsum statt Arbeit?”

^4.Trentmann, “Beyond Consumerism”; Idem, “Long History.”

^5.Schildt, “Amerikanische Einflüsse.”

^6.Veblen, Leisure Class.

^7.Sessions Rugh, Are We There Yet?, 17.

^8.Walton, British Seaside; Shaw and Williams, Rise and Fall.

^9.Furlough, “Mass Vacations”; Boyer, Tourisme de masse; Cross, “Vacations for All.”

^10.Rothman, Devil's Bargains, 146, 159.

^11. See the evidence in 1950s surveys about visitors to Wisconsin and New Jersey, in Jakle, Tourist, 188.

^12.Harvard Business Review 15 (1937): 456, quoted from Jakle, Tourist, 169.

^13.De Grazia, Irresistible Empire.

^14. Ibid., 152–70.

^15. Ibid., 159.

^16.Sessions Rugh, Are We There Yet?, 121.

^17. Ibid., 41–67; Shaffer, See America First, 169–220.

^18. , Tourist, 166; Idem, Motel.

^19.Endy, Cold War Holidays, 150–81.

^20.Kopper, “Komparative Geschichte des Massentourismus.”

^21.Cross, “Vacations for All.”

^22.Baranowski, Strength through Joy; Spode, “Seebad.”

^23.Sessions Rugh, Are We There Yet?

^24.Lansing and Lilienstein, Travel Market 1955; Lansing and Blood, Changing Travel Market.

^25.Jakle, Tourist, 186f.

^26.Sessions Rugh, Are We There Yet?, 181.

^27.Jackson and West, Disneyland; Rothman, Devil's Bargains, 287–337.

^28.Moehring, Resort City.

^29.Themed Entertainment Association, 2010 Global Attractions Attendance Report.

^30.Kopper, “Komparative Geschichte des Massentourismus.”

^31.Boyer, Le tourisme, 45–54.

^32. Ibid., based on statistics of the French Statistical Office INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques) from 1964.

^33.Ward and Hardy, Goodnight Campers.

^34.Furlough, Mass Vacations, 277–82; Py, Le tourisme, 58, 75.

^35.Kopper, “Reise als Ware.”

^36.Akthar and Humphries, Some Like it Hot; Bray and Raitz, Flight to the Sun.

^37.Pagenstecher, Tourismus.

^38.Kopper, “Breakthrough.”

^39.Py, Le tourisme, 25.

^40.Bourdieu, Distinction.

^41.Levenstein, Paris.

^42.Trentmann, “Long History.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Kopper

Christopher Kopper is Professor of Economic and Social History in the Department of History at Bielefeld University. He received his PhD in Modern History from Ruhr University Bochum. He was Assistant Professor at the Georg August University Göttingen and DAAD Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota and the University of Pittsburgh. He is author of Zwischen Marktwirtschaft und Dirigismus. Bankenpolitik im Dritten Reich (1995), Handel und Verkehr im 20. Jahrhundert (2002), Hjalmar Schacht (2006) and Die Bahn im Wirtschaftswunder (2007).