Features writer Hannah Gray takes a look at holidays through the ages, starting with the Victorians and working up to predictions of what travel could be like in the future.

In an era when foreign holidays are part of life for the vast majority of families, it seems strange to imagine a time when mass tourism just didn't happen.

And it's even stranger to think that today's multi-billion pound travel industry can in many ways trace its roots back to an 11-mile journey, and the desire to make the world a better place.

Next page: Hannah Gray looks back at holidays through the ages from Victorian and Edwardian times through the early 20th century thtrough to the space age.

What are your memories of Thomas Cook holidays?
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Next page: Hannah Gray looks back at holidays through the ages from Victorian and Edwardian times through the early 20th century thtrough to the space age.
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Thomas Cook was a Victorian cabinet maker, and a member of the temperance movement, which aimed to reduce the amount of alcohol people drank.

A former Baptist preacher, Cook believed most social problems were related to alcohol consumption, and believed the lives of working people would be greatly improved if they drank less and became better educated.

It was as he walked from his home in Market Harborough to Leicester to attend a temperance meeting that the first seeds of his business idea were planted.



As he walked along the road, he later recalled: "The thought suddenly flashed across my mind as to the practicability of employing the great powers of railways and locomotives for the furtherance of social reform."

From this idea in 1841, he set about starting his travel business.

On July 5 of that year, he took 570 temperance campaigners from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a rally, a journey of about 11 miles, and charged people a shilling each – and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Thomas Cook sends more than six million people on holiday each year, and is the country's second biggest travel firm, and one of the city's biggest employers. Destinations cover the entire globe and all types of holiday, although Cook himself had quite specific ideas about what holidays should be like when he founded his company.

Paul Smith, the archivist who runs a mini-museum from the company's UK headquarters in Bretton, Peterborough, said Cook's holidays weren't about chilling out on the beach.

"He was a big believer in rational recreation – he wanted people to see the world, see things, expand their minds. And he achieved that," Mr Smith said.

"Thomas Cook brought travel to the masses. If someone is interested in tourism they should come and see the old diaries and posters.

"It's amazing what he achieved. There are very few places that we visit today that he didn't go to in the 19th century. In the 1890s we could send you anywhere, any place, any means, any route."

Speaking about the anniversary of Cook's birth, group chief executive officer of Thomas Cook, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, said: "Thomas Cook once described himself as 'the willing and devoted servant of the travelling public', and I believe that today we maintain many of his original ideas and inspirations by keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do.

"Even with his ambition and foresight, he would never have dreamt that the company would still be proudly carrying his name 200 years after his birth, and would no doubt be even more impressed by its size, success and incredible people today.

"Very few companies in any industry sector can boast such a rich history and heritage as strong as ours that positions us today as one of the world's leading travel companies in the 21st century."

Next page: Hannah Gray looks back at holidays through the ages from Victorian and Edwardian times through the early 20th century thtrough to the space age.

Anyone interested in visiting the archives can do so by making an appointment with Mr Smith by e-mailing paul.smith@thomascook.com.

External link:
Thomas Cook website - www.thomascook.com.