Objectives;

 At the end of the topic, the students should be able to;

1. Discuss the evolution and history of travel agency business in the world;
2. Explain the contribution of Thomas Cook to the growth of world travel agency
business;
History of
Travel
Agency
DR. STEPHEN B.
MANONGSONG,LPT.
1. 1 Introduction:

 The business of travel agency has witnessed a buoyant growth in the recent years.
This upbeat sector provides enormous income and employment opportunities and
offers complete travel solutions to the new age travelers. While making such
study on travel agency and its development in different stages can enlighten
learners to a great extent in gaining extensive ideas and knowledge. Therefore, it
is essential to have an insight of the origin of travel agency business in the world.
In this unit we shall study the history of travel agency and the early stages of
travel agency business. We shall also discuss the landmark period, period of
innovation, intra and intercontinental tour, Second Generation Thomas Cook
Business and so on.
1.2 Evolution of Travel Agency:

 In the beginning, the travel agency business was in a state of experimentation and
community help. Gradually, the business grew up in such a scale that competitive
travel companies around the world forged into the sophisticated business. The
nature of the business was a sort of intermediary role to cater holiday related
services to those who were away from home. Travel agencies made all possible
efforts to ensure the service quality for enhancing the level of satisfaction. In
practice, travel agencies were principally driven by the needs of the customers.
 It is very strange to see that travel agency business in those periods were run
with reasonable investment and used to make reasonable amount of profit amidst
certain risks such as confirmation of hotel rooms, security of customers, quality of
foods, frontier formalities, political system, ethnic difference, long traveling hours,
language, etc. Despite of confronting with all impediments, traveling to places other
than the place of own domicile was a status symbol of society that pushed people in
Europe to undertake travel. The invention of railways and sophisticated steamship
also motivated people to travel because travelers urged for comfort and relaxation in
the tour.
1.3 Early Stage of Travel Agency
Business:
 The successful execution of the tour marked the beginning of the establishment of
modern travel agency in the world. In 1845, Thomas Cook conducted the first
large scale tour inside England by adding some entertainment activities in the tour
package. The objective was to enhance the value of package and create certain
appeal. That railway journey to Liverpool from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby
was the first trip for making some profit. As long back as 1880s, certain travel
companies in Germany were accredited to sell train tickets. However, the railway
administrations didn’t make any provision for offering commission to those
agents that means those agencies book the train tickets for the passengers for
which additional service charges over and above the printed fare of the tickets.
 However, the railway administrations didn’t make any provision for offering
commission to those agents that means those agencies book the train tickets for
the passengers for which additional service charges over and above the printed
fare of the tickets. In 1910, for instance, a well-organized travel agency in
Germany could issue tickets for a round trip on the Lake Victoria and organized a
journey from Cairo via Aswan to Khartoum. Hence, the ticket included the cost of
the porters and tent age in order to trek to reach at the origin point of the river
Nile.
 In 1851, Thomas Cook promoted trips to the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park for
150,000 people from Yorkshire and the Midlands. In 1855, Thomas Cook's first
continental tour was conducted. He himself conducted two group tours from
Harwich to Antwerp, then on to Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, Heidelberg,
Strasbourg and, finally, to Paris for the International Exhibition.
1.4 Landmark Period:

 Thomas Cook & Son Ltd got benefited from the post-world war holiday boom,
which witnessed one million British nationals travelling abroad by 1950. The
company set up a Business Travel Service (BTA) and renovated the holiday camp
at Prestatyn (which had opened shortly before the outbreak of war). Although
Cook's remained the largest and most successful company in the industry, but its
dominance in the ravel market was subsequently being contested by the
emergence of new travel firms. Those travel companies were able to quote lower
prices than the Cook’s package prices and crafted new strategy to offer cheap
package deals.
 It was a big turnaround for Thomas Cook Company in 1965 when the company's
net profits exceeded £1 million for the first time. That was really remarkable in
achieving a huge turnover and profits when there was an increasingly cut-throat
competition. Subsequently after, the Thomas Cook travel agency was chased by
the new rival travel agencies in the organized package tour market and company
trailed behind them in terms of market share and profit. The vision of Thomas
Cook to open potential areas of business opportunities was beyond the
imagination of his competitors
 By the end of 1850, having already visited Wales, Scotland and Ireland were
explored by Thomas Cook towards the last of the year 1850, and he gained
confidence to conduct inbound tours in Europe. He could not succeed in the
mission of brining foreign trips to the Europe, the United States and the Holy
Land in the first attempt. He shafted his business expansion plan and got
motivated with the suggestion of Sir Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal
Palace, persuaded Thomas Cook to devote himself to bringing workers from
Yorkshire and the Midlands to London for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
 The untapped opportunity was grabbed by Thomas Cook with a lot of
determination and enthusiasm. There was no such ways that could communicate
about the concept of package to the potential buyers or takers. He himself
envisioned the printing of newspaper named as Cook's Exhibition Herald and
Excursion Advertiser. He had sleepless nights from June to October to produce
newspaper that would give platform to promote tours. He finally made the effort
to write exclusive page on various places of tourist interests around the world. By
the end of the season, Thomas Cook had taken 150,000 people to London to
participate in the exhibition and 3000 children were also transferred to London
to take part in the merry making function from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
With the co-operation of the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway, Thomas
Cook began to issue circular tickets (in both English and French) between Paris
and the Alps.
 Money transfer was certainly an unimaginable thing in the 19th century. There is
no point of discussing the issue of punctuality and safety of transferring money. It
remained an area which was not explored by the travel agencies citing the reason
of impossibility and unacceptability. All uncertainties and threats tied up with the
issue were eliminated by the innovative works of the American Express
Company in 1882 when it took initiative by launching money order business in
the USA. The noble idea got clinched in the USA market and people were more
reliable with the money order scheme launched by the America Express
Company. This proved to be an instant success. The settlement of business
transactions and payment by the customers were main nature of these
transactions. Propelled by the colossal success of money order business, the
company introduced the world’s first travelers' cheque in 1891.
 The traveler’s cheque got accepted and appreciated all across the people in the USA
cities. The volume of business achieved the annual sale up to $6 million within a
decade since the concept was introduced. Overwhelm success in money order
business and travelers' cheque opened much scope for the company to establish its
network amongst major European Banks. This expansion plan made the company to
gain visibility in entire European market. The success in freight coupled with the
financial transactions helped the company to capture the huge untapped travel
market in Europe including Paris in 1895 and in London in 1896, American Express
had expanded to Southampton, Liverpool, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Antwerp,
Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Naples and Genoa by the end of 1910. Initially foreign
exchange transactions were conducted in France in 1895, the company’s overseas
banking operation took place in 1904 when the Rotterdam office opened in the
Netherlands and where the company also started conducting commercial banking
services.
Summary

 The modern travel agency business has got its origin from the setting up the
legendary Thomas Cook Travel Company in the mid of the 19th century. In the
succeeding periods, Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings and the American Express
Company had made massive contributions to the growth of travel trade in the
world. Many of their travel innovations and solutions are being largely used and
practiced in the present world. The contributions made by Thomas Cook in terms
of hotel coupon and service voucher are very remarkable features for the travel
trade.
Summary

 I also presented to you how Thomas Cook Travel Company and other
contemporary travel companies were successful in designing and operating
package tours in the Europe in the beginning and in the later to the whole world.
Additional Info. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Cook

Thomas Cook,
(born November 22, 1808, Melbourne, Derbyshire, England—died July 18,
1892, Leicester, Leicestershire), English innovator of the conducted tour and founder
of Thomas Cook and Son, a worldwide travel agency. Cook can be said to have
invented modern tourism.
Additional Info. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Cook

 Cook left school at the age of 10 and worked at various jobs until 1828, when he
became a Baptist missionary. In 1841 he persuaded the Midland Counties Railway
Company to run a special train between Leicester and Loughborough for a
temperance meeting on July 5. It was believed to have been the first publicly
advertised excursion train in England. Three years later the railway agreed to
make the arrangement permanent if Cook would provide passengers for the
excursion trains. During the Paris Exposition of 1855, Cook conducted excursions
from Leicester to Calais, France. The next year he led his first Grand Tour of
Europe.
Additional Info. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Cook

 In the early 1860s he ceased to conduct personal tours and became an agent for
the sale of domestic and overseas travel tickets. His firm took on military
transport and postal services for England and Egypt during the 1880s. On his
death the business passed to his only son, John Mason Cook (1834–99), who had
been his father’s partner since 1864. The company passed to Cook’s grandsons in
1899 and remained in the family until 1928. In 1972 the company was renamed
Thomas Cook, and in 2001 it was wholly owned by Thomas Cook AG, one of the
largest travel groups in the world.
End of Slide
Assignment

 1. Write five lines on the early stage of the travel agency business in the world.
 2. What are the major turning points of travel agency business in the landmark
period?