Grand Tour

The idea of the Grand tour began in the mid 17^th century gaining popularity throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries continuing to modern days as the popular reference for travelers. The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means, or those of more humble origin who could find a sponsor.The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means, or those of more humble origin who could find a sponsor. It served as an educational rite of passage. Though primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry, similar to continental Europe and from the second half of the 18^th century by some south and north Americans.

The traditional declined with the lapse of new-classical enthusiasm and after rail and steamship travel made the journeys much easier when Thomas Cook made the “Cook’s Tour” of early mass tourism a byword. The New York in 2008 described the Grand tour in this way:

“Three hundred years ago, wealthy young Englishman began taking a post-Oxbridge trek through France and Italy in search of art, culture and the roots of western civilization. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connecting and months (or years) to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skill and mingled with the upper crust of the continent.”

Gross Matt,” Lessons from the frugal Grand Tour”. New york Times 5 September 2008. The primary value of the Grand Tour was believed in the exposure both to the cultural legal of classical antiquity and the renaissance and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the Europe continent.

A Grand Tour could last for several months to several months to several years. It was commonly undertaken in the company of a cicerone, a knowledgeable guide. The Grand Tour had more than superficial cultural importance as E.P.Thompson stated,” ruling-class control in the 18^th century was located primarily in a cultural hegemony and only secondary in an expression of economic or physical(military) power.

In essence, the Grand Tour was neither a scholar’s pilgrimage nor a religious one, though a pleasurable stay in Venice and a caution residence in Rome were essential. Catholic Grand Tourist followed the same routes as protestant whigs. Since the 17^th century a tour to such places were also considered essential for building young artists to understand proper painting and sculpture techniques, though the trappings of the Grand Tour-valets and coachman, perhaps a cook, certainly a “bear-leader” or scholarly guide were beyond their reach.

The development of the Grand Tour followed a shift in the focus of culture and of economic and political power. The wealthy and educated, of the status whose position of dominance in the world was comparatively new, visited countries that had passed their peak of prestige but were still venerated for historical and cultural reasons. Thus Romas visited Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, the English, from the sixteenth century onwards, visited Italy. The Grand Tourist respected the learning, antiquities and social refinements of the Old World. The eighteenth century is conventionally considered the golden age of the Grand Tour, especially the thirty years between 1763 and 1793. With the new wealth of the English bourgeoisie, the number of tourists had multiplied. The Grand Tour was no longer an aristocratic preserve. It had been invaded by the bourgeoisie. During this period a great many poets, authors, and intellectuals visited Italy and other countries nearby with a view to broadening their knowledge and learn new arts and crafts. The Grand Tourist paved the way for the popular tourism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The introduction of an annual holiday in Europe was another important landmark which encouraged many people to undertake travel in large numbers during the eighteenth century. The eighteenth century became the great age of travel. The annual holiday was the forerunner to the paid holiday which later was responsible for an extraordinary growth of tourism. The term holiday derives from “holy days” associated with religious observances. In the present day, It is used generally in a secular sense, meaning a respite from the routine of daily workday life and a time for leisure, recreation, and amusement. A feature of ancient Rome, Public holidays were among the most enjoyable of events. And the most enjoyable public holiday was the Saturnalia, the feast of Saturn celebrated in December when all classes indulged in feasting and frolic. Also, in Europe, certain days commemorating religious festivals and saints days became holidays on which England during the region of Edward VI “for the keeping of holidays and fasting days”. This act still continuous to be in the statute-book. Subsequently, public and semi-official in England frequently closed on certain saints days. There were, however, no general public holidays until the time of the Industrial Revolution. The concept of modern annual paid holiday is very largely an outcome of the Industrial Revolution.

The middle age by and large did not constitute a favorable period for the pursuit and development of tourism. The process of the development of imagination, however, was continued by the innumerable events for the most part connected with wars. Discoveries and expeditions, pilgrimages, wandering scholars and mercenary soldiers were the principal sources for information about the outside world. Nobles, accompanied by their retinues, visited the pivotal centers of religious and secular power. The education of young noblemen at foreign princely courts became a fashion which spread still further with these noblemen’s educational travel, which naturally included the element of pleasure as well. The travels of friends and the trip of students during those days to the different university towns enriched the popular imagination. The beginning of the eighteenth century saw the setting in of the practice of going to watering-places, which owed its renewal to a more liberal conception of life the Roman bathing cult had fallen into oblivion with the fall of the Roman Empire. The increase in population and the resultant divisions of the social classes increased the interest of people in the activities and doings of others. Thus it was quite natural that the rising bourgeoisie took over the living habits of the nobility. The advent of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century and with it the introduction of a new attitude towards Nature gave rise to romanticism and fancifulness. These in their turn influenced and transformed the attitude towards the distant and the strange. Hitherto, in popular understanding, “foreign” had always been associated with danger and suffering. It was this emotional content of the term “foreign” which now widened further the orbit of the world of imagination and thus aroused desires, wishes, and needs. The growth of communications, printing technique and nineteenth and twentieth centuries enlarged the definition and conception of the world and increased man’s desire to see it. The distant and the strange evinced a seductive quality. Social development made it possible for ever-larger classes to corroborate their conceptions and ideas with actual experiences.

References:

1. A.K.Bhatia. Tourism development Principles and Practices. New Delhi: Sterling Publisher Pvt.Ltd, 2009.
2. Pariyar, P. 2011. A DECADE OF TOURIST ARRIVAL IN NEPAL : A Project Work Report , BBS final year, Finance group (Tourism) Faculty of Management , Public Youth Campus, Dhobichaur, Kathmandu, Nepal
3. Limbu, B. "Tourism." Tourism. 20 12 2010.
4. Runckel, Charles. www.Business-in-Asia.com. 2007. <http://www.business-in-asia.com/asia/medical_tourism.html>.
5. Singh, Gurjit. Tourism and amp; it impacts. n.d.