The History of the Package Holiday

Did you know that people have been booking package holidays since right back in the 60s? It seems like those all-inclusive package holidays that we’re still booking nowadays are things of the modern world, but in reality, they’ve been around for more than 50 years.

The 60s in fact were heralded as the “Golden Age” of travel – people could finally afford to take a bit of time off work and see the world, but still wanted the ease that they would have had taking a weekend away in the UK, hence the package holiday.

My Voucher Codes have put together an animated video that was also featured at Travel Campaigner demonstrating the ways that the travel industry, in particular the way that we book holidays, has changed over time – take a look:

 

Over time, the way that we book our holidays has changed in line with modern technology – getting quicker and easier to do. While only the few were booking these holidays in the 60s, the 70s saw holidays get cheaper and become more available to the masses. People still headed to the travel agents to book them though and people flocked to them in record numbers.

The 80s saw long haul flights becoming more and more the norm and luxury holidays began to be more affordable for the masses, with people booking up trips skiing in the Alps and exploring the Seven Seas on newly available cruise holidays.

The 90s saw a change in the way that holidays were booked – no longer did you need the inconvenience of going out to a travel agent, instead it could all be done via Telextext and over the phone.

This advanced further into the 2000s as households connected up to the internet and began to book their trips away via low cost airline and holiday websites from the comfort of their own homes without even the need to speak to a real person.

And what does it look like now? Similar to the 2000s, but people are now beginning to book holidays using more advanced technology than just a desktop computer, including tablets and phones. Websites such as Expedia and Trip Advisor can provide all the information you’d ever need to decide where you want to go and what’s recommended to do.

But what will we see in the future? Only time will tell.

Andy Higgs
Andy Higgs

I know what it's like to go from being a crazy backpacker without a care in the world, via being a vaguely sensible parent to being an adventurer once more. In other words, evolving into a Grown-up Traveller.

Like everyone else, I love to travel, have visited a lot of countries and all that but my big thing is Africa.

I also own and run The Grown-up Travel Company as a travel designer creating personalised African itineraries for experienced adventurers

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