German tourists. Development of spatial patterns of demand

Table of contents:

1. Introduction

2. Development prior to 1871
2.1. The Grand Tour
2.2. Spa Towns
2.3. Educational and Cultural Tourism
2.4. The Discovery of Nature as a Destination

3. Development 1871 – 1920
3.1. The Bourgeois Summer Vacation ‘Sommerfrische’
3.2. Package Tours
3.3. Cruises
3.4. Tourism of the Working Class, the ‘Wandervogel’ and ‘Naturfreunde’

4. Development 1920 – 1946

5. Development 1947 to 1989
5.1. Development in the German Democratic Republic
5.2. Development in the Federal German Republic

6. Development since 1990

References

List of Abbreviations

List of tables:

Table 1: KdF Journeys 1934 – 1939

Table 2: Organised tourism in the GDR

Table 3: Organised tourism with trips > 5 days by institution

Table 4: Destinations 1989, stays >4 nights, selection

Table 5: Market Shares of stays >4 nights

List of figures:

Figure 1: Timeline organised trips >5days

Figure 2: Means of transport in tourism

1. Introduction

This paper is concerned with the development of the spatial patterns of demand of German tourists. It attempts to show where Germans have travelled throughout the last 200 years as well as the historic causes for this development. It can be safely assumed that to the mind of the modern tourist who is looking for the famous three S’ - Sun, Sand and Sex - for his holiday, it does not matter too much whether he or she finds them in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Thailand or on the Maldives. It is only a matter of personal preference and finances where he will go to find what he seeks. Unfortunately do the statistics available to the authors not support this view of spatial patterns of demand but list figures only for regions or countries. Therefore no attempt is made to show the patterns of demand developing for particular landscapes such as seashores, mountainous regions or cities as destinations for German tourists.

According to the UNWTO definition of tourists, tourists are persons who are "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited„; while tourism is the act of travel for the purpose of recreation and business, and the provision of services for this act. This paper is in particular concerned with the tourists travelling for leisure rather than business, as spatial patterns of demand of business travel are not dependent on the preferences of the individual tourist, but on the necessities of the business concerned.

The paper concentrates on the developments after 1871, the end of the German – French war, after a unified and strong German State had emerged in the region where Germany is nowadays located. Before this time a variety of kingdoms and fiefdoms with a common language and similar cultures had existed in this region, and only the historic developments of the 18th and 19th century ended the squabbling between them. With the new state a new common culture slowly emerged, with the inhabitants of the region starting to define themselves as Germans rather than as Prussians, Bavarians or Saxons, as they had before. At the same time modern tourism in the sense of this paper, that is, the travel for leisure, started to develop.

2. Development prior to 1871

The history of tourism, and in particular travel for leisure, is of course much longer than can be shown in this paper, with roots reaching all the way back to the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Many of the features, both good and bad, of what we regard as modern tourism existed long before our times. During the rule of the Roman empire there already were hotel guides, which told the prospective guest whether the hotel was equipped with a pool or not, a voucher system for accommodation and travel existed and exclusive seaside resorts were the playground of the rich. Travellers back than already complained about souvenir hunters breaking pieces of ancient monuments, loud party cruises, and travel agents who sold non-existing services to their clients. Even during the supposedly dark Middle Ages, where travel was predominantly for crusades, trade or as a pilgrimage the first art museum opened its doors to the crowds (Krempien, 2000). Many of these ancient achievements were forgotten in subsequent times and had to be redeveloped in order to bring modern tourism about.

2.1. The Grand Tour

The roots of modern tourism lie with the Grand Tour of the European aristocracy. According to Günther (1982), Opaschowski (1989) and Maurer (1991) the predominantly educational touring of Europe by the young European aristocracy started in the mid-16th century and continued until the beginning of the 18th century. The purpose of the tour was to finish the education of young aristocrats and therefore the goals of the tour were cities in Italy, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Natural landscapes were only part of the way, with especially mountains and the sea regarded as dangerous areas to be crossed as fast as possible. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars curtailed travelling throughout Europe, so that destinations within the own country such as seaside resorts and spas were
(re-)discovered and became popular. At the same time the character of the Grand Tour changed from a predominantly educationally orientated tour to a more pleasure orientated tour and the destinations of the aristocracy were increasingly visited by the developing bourgeoisie, who mimicked their ‘social betters’ (Zimmers, 1995).

2.2. Spa Towns

The Spa towns that had been rediscovered by the travelling aristocracy in the 17th and 18th century often have very deep historic roots. Towns such as Baden-Baden, Vichy, Bath, Marienbad and of course Spa were already used by the Roman elites as destinations for healing and relaxation. Put once again to the same use by the aristocracy in the 17th and 18th century, these destinations form the nucleus of modern tourism (Prahl / Steinecke, 1979). At the same time modern hotels like the ‘Badischer Hof’ hotel (founded 1805) with the still valid organisational model of the various departments and facilities such as restaurants, winter gardens and salons developed (Enzensberger, 1958). Again it was possible to observe that the bourgeoisie lagged behind the aristocracy and started using the spa towns from the early 19th century onwards.

2.3. Educational and Cultural Tourism

Another development from the Grand Tour is the development of educational and cultural tourism. As mentioned earlier, the rising bourgeoisie was mimicking the aristocracy. Better infrastructure, a higher level of security on the roads and the increasing acceptance of travel for non-business purposes were factors that fostered the development of modern tourism. Because of stronger financial constraints the bourgeoisie could not travel for as long and as far as the aristocracy, but the traditional destinations remained the same. For German as well as British travellers these were mainly Italy and the Rhine region. The development of railroads and steamboats allowed the traveller to see more in a shorter time, guidebooks such as the ‘Baedecker’, first published in 1849, allowed the travellers to understand what they had seen.

2.4. The Discovery of Nature as a Destination

Mountains, in particular the Alps, the open sea and sea shores as well as forests were seen for centuries time as dangerous places, full of unknown dangers. Nature with its inexplicable powers scared the people. This view of nature changed slowly in the late 18th century, when nature became romanticised and was discovered as a destination for travelling in itself. At the forefront of the development of modern tourism were the English, who not only popularised the Rhine as a destination but the Alps and the seashores of Europe as well. The first Club for mountaineering, the ‘Alpine Club’, was founded in 1857 in London and skiing as an alpine sport was developed by the English in 1868. Alpine Clubs were later founded in other countries as well, like the Austrian ‘Östereichische Alpenverein’, the Swiss ‘Schweizer Alpenclub’, both founded in 1863, and the German ‘Deutscher Alpenverein’, founded in 1869. The declared goals of these clubs were besides the scientific research of the Alps, mountaineering for pleasure and the touristic development of the Alps (Zimmers, 1995). These Clubs were certainly not open to people from all classes, but were the domain of the higher classes. High membership fees discouraged lower class people from joining. Only the foundation of the German proletarian touristic society ‘Die Naturfreunde’ in 1895 broke the exclusive touristic use of the Alps for the bourgeoisie and aristocracy.

At the same time the Alps were discovered as a touristic destination, seashores became popular with the travelling public. The discovery of the health-giving properties of seawater by the English doctors Dr. Robert White (1667) and Sir John Floyer (1702), combined with the romanticising of nature led to an acceptance of seashores as destinations for the European high society. Again the English were the forerunners of this development. In particular the English kings popularised this form of tourism, by taking baths in the sea. The Prince of Wales visited the sea resort Brighton in 1783 and George III took a bath in Weymouth in 1789 (Zimmers, 1995). Duke Friedrich Franz I founded the first German seaside resort, Doberan-Heiligendamm in 1793.

All of the above developments laid the foundation of tourism as we know it today. The following chapters shall give the reader an understanding of the development of spatial patterns of demand of German tourists in particular.

3. Development 1871 – 1920

Based on the changes in society, travel for pleasure and relaxation became increasingly accepted in Germany. The health-giving properties of regular breaks from the working routine were discovered and the more and more people began to travel. The changes started to slowly filter down from the elites, the aristocracy and higher bourgeoisie, to the middle – class. In the late 19th century only few workers were able to afford to travel at all. Inhabitants of cities, with their higher disposable income, higher mobility and higher need to escape the crowded cities formed the core of the travelling public. Inhabitants of rural areas did, in the main not travel.

3.1. The Bourgeois Summer Vacation ‘Sommerfrische’

Due to the strength of the Christian faith throughout Germany over centuries, Sunday had been the free day of the week. With the slowly diminishing importance of religion in daily life and the lower importance of attending holy mass on Sundays, this day became available as a day to be used purely for relaxation. With the changed view of nature many people used Sundays for small excursions into the natural landscapes surrounding cities. The so-called ‘Sonntagsausflüge’ – Sunday trips – became a regular feature in the life of the lower- and middle-bourgeoisie. This was aided by improvements in infrastructure, in particular the advances of public transport through railways. From these modest beginnings a typical German way of travelling developed, the ‘Sommerfrische’ – Summer Vacations. ‘Sommerfrische’ can be defined as the stay of urban bourgeoisie over a period of time in rural areas during summer for relaxation purposes. These stays might be in rural areas near the coast or in mountainous regions. The distance travelled and whether the stay was with a host family or in a house owned by the traveller for the purpose of using it only in summer – the so-called ‘Sommerhaus’–, depended on the financial means of the travelling household. A typical feature of the ‘Sommerfrische’ was that families would travel every year to the same destination and stay with the same host family, with whom they would enjoy true social relationships. The rural host families were not primarily motivated by the money earned but rather bound in friendship to the urbanites. In difference to the travel patterns of the aristocracy and higher bourgeoisie the important point of the vacation was not to see and be seen, but to relax with the whole family. Due to the family structures of this time with the father of the family being solely responsible for earning money, the wife and the children would often spend the whole summer alone in the ‘Sommerfrische’, with the father visiting them as time permitted (Zimmers, 1995).

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