The collapse of British travel company Thomas Cook on September 23 stranded 155,000 tourists, put 9,000 people out of work, and made headlines around much of the world.
While many people have heard of Thomas Cook, and used their services, I bet few have heard of the 178-year-old company’s contribution to tourism.
Stephanie Decker reports in an article in The Conversation, “The company’s founder, Thomas Cook, invented tourism as we know it today, against a substantial public backlash from Victorian elites of the 19th century who viewed travel as the preserve of aristocrats and the wealthy. They were horrified by the notion they might rub shoulders with the riff-raff of the working and middle classes.
“Newspapers at the time vilified Cook, even likening him to a ‘modern Attila,’ who, with his ‘swarms of followers’ like the ‘barbarian hordes of old,’ would ravage the ‘fairest provinces of Italy.'”
Millions of records
Now, following the demise of the company, business historians are fighting to save the company’s extensive archives. The company archives include millions of written records and thousands of artifacts.
Ms. Decker writes, “This is an invaluable resource not just for the history of tourism, but also a record of innovation and social change that provides an unrivalled insight into Britain’s relationship with leisure and travel.”
Read more in Why historians are fighting to save Thomas Cook’s enormous archive.
