travelbabbler.com
Tourism in Europe
Tourism in Europe is estimated to have begun during the Middle Ages. Its roots can actually be traced back to religion which promoted travel to sacred sites. This was the pilgrimage which became an essential process for moral and spiritual discovery. While this was the primary objective, pilgrimage had also become a time of leisure as it was a chance to experience activities and culture that was outside their usual environment. The pilgrims exhibited the same behavior of tourists of today such as flocking to places of interests, enjoy local sights and cuisine and bring home souvenirs. In the 17th century, it had become a symbol of wealth and status for the nobility of England to take a Grand Tour to travel around the continent in search of practical and interactive education. For health reasons, people trekked to Rome for its rejuvenating baths with its mineral waters. It was also an opportunity to get together with peers and associates and organize balls and other forms of entertainment. Leisure travel came alongside the industrial revolution. People had money to spare to go on holidays to places with sun, sand and sea. Improvements in technology made it possible for more people to travel farther in a short space of time. It was the British, Thomas Cook, who pioneered mass tourism. He integrated the requirements of the leisure travelers and offered this to them as a whole package. This became a trend that is still being practiced up to now.
EuropeÕs main attraction is its history that gave rise to modern civilization. It left visual representations of its grandeur and people flock to experience this culture. In Greece, its people paid homage to their gods and goddesses and this can be best represented by the Temple of Athena, the Parthenon on the Acropolis. In Britain, there was curiosity on the DruidÕs Stonehenge. In Italy, there is the Colosseum where can feel the violence in the place where the gladiators fought to their deaths. In contrast, one goes to the Vatican City to be enveloped in spirituality and as well be awed by the immensity of St. PeterÕs Cathedral and the frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. There is also the famous landmark, the Leaning Tower of Pisa whose inclined structure has been subject to much architectural and engineering speculation and mass curiosity. In romantic Venice where there are canals instead of roads, one can explore the lavishly decorated Place of the Doges. Then there is France with its Cathedral of Notre Dame which took over 100 years to complete, but whose gothic design and stained glass windows has earned its acclaim to be the most beautiful cathedral in Europe and became the center of medieval Paris. The Arc de Triomphe represents the military might of Emperor Napoleon, conqueror of Europe. Dominating over Paris, is one of the most recognizable landmarks the world over, the Eiffel Tower.
Europe continues to dominate worldwide tourism. In 2007, the UN World Tourism Organization released its list of world top tourism destinations and out of these, seven are European countries (UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, 2007). However, while the traditional sites are still being visited, promoters have to spruce them up in order to attract visitors. The Parthenon has to be packaged with other attractions to make it more interesting. The Stonehenge only received 850,00 visitors compared to New York CityÕs Times Square whose bright lights and theaters garnered it 35 million visitors according to the list of 50 most visited tourist attractions compiled by Forbes. In Europe, it was the Trafalgar Square in Great Britain which had the most number of visitors at number 4. The next three sights European sights can all be found in France namely Notre Dame, the Louvre and its extensive art collection and the Eiffel Tower. The last two however, were far behind the other French tourist attraction, Disneyland Paris (Larriva & Weisert, 2007).
Travelers are now looking for active adventures with sightseeing as becoming merely secondary. Urban tourism has become the trend. There is also a niche market for ecotourism whose population is quickly growing. GermanyÕs tourist count in 2006 went up if only because of the success of the FIFA World Cup. Visitors likewise increased in Southern and Mediterranean Europe if only for the organization of numerous congresses and trade shows. If Europe is to continue to develop tourism as a thriving industry, it must take measures to adapt to non-traditional tourist attractions to entice visitors as well as look into niche markets such as that found in health and sports tourism.
This announcement concerns a network of 30 websites being built for the following goals:
- Integrating newly obtained knowledge and techniques into Joomla
- Testing 30 different web directories
- Gathering links with applicable material for the purpose of collecting material for a number of websites.
Goals:
-Liquidate 15 of the 30 websites in this network by the end of April, 2008 after moving the material on those 15 websites to the remaining 15. The 15 domains will be redirected to proper websites.
-Liquidate 10 more websites, leaving 5 websites with 2-3 months worth of material from 25 websites by the end of May, 2008.
concerning this website:
topics, goals and notes:
travel info to the following countries:
Equatorial Guinea
Chile
Mexico
Brazil
Spain
Poland
Ukraine
Russia
China
Vietnam
Maldives
Chile
Guyana
Myanmar
+
Azerbaijan
Timor-Leste
Macau
Angola
Armenia
Sudan
Equatorial Guinea
Georgia
China
Liechtenstein
Cyprus
Latvia
Anguilla
Mongolia
Ethiopia
+
Sudan
Azerbaijan
Angola
Vietnam
Equatorial Guinea
Egypt
China
Cambodia
Uzbekistan
Laos
Slovakia
Lesotho
Georgia
Slovenia
India
Poland
Mozambique
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Cape Verde
Tajikistan
Czech Republic
Iceland
Ethiopia
Sao Tome and Principe
Timor-Leste
Tanzania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cuba
Trinidad and Tobago
Qatar
Faroe Islands
Panama
Jordan
Guinea
South Korea
Burundi
Taiwan
Ghana
Argentina
Philippines
Turkmenistan
Costa Rica
Pakistan
Croatia
+
Luxembourg
Qatar
Bermuda
Jersey
Norway
Kuwait
United Arab Emirates
Singapore
United States
Ireland
We are fully aware that this website doesn't look like much at the time. We offer numerous seo, hosting, web development services. If you do happen to find this site online and are interested in collaboration efforts with us or if you need assistance building your own website free of charge please feel free to contact us here