Brits who booked on world’s first package holiday ended up in the UK | Europe | Travel

As the Christmas decorations come down, and Brits are faced with a rainy and grey January ahead, many of them will be looking to book their summer travels. And when it comes to visiting sunnier climes, Brits love the convenience of a package holiday. According to data from ABTA, 62% of people who travelled overseas last year did so as part of a package holiday, bundling together their flights and hotels with extras ranging from dining packages to coach transfers.

The rise of package holidays coincided with the growing popularity of overseas destinations, so you might assume that the first people to take a package break were headed to sunny Costa Blanca or the glamorous south of France. However, the package holiday has much more humble beginnings, and next time you enjoy an all-inclusive in Alicante or a lounger in Lanzarote, there’s one man to thank.

Thomas Cook and the first package holiday

The first package holiday took place in 1841 was quite a sedate affair. A Baptist preacher named Thomas Cook decided to charter a train and plan a trip for his fellow members of the temperance movement, who believed in being teetotal. For a shilling, passengers could travel the 11 miles from Leicester to a temperance rally in Loughborough, with a cuppa and a ham sandwich thrown in. 

It may have been a humble beginning, but encouraged by the 485 tickets sold, Thomas founded Thomas Cook & Son, which went on to become synonymous with package holidays for many years. The savvy businessman realised that train companies offered discounts for block bookings or charters, and the public liked the convenience of booking a package and having everything organised for them.

After his whirlwind trip to Leicester, Thomas Cook went on to offer further trips across the Midlands, before expanding to trips to London to see the Great Exhibition. In 1855, he started branching out abroad, leading tour groups to Belgium, Germany, and France, and in 1863, offered the first tour of Switzerland. 

Opening up the world

Since his European trips proved so popular, Thomas Cook offered his most impressive itinerary to travellers yet in 1872. For 200 guineas, the equivalent of about £25,000 today, travellers could enjoy a 222-day tour taking in the USA, Japan, China, India, and Egypt. Around this time, Thomas also pioneered the use of circular notes, which went on to be known as traveller’s cheques, making it easier for holidaymakers to spend money abroad. 

By 1888, Thomas Cook & Sons had offices around the world, including three in Australia and one in New Zealand, and by 1890, they sold tickets to over three million people a year. While travel had previously been for the wealthy, many of his new customers belonged to the emerging middle classes. Popular destinations at the time included France, Germany, and Switzerland, and packages would often include trips to museums, visits to the theatre and opera, and outdoor activities such as mountain climbing.

Jetting off

The first modern package holiday, as we’d recognise it now, came much later in 1949.  Vladimir Raitz, a Moscow-born businessman who moved to London, was on holiday in Corsica when a business associate asked him to encourage more British people to visit the island. Vladimir worked out that for £35 a head (about £1,100 in today’s money), he could charter a plane and provide Brits with two weeks of sunshine on the French island.

While his plan faced some obstacles, the promise of a flight, accommodation in a tent, and meals containing meat twice a day were irresistible to people still feeling the effects of postwar austerity, and the first charter flights took off in May 1949. Vladimir went on to launch Horizon Holidays, the first of many package holiday companies to promise sunny escapes.

By 1950, the postwar holiday boom saw one million Brits travel abroad, and in 1957, the now defunct British European Airways hopped on the trend by offering flights to Valencia, about two hours north of Alicante. In a bid to promote this new destination, the name Costa Blanca was coined, covering the towns and cities along the 120-mile coastline.

Around this time, a little fishing village called Benidorm was seeing its fishing industry decline, and needed a new source of revenue. The local council, spotting an opportunity, started to approve new developments. In 1956, the General Plan was launched, which shaped the destination that Brits loved today. While the area had been a tourist destination for a while, this plan included more vertical buildings and large public spaces, shaping the skyline of the Spanish city. 

1950 also saw the first resort to offer a version of the modern all-inclusive. Club Med opened a resort in Alcúdia, Majorca, where holidaymakers could get all their meals included in the price. Tourists, mainly from Belgium and France, stayed in tents or beach huts and meals were a communal affair, yet it set the blueprint for a popular style of holiday to this day.

Golden age

In the 1960s, a combination of factors such as better availability of flights, better salaries and more paid leave for workers, led to Brits abandoning staycations in favour of overseas travel. Many people took their first trips abroad, soaking up the sun in Spain, Greece, and Italy, enjoying the change in weather, exploring new cultures and trying foreign foods. 

Since then, little has changed with package holidays. A week or two in the sun is still the highlight of the summer for many of us, and while new destinations have opened up, those early destinations such as the Costa Blanca and Majorca are still hugely popular. And while the internet has allowed us to discover infinite travel possibilities across the globe, sometimes all you need for a good holiday is some sunshine and a sunlounger. 

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