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The Emotional Politics of Travel

Before 1870, holidaymaking in Britain was generally an activity undertaken for health purposes, mostly in spa towns. However, between 1870 and 1918, while health remained one of the motivations, the main purpose shifted to pleasure, and the preferred destinations also changed to seaside resorts.^[1] Evolving from the understanding of tourism as a pursuit for health, a new perspective emerged—one that emphasized the healing power of time spent in seaside resorts, the walks, and the enjoyment of leisure itself—not only for the body, but also for the mind.^[2]

The shift was made possible by five key conditions: the rise in working class income; the emergence of highly populated industrial cities with easy railway access to the coast; the increase in working-class leisure time through the legalization of workers’ holidays; the development of facilities to meet this growing demand; and, most importantly, the workers’ desire to spend their time and money in seaside resorts.^[3] Some of the reasons why the working class preferred to spend their time in seaside resorts were the growing perception of the emotional effects of modern urban life and working conditions as pathological, and the resulting belief that it was the emotions themselves that required treatment—thus highlighting the increasing importance of emotional regulation.^[4]

As travel became accessible to broader social groups, differences in taste among destinations emerged, and certain resorts—especially those favored by the working class—were viewed by dominant classes as emblematic of mass tourism, often dismissed as vulgar and lacking in cultural refinement.^[5] At the beginning of the 20th century in Britain, property ownership and class shaped holiday experiences: working-class resorts like Blackpool, dominated by small property owners, featured lively and energetic entertainment, while elite resorts like Southport, controlled by large property owners, offered the upper class a quieter and more luxurious form of relaxation.^[6]

Holidays offered valuable opportunities for emotional expression and social performance by enabling travel to function as a means of both seeing and being seen, thereby allowing individuals to temporarily escape and step outside the constraints of their everyday roles and routines.^[7]

Mass holidays to British seaside resorts became the most distinctive form of tourism in industrial society.^[8] Between 1870 and 1918, holidays emerged not only as an escape from daily routines but also as a shift valuing emotional transformations experienced through artificial entertainments; however, this experience varied according to class and property relations.^[9]

References

^ Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 2.
^ Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. pp. 3, 89.
^ Walton, John K. (1994). "The Demand for Working-Class Seaside Holidays in Victorian England". Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 34 (2): 249–265. doi:10.2307/2595245.(esp.p.252)
^ Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 11.
^ Urry, John (2002). The Tourist Gaze (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. p. 16.
^ Urry, John (2002). The Tourist Gaze (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. p. 23.
^ Adler, Judith (1989). "Origins of Sightseeing". Annals of Tourism Research. 16 (3): 7–29. doi:10.1016/0160-7383(89)90028-5.(esp.p.22)
^ Urry, John (1988). "Cultural Change and Contemporary Holiday-Making". Tourism Management. 5 (1): 35–55. doi:10.1177/026327688005001003.(esp.p.35)
^ Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 96.

[1] Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 2.

[2] Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. pp. 3, 89.

[3] Walton, John K. (1994). "The Demand for Working-Class Seaside Holidays in Victorian England". Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 34 (2): 249–265. doi:10.2307/2595245.(esp.p.252)

[4] Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 11.

[5] Urry, John (2002). The Tourist Gaze (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. p. 16.

[6] Urry, John (2002). The Tourist Gaze (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. p. 23.

[7] Adler, Judith (1989). "Origins of Sightseeing". Annals of Tourism Research. 16 (3): 7–29. doi:10.1016/0160-7383(89)90028-5.(esp.p.22)

[8] Urry, John (1988). "Cultural Change and Contemporary Holiday-Making". Tourism Management. 5 (1): 35–55. doi:10.1177/026327688005001003.(esp.p.35)

[9] Alaluf, Yaara Benger (2021). The Emotional Economy of Holidaymaking: Health, Pleasure, and Class in Britain, 1870–1918. Oxford University Press. p. 96.

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