Understanding history is an amazing thing, and 2016 marks 100 years since the organization of the National Park Service. In Ken Burns’ documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Burns tells the story behind the development of these national treasures. Stephen Mather (first director of the National Park Service) would like to attract numerous people to the parks, as recounted in Episode 4:
“[Mather] understood that until more people started coming, Congress would never make more parks, or perhaps support the existing ones. ‘There could never be a lot of tourists for Stephen Mather,’ Horace Albright remembered. ‘He wanted as many as conceivable to take joy in his ‘treasures.” Mather and Albright wanted to try almost anything to attract publicity and lure more visitors. They approved golf courses and zoos at different parks, as well as proposed Yosemite as a suitable setting for the Winter Olympics. When a new hotel was to be constructed in Yosemite, Mather scheduled the first charge of dynamite to be detonated via remote control by the Secretary of the Interior, sitting at his desk thousands of miles away.”
It’s a bit nostalgic to imagine what it would have been like to visit the parks when they weren’t as trafficked as they are today. In the beginning of the national parks journey, visitors came by horse and buggy, and the railroad also played a huge role in bringing folks to see these wonders of nature.
Nowadays, however, people travel to view the parks (and different continents!) like never before. The world of travel and tourism has blown up in comparison to what was happening in 1900. The day we live in is extremely different from the environment that was then, for plenty of factors. While there are several factors that have contributed to this change, here are just a few that we see that have made today’s tourism industry boom like never before.
In our day where air travel is commonplace, it’s hard to imagine a time when the railroad was the new up-and-coming thing and paved roads weren’t common. Today, traveling by train seems slow and archaic in comparison, when we’re used to large jetliners filled with people, traveling at speeds that would have seemed miraculous to those who lived to see the Wright brothers’ initial flight make the headlines.
In inclusion to advances in transportation mediums, travel is also more affordable than it has ever been. As travel has become more commonplace, prices have come down, making it more cost effective for everyone to avail gray line tours niagara falls and other tours.
It has never been easier to learn of different locations around the world. For tour operators and travel agencies, uploading glossy photographs of luxurious accommodations and relaxing vacation spots can go a long way to inspiring folks to reach into their wallets and pay for a trip.
Instagram and Facebook have become today’s equivalent of yesterday’s postcard. Instead of taking the time to individually send notes to friends, people post pics of delicious meals, a lounge chair on the beach, or hiking and biking in national parks.
Since the tourism industry is prospering, it’s a great time for tour operators to book trips. When you’re taking care of a group, gray line tours niagara falls wants to partner with you to provide the kind of transportation your to book. Because we specialize in group travel, we know that we can satisfy everyone in coziness and class, and it’s essential to us that our service reflects the quality standard you’ve set for your business. We take wonderful care to give our best– in customer service, professionalism, and top-tier transportation. If you’ve got an upcoming tour and need to secure a vehicle for the group, contact and reserve a gray line tours niagara falls with us today!