CHRONICLE

THOMAS COOK

1 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023
GERMÁN ALONSO ORJUELA CARRANZA
Postal Services and freight Transport
 THOMAS COOK, THE FATHER OF TOURISM

Thomas Cook is a known as “The father of tourism”, he was an evangelical preacher

and is widely recognized in the tourism sector for being the first person to professionally
organize a trip and later also a pioneer by creating the first travel agency. He was born
on November 22, 1808 in Melbourne, England, he was a member of an association that
combated alcoholism and 1841 he organized his first trip for more than 500 people to
Leicester for an anti-alcohol congress.

The success of this first initiative was such that Cook began to organize increasingly
complete tourist packages, giving rise to the modern tourism industry. In 1855 he
prepared his first organized trip abroad, the destination was the Universal Exhibition in
Paris and the following year he began his “Grand Circular Tour of Europe”.

Created to so-called “Vouchers” coupons that tourists delivered in hotels and that
guaranteed the payment of the lodging and food service, it was also precursor of
“Traveler´s Checks” which allowed tourist to obtain local money in exchange for a note
issued by Thomas Cook, he was the precursor of travel magazine, since in 1845 he
created a 60-page pamphlet where he described the route of one of his trips.

By 1888 the company had already established offices around the world, by the end of
the 19th century it was already possible to travel to almost any place on earth.

He finally died at the age of 82 in 1892, his agency Thomas Cook & Son was one of the
most recognized in the world until September 23, 2019 when the bankruptcy of the
famous travel agency was announced. This event left more than 600,00 passengers
stranded in different parts of the world.

This was a chronicle about Thomas Cook, a man with a great vision who revolutionizes
the world of the travel around the world. Thanks