Few air travellers along Britain's Empire air routes in the 1930s were intentional holidaymakers. Survey data and passenger profiles culled from other contemporary sources show that most commercial airline passengers flew on work assignment. High fares deterred leisure travel by air, but air passengers flying long-distance on paid business or public service errands incidentally became tourists by virtue of the slow, low altitude, daylight flights that stopped frequently for refuelling: infant aeronautical technology and air travel economics created tourism of sorts along new routes. Sightseeing from the air and on the ground was integral to Empire air journeys. Unpredictability added to the adventure value of flying; the novelty of aerial views added to its scenic value. Airline publicity, documentary films, and passenger accounts and diaries, stressed this in-flight and en-route experience: flying was a new way of seeing and experiencing foreign and historic places and landscapes, and for spotting game. Flying was not just a way of reaching a destination.
Incidental tourism: British Imperial air travel in the 1930s
Journal of Tourism History ; 1 , 1 ; 49-66
2009-03-01
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
technology , transport , tourists , colonialism , sightseeing , British Empire , Air travel , travellers
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