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The History Hit Miscellany of Facts, Figures and Fascinating Finds

Thomas Cook and the Invention of Mass Tourism in Victorian Britain

Harry Sherrin

03 mar 2022.

After its inception in the mid-19th century, the travel agency Thomas Cook pioneered the development of mass tourism, launching the world’s first travel guidebooks, package holidays and round-the-world tours.

Thomas Cook grew from humble beginnings, carrying temperance activists to meetings by train in the English Midlands, into a vast multinational company. In the 19th century, its tours catered to increasingly wealthy Victorians during the height of the British Empire , successfully championing a travel revolution.

But in 2019, Thomas Cook declared bankruptcy. It was the world’s oldest and longest-serving tour operator at the time, having existed for more than a century and a half and endured world wars, economic crises and the rise of the internet.

Here’s the story of Thomas Cook and the advent of global mass tourism.

Temperance trips

Thomas Cook (1808-1892), a devout Christian and advocate of the temperance movement, organised a one-day rail excursion for a temperance meeting in 1841. The trip, on 5 July, involved a train journey between Leicester and Loughborough, courtesy of an arrangement with the Midland Counties Railway Company.

Cook continued this practice over the following years, organising railway journeys for temperance activist groups around the Midlands of England. In 1845, he organised his first for-profit excursion, in the form of a trip to Liverpool for passengers from three locations – Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.

For this tour, Cook crafted a passengers’ handbook, now widely considered a precursor to the popular travel guidebook that would be produced to accompany travel excursions for decades to follow.

Branching out to Europe

English tourist agent Thomas Cook and party in the ruins of Pompeii, Easter 1868. Cook is seated on the ground, just to right of center, in this carte-de-visite photograph.

Image Credit: Granger Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

By the 1850s, Cook had his sights set further afield than England. For the Paris Exposition of 1855 , for example, he organised guided trips from Leicester to Calais.

That same year, he also oversaw international ‘package’ tours, carrying parties from England to various cities in Europe, including Brussels, Strasbourg, Cologne and Paris . These excursions offered passengers everything needed to sustain them on their journeys, including transport, accommodation and meals.

By the 1860s, Cook’s sporadic temperance trips had grown into a profitable mass tourism operation – thought to be the first in global history. In response to his newfound success, Cook opened his first high-street store in London’s Fleet Street in 1865.

That same year, the London Underground opened as the first subterranean railway in the world. London was the most populous city on the planet at the time, and the enterprises of the British Empire saw wealth pouring into mainland Britain. With this came disposable income and, by extension, more Britons willing to spend large sums on international holidays.

For Cook, business was booming.

Going global

After tackling Europe, Thomas Cook went global. Now a father-son business comprising Thomas Cook and his son, John Mason Cook, the tour agency launched its first US tour in 1866. John Mason guided it personally.

A few years later, Thomas Cook escorted passengers on the company’s first trip to North Africa and the Middle East, stopping in Egypt and Palestine.

Tourism for Britons at the time was intimately tied to the endeavours of the British Empire. As British armies entered Egypt and Sudan in the late 19th century, so too did tourists, traders, teachers and missionaries, eager to capitalise on the newfound accessibility of far-flung nations and the relative safety offered by the presence of British forces there.

Thomas Cook and Son was even responsible for delivering military personnel and mail to British Egypt in the late 19th century.

1872 marked a huge moment in the history of Thomas Cook and indeed global tourism. That year, Thomas Cook escorted the first known round-the-world tour. The lengthy excursion, which lasted more than 200 days and covered nearly 30,000 miles, was targeted at wealthy Victorians – those with the time, funds and proclivity to see the world’s many cultures.

In that decade, Thomas Cook also helped invent the traveler’s cheque: the company offered a ‘Circular Note’ to its passengers which could be exchanged for currency around the world.

In the 1920s, Thomas Cook and Son launched the first-known tour through Africa. The excursion lasted some 5 months and took passengers from Cairo in Egypt down to the Cape of Good Hope.

Conquering air and sea

John Mason Cook took over primary leadership of the company in the 1870s, overseeing its continued expansion and the opening of various new offices around the world.

With this expansion came the launching of Thomas Cook’s company-owned steamers in the late 19th century. In 1886, a fleet of luxury steamers opened to passengers, offering cruises along the Nile.

A Thomas Cook flyer from 1922 advertising cruises down the Nile. This kind of travel has been immortalised in works such as ‘Death on the Nile’ by Agatha Christie.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Cook eventually took to the skies in the 1920s, overseeing its first guided tour involving air travel in 1927. The trip carried 6 passengers from New York to Chicago, and also included accommodation and tickets for a Chicago boxing fight.

Into the modern era

During World War Two , Thomas Cook was briefly enlisted to assist with the ‘enemy mail service’, essentially the covert delivery of post from Allied regions to occupied territories.

The company went on to change hands several times during the 20th century, yet it managed to stay afloat despite various buyouts, economic crises and the rise of online travel agents.

In 2019, Thomas Cook was handed a bill of some £200 million by the Royal Bank of Scotland and other financial institutions. Unable to source the funds, the company declared bankruptcy.

At the time, Thomas Cook was responsible for more than 150,000 holiday-goers abroad. When the company collapsed, new arrangements had to be made to return every stranded customer home. The UK Civil Aviation Authority, which assisted with the repatriation efforts, called it the largest-ever peacetime repatriation in British history.

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The fascinating history of Thomas Cook

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

The history of Thomas Cook plays an important role in the growth and development of the tourism industry. Thomas Cook is (or was) one of the biggest names in travel. Without this company the tourism industry wouldn’t look the way that it does today!

In this article, we take a look at the history of Thomas Cook in order to understand why this company is such an important part in the overall history of tourism .

The history of Thomas Cook: the very beginning

Thomas cook’s first excursions , the history of thomas cook & son, moving further afield , the history of thomas cook’s other successes , the modern history of thomas cook, the 1980s onwards, the collapse of thomas cook, the future of thomas cook, history of thomas cook: further reading.

Thomas Cook wasn’t just a company- there was a face behind the name! Thomas Cook himself was born in 1808 in Melbourne, Derbyshire, in the UK.

Business-minded from an early age, he started working for a local gardener at the age of 10. He earned six pence per week. At 14 he started an apprenticeship with his uncle, John Pegg, and worked for five years as a cabinet maker. He also became a Baptist missionary in 1826, touring the area as a village evangelist.

Later, in 1832, Thomas Cook moved to Market Harborough. On New Year’s Day 1833 he took the Temperance pledge. This meant he was part of a movement against the consumption of alcohol. Cook hosted meetings and held anti-liquor processions.

While walking to a Temperance Society meeting, Thomas Cook had an idea.

He decided, due to the extended Midland Counties Railway, that he would take a group of his fellow campaigners from Leicester Campbell Street Railway Station across to Loughborough to attend a teetotal rally. It was an 11 mile distance.

On July 5th 1841, Cook took around 500 people to this rally. They each paid one shilling for the privilege of a return journey with food and entertainment. He saw an instant demand for more of the same and the history of Thomas Cook begun…

Over the next few years Cook planned and executed various excursions.

In August 1845 he took a group from Leicester to Liverpool, having visited himself beforehand to arrange deals with hotels and restaurants as part of the overall trip experience for his clients.

In 1846 he arranged for 350 people to travel from Leicester to Scotland.

Then in 1851, Cook took 150,000 people to the Great Exhibition in London.

And four years later he arranged his first ever trip abroad. This was a grand circular tour of Belgium, Germany and France with the final stop being Paris for a special exhibition. 

Keep reading and you’ll see that the history of Thomas Cook and the history of tourism go hand in hand…

In 1865, Cook got some business premises in London on the famous Fleet Street. This was always an important through route in the city, with businesses having been established here since the Middle Ages. It eventually became the home of British national newspapers, which it remained until the 1980s.

The history of Thomas Cook as a brand was born on Fleet Street. It was an office for Cook but also a shop: it sold guide books, footwear, telescopes, luggage and other travel essentials and accessories. 

Cook introduced the hotel coupon in 1868, refining the business model. Essentially, Thomas Cook had a list of businesses (hotels as well as restaurants) and customers could buy a coupons which were to be exchanged for a meal or overnight stay at one of these establishments.

Seven years after opening the Fleet Street office, in 1872, Cook decided to partner up with his son, John Mason Andrew Cook, who was already working for him. Together they renamed the travel agency to Thomas Cook & Son. John provided a lot of commercial expertise, which allowed the company to grow.

Cook also opened a temperance hotel with his wife, Marianne Mason, located above the office.

A lot was happening at once. In 1866, the year after the Fleet Street office opened, the history of Thomas Cook moved slightly further afield.

The agency launched escorted tours of the US for British travellers, and they were the first to do so! John was the one to lead these excursions, which included tours of Civil War battlefields and more.

Later, in 1871, a partnership was born: Cook, Son and Jenkins. This was with an American businessman, but it didn’t last long and is largely forgotten about.

Also in the 1870s, Thomas Cook & Sons led the first ‘round the world’ tour. It left London in late 1872 by steamship – this headed across the Atlantic. Once in America the group boarded a stage coach. They then took a paddle steamer to Japan, then travelled overland across China and India. A lengthy trip, of course, but a fascinating one nonetheless!

Learn more: Thomas Cook: 150 Years of Popular Tourism

In the 1880s, when Thomas Cook himself had retired, John and his three sons grew the company even more. They were involved with military transport while organising tours to and of the Middle East; in 1884, the British army were transported up the Nile by Thomas Cook & Son – something quite big for the business!

By 1888, there were offices around the world. The history of Thomas Cook is one that started in Leicester and before long, was present in Australia , New Zealand and many other far-flung corners of the globe.

There are plenty of other things that Thomas Cook as a brand introduced to the travel industry .

For example, in 1874, Cook introduced something he called ‘circular notes’. These were essentially early travellers’ cheques, which offered people a secure was of using currency abroad without having to carry large amounts of cash around at any one time. The idea went on to be really popular.

Cook’s Continental Timetable launched in 1873 as a quarterly publication. It moved to being published monthly later, in 1883, and is now known as the European Rail Timetable . It was proposed by Thomas Cook employee John Bredall who thought it would be wise to publish a compendium of timetables for steamships and trains across the European continent . A softcover book, it shows all major lines and most minor lines too. Publishing was suspended in August 1939 due to World War II, and it picked up again during 1946.

It is still published today under its new name – but Thomas Cook stopped publishing it in 2013. A new company, European Rail Timetable Ltd, was born; owned by John Potter, a former member of editorial staff for the timetable, it still makes the book today. This is alongside the digital version which launched in 2016. The timetable comes highly recommended by tourists and business travellers as well as book shops, librarians, travel agents and high-profile travel writers.

What started as a family business didn’t stay that way. During the Edwardian times, travel became a much more popular activity and the business (now being run by John Mason Cook’s sons) was going extremely well. However, they sold the business to Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et de Grandes Express Europèens in 1928. This was the company who operated the Orient Express. 

During World War II, however, the Paris HQ of Wagons-Lit was taken by the Germans after the Fall of France. The British assets were also taken over – by the Custodian of Enemy Property, who handled property claims created by war. Later, in 1942, Thomas Cook & Son was sold to Hays Wharf Cartage Company, which led to the company (Thomas Cook) being nationalised in 1948. It was part of the British Transport Commission.

In the 50s, the history of Thomas Cook and package holidays was solidified. The worked with scheduled (charter) airlines to sell all-inclusive tours to foreign destinations such as France, Italy , Switzerland and Spain. However these trips weren’t particularly cheap as the company didn’t want to compromise on quality. This led to a loss in share prices, and eventually the company was denationalised again in 1972.

It was now owned by a consortium made up of Trust House Forte, Midland Bank and the Automobile Association. Five years later in 1977, Midland Bank acquired sole control of the Thomas Cook and started to move administrative functions to Peterborough. By this time, the company was no longer known as Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd. It was now Thomas Cook Group Ltd.

It was during the 80s that Thomas Cook was really successful in the US. This was partly due to the aforementioned travellers’ cheques, and a whole US division of Thomas Cook was eventually sold for $1.3 billion in 1989.

During the 90s, Midland Bank was acquired by HSBC. They sold the Thomas Cook company to WestLB, a German bank, and the charter airline LTU Group. Amex bought the corporate side of things in 1994, and in 1999 the Carlson Leisure Group merged with the Thomas Cook Group Ltd.

By this time Thomas Cook had become a household name. They thousands of travel agencies and tour operators in the UK and partnerships around the world. The organisation demonstrated both vertical and horizontal integration , meaning that they had a significant market share and control over the market. There were many subsidiaries of Thomas Cook too.

Most recently in 2019, Thomas Cook collapsed.

The collapse of Thomas Cook led to various holidaymakers having to be repatriated and thousands of future holidays being cancelled. There were many potential causes of the collapse: Brexit uncertainty, of course, as well as high fuel costs, terrorist attacks and more. Hays Travel acquired all 555 of the UK Thomas Cook stores and were able to save around 2,500 jobs.

The collapse of Thomas Cook shocked the world. The history of Thomas Cook was long and the company had established itself as a key player in the tourism industry marketplace. There is not one reason why the company collapsed, but rather a plethora of reasons. Perhaps they were not innovative enough in their thinking.

They could have implemented more niche tourism products and focussed less on mass tourism , for example, as there is clear evidence that consumers have been moving in this direction for some time. But hindsight is a wonderful thing I guess, and we will never know what ‘could have been’.

So does Thomas Cook have a future? Well, maybe- but not in the same way that we have known and loved Thomas Cook.

While 2020 was been a disastrous year for much of the travel industry, it did see the ambitious relaunch of Thomas Cook Tourism by Fosun International, an online travel company with 50 employees.

Fosun was already a Thomas Cook shareholder. The company paid around £11 million for the company trademarks, social media accounts and websites in November 2019. There is certainly a lot of scope for online. products and services in the future, so we will see what the future has in store for the new ‘Thomas Cook’, it will be interesting to see how this new venture pans out…

If you want to learn more about the fascinating history of Thomas Cook, I recommend the following resources:

• Thomas Cook: The Holiday Maker
• Thomas Cook: 150 Years of Popular Tourism

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Savvy Travel Advice

Thomas Cook History: The Tale of the Father of Modern Tourism

Last updated: March 21, 2021 - Written by Jessica Norah 42 Comments

Do you know who Thomas Cook was and what contribution he made to the history of travel? Perhaps you have heard the name, seen it on the travel agencies that still carry his name, or maybe you’ve even taken a Thomas Cook tour. But my guess is that, like me, you don’t know too much about the man or how he fits into the history of travel.

Thomas Cook was a passionate man who was born into a world where most working class people worked long 6-day weeks and never traveled more than 20 miles from their home towns. Thomas would begin work at age 10, laboring in a vegetable garden for 1 penny per day; but with a lot of determination and hard work, this working class man would eventually build one of the largest travel companies in the world.

This post is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Cook and his role in history and will give you a good overview of Thomas the man, Thomas the travel pioneer, and a glimpse of what it was like to travel in the Victorian age.

Table of Contents:

Who was Thomas Cook?

Thomas Cook was born in 1808 in the small town of Melbourne, England but would be best known for his time living in Leicester. He would finish his schooling at age 10 to begin working, often for only a penny a day, to help support his family.

Throughout his life, Thomas Cook would work as a Baptist preacher, carpenter, furniture maker, printer, publisher, political advocate, and travel organizer. As a Baptist preacher, he would walk thousands of miles and earned so little that he often worked in the dark to conserve candles and oil.

After seeing the effects of drunkenness at an early age, Cook believed that alcohol abuse was one of the major roots of the many social problems in the Victoria era and would spend much of his time and talents supporting the Temperance movement in England for the rest of his life. In fact, Cook’s beginnings as a travel organizer would come about because of his temperance beliefs.

In 1841, he would arrange for a special train to take over 500 people from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a temperance meeting. For 1 shilling, passengers got round trip train travel, band entertainment, afternoon tea, and food. Not a bad deal!

T he Birth of Thomas Cook & Son

Then in 1845, he would organize his first railway excursion for profit, and the following year he would begin offering trips outside England to Scotland, a country that captivated Cook and would remain one of his favorite destinations. For many of his early passengers, this was their first time aboard a train and the furthest distance they’d ever traveled from their home.

His trips kept getting bigger and in 1851, Thomas got the chance to organize railway travel and travel accommodations for people from the provinces to travel to London to attend the Great Exhibition orchestrated by Prince Albert. Thomas would transport over 150,000 people to London during the 6 months of the exhibition. This was one of the largest events in England and one of the largest movements of people within Britain!

Up until this point in time, most people in the provinces would be unlikely to travel to a town 20 miles away, let alone to the city of London. It must have been quite a shock for many people, who likely had never attended an event bigger than a county agricultural fair, to witness the Great Exhibition, where many of the greatest industrial inventions of the time were on display, in the bustling capital city of London.

His early tours would be marketed towards the working class, but later his company would go on to escort more middle class passengers and even organize travel for royalty, the military, and other important figures given his increasing reputation for being able to efficiently organize travel.

Interestingly, a large percentage of Cook’s travelers would be single or unescorted women who likely would not have been able to travel on their own (remember these are the days of Gone with the Wind ), but being part of an escorted tour provided them with both protection and independence.

Cook would rapidly expand operations, escorting tours throughout Europe, North America, and even led the first commercial tour around the world. But perhaps no destination was more sacred to Thomas than his tours to Egypt and the Middle East. Here Thomas could witness firsthand the Biblical lands he had read and preached about all his life, and spending time in the Holy Land was truly a realization of many of his dreams as a young man.

A Man with Many Personal Obstacles and Struggles

Although Thomas Cook & Son would thrive and go on to become one of the largest travel agencies in the world, things did not work out as well for Cook in his personal life. Thomas’ father died when he was very young as did his stepfather, and young Thomas was left to be raised by his widowed mother.

As an adult, he would suffer the tragic sudden death of his only daughter Annie—a young woman on the cusp of marriage—who shared a close relationship with her parents. Thomas’ wife would suffer a long period of ill health following her daughter’s death, eventually dying and leaving Thomas alone with his own failing health that left him almost blind.

In his later years, he had a very strained relationship with his only son and business partner John Mason Cook. Thomas felt that he was being pushed aside in his own company and eventually John Mason Cook would take over all operations from his father. The father and son never truly reconciled and spent very little time together towards the end of his life.

While Thomas’ poor health and eyesight made it increasingly difficult, he continued to be active in travel and temperance activities until near the end of his life. His son would continue to expand the travel business.

What was it like to Travel During the Victorian Era?

Thomas lived during the reign of Queen Victoria—the Victorian era—and while romantic imaginings of spending time aboard the famous Oriental Express, sailing on luxury White Star Line steamships, and staying in grand palatial hotels may have been partially true of the wealthiest of travelers, these are far from the accommodations you could expect as a working class or middle class traveler.

Before widespread railway transport, the stagecoach reigned as the quickest way to get around and only the wealthy could afford such conveniences. So poorer people often walked, hitched rides on the back of wagons and carts, or, if lucky, rode a horse or donkey. In the early days of railway travel, third class train accommodations were open wagons, some without seats, where passengers would have to worry about the wind, sun, dust, locomotive smoke, and glowing hot embers.

During Cook’s travels—particularly his early trips—you would need to worry about germs and disease as very little was understood about germs at the time and the lack of widespread refrigeration and hot water heightened the chances of disease. Restaurants, flush toilets, and even running water were not staples in Great Britain, let alone the rest of the world. Communication was slow and done primarily by postal mail, sometimes taking weeks to confirm reservations or transmit a message back home.

However, things were not all bad. During Thomas’s life so much would change that would make travel faster, cheaper, and more comfortable than ever before. Improvements in the postal service, use of the steam engine, opening of the Suez canal, and the great expansion of the railways would make it possible for Thomas Cook to accomplish things that would not have been possible a generation before him.

Thomas Cook’s tours, with their discounted organized group rates, made it possible for a lot of working and middle class people to travel for the first time.  Cook believed that travel could help educate and enlighten people who, like him, often did not have a proper school education, eliminate prejudices and bigotry, and be a healthy leisure alternative to visiting pubs, gambling halls, and whorehouses.

However, these new travel opportunities for the lower classes was not something that was widely appreciated by many of those in the upper classes of society. Until the nineteenth century, popular tourist destinations were almost exclusively the playground of the wealthy who could afford the time away and expensive cost of travel. The upper classes did not want to mix with the lower classes when traveling.

As Thomas Cook and others began to offer affordable excursion tours to popular destinations such as English country homes (e.g., Chatsworth House), the Rhine River valley, the French Riviera, Egyptian pyramids, and the Swiss Alps, wealthy travelers complained about what they saw as a bunch of uncouth, uneducated common people invading their exclusive travel paradises.

They criticized Thomas Cook and the excursion travelers, and this criticism likely wounded Thomas, who although he strongly believed in the right for all people to be able to travel, he also strived to be accepted by the upper echelons of society. Despite his success, he never was accepted by the upper classes as he was not of gentle birth, but was a working man and a Baptist in a country still largely controlled by wealthy Anglicans.

However, despite all the criticism, the demand for discounted organized travel would only continue to increase. The number of travelers from London who crossed the Channel to continental Europe rose from 165,000 in 1850 to 951,000 by 1899. Travel agencies and organized travel were here to stay.

Why Thomas Cook was a Travel Pioneer

Thomas Cook was a travel pioneer who built one of the largest travel businesses in the world, a business that started very humbly as a way to transport travelers to nearby temperance meetings. Thomas was able to “organize travel as it was never organized before” and with the help of the railways and the steam engine, he was able to do it on a scale that would have never before been possible.

Although not the first to come up with most of the ideas, Thomas would make things like travel vouchers, traveler’s cheques, and printed guidebooks common and widespread. Cook would use his talents as a printer to print travel advertisements, bulletins, magazines, guidebooks, and train timetables.  In fact, Thomas Cook Continental Timetables would be published from 1873 to 2013 (last edition was published in August 2013) and were for many decades considered the bible for European train travelers.

His religious fervor would make him seek out exotic locations such as the Middle East and his determination would lead to Thomas Cook & Son opening offices around the world. Perhaps his greatest legacy is that he helped make it possible for a new group of people to engage in leisure travel. Cook understood well the drudgery of hard work and trying to support oneself on a meager income, and his tours provided working and lower middle class people the opportunity to explore a world they could have only have read about otherwise.

The Thomas Cook & Son name continued to exist as a travel company, offering travel tours until 2019. The company traded for 178 years. But it had not been a family-run business by the Cook family since the 1920’s when Thomas Cook’s grandsons, Frank and Ernest, sold the company to the Belgian Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens, operators of most of Europe’s luxury sleeping cars, including the Orient Express .

In the 1940’s it would become state-owned by the British Transport Holding Company. It would continue to change hands over the years. In 2001, it would become owned solely by C&N Touristic AG, one of Germany’s largest travel groups, who renamed the company, Thomas Cook AG.

Thomas Cook became one of the world’s largest travel agencies and the oldest in the UK. Its famous slogan developed by advertising expert Michael Hennessy: “Don’t just book it….Thomas Cook it” became well-known around the world.

The Bankruptcy and Closure of the Thomas Cook Travel Agency in 2019

Sadly, the travel agency and airline that carried the Thomas Cook named declared bankruptcy in September 2019, leaving about 150,000 British travelers “stranded” all over the world (as well as a number of other nationalities). Perhaps the most devastating effect has been the immediate loss of thousands of jobs for people in the UK and abroad.

The travel agency, however, was properly insured and protected and most of those who booked a trip can apply for a refund, and those left “stranded” on trips were repatriated by the UK. It was the largest repatriation effort since World War 2.

In October 2019, it was announced that all the Thomas Cook travel agency offices in UK will be taken over by Hays Travel and rebranded under their name. Most of the reopened offices are being staffed by former Thomas Cook employees. Hays Travel is now the largest independent travel agency in the UK, and you can read more about them here .

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on all sectors of the global travel industry and Hays Travel was forced to close its travel offices in the UK for a large part of the year. Many of the former UK Thomas Cook offices have now been permanently shuttered and many of the employees who had been rehired were sadly made redundant. You can read more about that here .

Although the future of the Thomas Cook name in travel may be uncertain, I would be very surprised if the name does not continue to be associated in some way with a travel agency.

In fact, although all the UK based companies have stopped trading, some Thomas Cook owned resorted, like Cook’s Club are still operating. Some of its subsidiaries in some other countries are still trading as normal but are also in danger of closure.

What I Learned from Reading about Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook was a quite extraordinary self-made man. He had so many occupations and business ventures and so many setback and failures, even declaring bankruptcy at one point, but he was so persistent and never gave up. He was a passionate man who fought for his Baptist faith, beliefs in equality for all people, and for temperance.

In addition to being impressed by the determination and innovativeness of Thomas Cook himself, I was also quite intrigued in the ways that travel has changed and the ways it has not. We have come a long way since Thomas Cook escorted his first tour as we can travel so much lighter, faster, and more conveniently than would have seemed possible to Victorian age travelers who would accept unheated train cars, month-long ocean crossings, and hotels without hot water.

Cook, a teetotaler until his death, would likely be shocked by the tourism industry’s promotion of sun, sea and sex and the partying and drinking associated with many travel destinations. Indeed, many of these locations are the most popular destinations for British travelers on package holidays.

However, some things have not changed very much. Criticisms of organized travel remain with the notion that independent travel is better and people love to make the subjective “traveler” versus “tourist” distinction.  There are also still locations that remain primarily the playgrounds of the wealthy although never like during the Victorian age. Travel remains class segregated as those who can afford to do so can fly in first class seats, dine in the finest restaurants aboard ships, and sleep in the best cabins with little need to spend much time with other class passengers.

One of the things that I found perhaps the most interesting was the destinations promoted by Thomas Cook still remain, with few exceptions, major tourist destinations today. The country house of Chatsworth House is one of the most notable country houses in England today and people are still flocking to the Scottish highlands, Paris, Rhine River Valley, Swiss Alps, Egypt, the ancient city of Petra, Australia, and most of the other destinations promoted by Thomas Cook in the 1800’s.

While things have changed in some ways beyond recognition, many of the world’s wonders and great destinations continue to awe visitors as they must have awed those first pioneer tourists led by Thomas Cook.

Want to Learn More about Thomas Cook and Victorian Age Travel? 

Resources about Thomas Cook (I used these in writing this article) :

-Hamilton, Jill. (2005). Thomas Cook: The Holiday Maker . The History Press.

-Piers Brendon. (1991). Thomas Cook – 150 Years of Popular Tourism . Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd.

-Withey, Lynne. (1997). Grand Tours and Cook’s Tours – A History of Leisure Travel, 1750 to 1915 .  William Morrow & Co. [This book focuses on a broader view of the history of travel including a lot of attention to Thomas Cook tours and their impact on tourism]

-A great Wikipedia link to some of Thomas Cook’s Traveler Handbooks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook%27s_Travellers_Handbooks

Another book related to Thomas Cook on my to-read list:

-Swinglehurst, Edmund. (1974).  The Romantic Journey – The Story of Thomas Cook and Victorian Travel . Pica Editions.

So what do you think about Thomas Cook and the Victorian Age of Travel? If you are interested in another article on travel during the Victorian age, check out our post on t wo American women who race around the world in less than 80 days .

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There are 42 comments on this post.

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Baskin Post author

February 28, 2024 at 3:26 am

Wow, so fascinating to read about the history of Thomas Cook, the visionary behind modern tourism. I definitely learned a lot from this about how His legacy continues to shape travel and hospitality industries, very educational post!

Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author

February 28, 2024 at 10:20 am

Thanks for taking the time to comment and glad to hear you enjoyed our article on Thomas Cook. And yes his contributions to the travel industry can definitely still be seend today!

Best, Jessica

Chandra Gurung Post author

May 9, 2023 at 4:15 am

Very interesting post, thanks for the great travel History !!

May 13, 2023 at 8:06 am

Hi Chandra,

Glad you enjoyed our post on Thomas Cook, thanks for taking the time to comment!

Karim Post author

October 29, 2022 at 3:01 pm

Thanks for your blog post on Thomas Cook, very helpful, nice to read.

October 31, 2022 at 10:04 am

Thanks for taking the time to comment, glad you enjoyed our post on Thomas Cook and a bit of the history of the man and his company 😉

Jeanne Gisi Post author

May 24, 2022 at 1:06 pm

While cleaning out some boxes filled with mementos of my travels over the years, I came upon an Itinerary prepared by Thos. Cook & Son for a 6 week European trip in 1965 for my parents & I (I was 13)! It was so fascinating to see the level of detail for each stop, which included England, France, Italy, Spain & Germany; and the beautiful cover & fancy paper used to produce the itinerary. I went looking on the internet to see if they were still in existence & found your blog, which I found so informative about the founder & the many iterations the company had gone through. Probably the most amazing detail in this itinerary was discovering that for hotels in 4 different cities, train rides, rental car & private transport for the entire trip was shown at $328 per person! Astounding! Appreciated reading your historical information about this venerable company.

May 25, 2022 at 5:10 am

So glad you enjoyed our article on the history of Thomas Cook.

Oh, wow, that must be wonderful finding old treasures from your family travels. I love things like that. And yes a 6 week trip for $328 per person (about $3,000 per person in today’s money) would still be a good value today for all that was included for a 6-week trip. And it would have taken longer to put together an itinerary then as the travel agent would have needed to call or mail for inquiries and reservations rather than clicking buttons on a computer.

Yes, Thomas Cook has gone through a lot in recent years. Hays Travel purchased most of the Thomas Cook offices/stores and hired back a lot of the staff in 2019. But then of course the COVID-19 pandemic came soon after, and many of the stores have since re-closed and a number of people had to be let go. For example, our local travel store (in Bath, England) went from a Thomas Cook to a Hays Travel to being empty again in about a year’s time. It will be interesting to see what will happen with traditional travel agencies like this as international travel goes back to 2019 levels and if they will continue to flourish in the face of online competitors.

Ruth Deeks Post author

March 21, 2021 at 8:39 am

Very interesting. My parents who were Baptist missionaries in India had told me that Thomas Cook was a Baptist and gave a special rate to missionaries travelling by boat to and from India, the journey taking 5 weeks approx. I am talking about the 1930s to 1950s. What a shame the The Thomas Cook co. was sold out of the family and went bankrupt.

March 21, 2021 at 9:05 am

Glad you enjoyed our article on Thomas Cook and the history of his travel business. He is an interesting man combining his religion with travel.

Yes, it is sad that the Thomas Cook business went bankrupt. Sadly, the UK travel company which took over most of the Thomas Cook offices in the UK, Hays Travel, has now had to close many of these offices in 2020 due to the coronavirus. This has also sadly left many of the former Thomas Cook employees, many of which were then re-hired by Hays Travel, without a job again. It’s been a very tough couple of years for UK travel agents. Hopefully, 2021 will be a better year for them.

Uwingabire Faustine Post author

November 28, 2020 at 1:03 pm

Hello I was inspired by the theory of Thomas Cook, but wanted to know above all that why was he important in tourism industry?

November 29, 2020 at 7:05 am

Glad you enjoyed our post on Thomas Cook and learning about his life. Hopefully you found your answer about why Thomas Cook was important in the tourism industry from the article. But if not, I’d go back and read the “Why Thomas Cook was a Travel Pioneer” section as that covers a good summary of his achievements related to travel and his importance in the tourism industry.

If you have any further questions, please let me know!

Seba Campos Post author

July 30, 2020 at 6:49 pm

Hi! I am a tourism student from Argentina, I really liked your article and it was extremely revealing for me. I’m working on the Thomas Cook story.

Do you have any information about his family? Why did they decide to sell the company? Why did your son remove him from the company? Thank you so much!

August 1, 2020 at 5:28 am

Glad that you are finding my article helpful in writing your paper on Thomas Cook.

If you are looking for additional information, I’d recommend checking out one of the books about Thomas Cook such as this one by Jill Hamilton published in 2005. The books will give you more details and context than you’ll find online. You should be able to buy it online through Amazon or ebay.

The Thomas Cook company website used to have some good historical information but that information has all been removed since Thomas Cook closed in the UK.

Hope that helps, Jessica

Colin Post author

October 6, 2019 at 5:41 am

Hi Jessica, I was just searching about Thomas Cook after the recent bankruptcy as I was one of the people affected. Luckily for us, we were not on the tour and it was booked several months away, so it seems all will be well in terms of getting our money back. We also have plenty of time to rebook our holiday, so we are luckier than most.

What a great post and what a detailed history of Thomas Cook and his travel company. I have used Thomas Cook to book holidays for years and never knew anything about Thomas Cook, the man or his background. This was a very interesting read!

October 6, 2019 at 6:09 am

Sorry to hear that you were one of the people affected by the Thomas Cook bankruptcy and closure. But I am happy to hear that it sounds like you will receive a full refund for your booked trip and will have plenty of time to rebook your holiday.

So glad you enjoyed our post. Yes, the history of Thomas Cook as a person is very interesting and he was definitely a pioneer in the field of tourism. I am sure the Cook name will continue to be associated with a travel company in one way or another in the future since it is so well recognized worldwide.

Happy travels, Jessica

Eran Post author

December 26, 2018 at 10:21 pm

Hi, Great post! Towards the end of it you mention that a lot of things haven’t changed in travel. However, I think in recent years, with the rise of low-cost flights, now tourism is more reachable to all segments than ever before…

December 27, 2018 at 3:37 am

Hi Eran, Yes, it is amazing how much hasn’t changed and in other ways how much things have changed since the time of Thomas Cook!

I do think that low cost travel has enabled more people to travel, but in more recent times it is probably more due to better economic conditions in countries than things like budget airlines, as we are seeing huge increases in the number of travelers from places like India, China, and Latin America. Travel for leisure is commonplace in many countries, but still remains something for those with money as much of the world’s population can not often afford to travel internationally for leisure. According to Hans Rosling, it is estimated that only the richest 1 billion people in the world live where they can easily afford airplane tickets, and 2 billion people spend less than $2 a day.

Interesting to look at travel from a global perspective as it can be easy for Western people to take it for granted.

Alok kumar mandal Post author

August 17, 2018 at 8:15 am

very interesting and useful facts about Mr. Cook…

August 17, 2018 at 11:32 am

Hi Alok, Yes, Thomas Cook was an interesting man and we the see the effects of his legacy on modern travel all over the place, especially since we are now living in the UK. Best, Jessica

Bryant Kerr Post author

November 4, 2017 at 10:08 pm

I have a old traveling trunk that have the names Colonel Thomas Cook and Sons the other name is Lieutenant Colonel Rodger Young military number 03443 79 New Delhi does anyone know anything about this trunk

November 7, 2017 at 8:29 am

Hi Bryant, I don’t know anything about the trunk, but there is a fairly well-known American from Ohio that was in the military named Rodger Wilton Young although not sure if he was ever in New Delhi. There was also a Thomas Cook who served at the Addiscombe Military Seminary in 1837. But the Thomas Cook & Sons are probably just the ones that arranged the travel so you’ll probably have better luck tracking down Young. Best of luck!! ~ Jessica

Taranath Bohara Post author

January 31, 2017 at 5:09 am

I love this guy Thomas Cook, who helped bring affordable tourism to the world. Many people are involved and have followed his principles. He was a great who taught the lesson of tour and travel. Great blog post!

January 31, 2017 at 6:20 am

Hi Taranath, Thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes, I really love the story of Thomas Cook and I don’t think a lot of people know the influence he had on the modern tourism industry but at least his name is still carried on in the company he founded. Glad you enjoyed our article! Best, Jessica

LOUIS GEEN Post author

January 31, 2017 at 9:11 am

Could this be the same man? I am a Freemason and a member of the Port Natal Masonic Lodge in Durban, South Africa. The Lodge is almost 160 years old, having been consecrated on 12th August 1858. According to our records Thomas Cook was Master of the Lodge during the Masonic year 1883 – 1884. The Lodge is in possession of a beautiful oil painting of Thomas Cook that was donated by him to the Lodge. Until I discovered Thomas Cook’s name in the Port Natal Lodge’s records, I was not aware that the Father of Modern Tourism resided in South Africa. Could our Thomas Cook be the same man that turned tourism into the industry it has become?

January 31, 2017 at 10:22 am

Hi Louis, How interesting and thanks for commenting again on this post! It is possible of course as Thomas Cook lived from 1808-1892, but I don’t think that Thomas Cook was a freemason and I don’t remember reading about him spending time in South Africa. Thomas Cook is a fairly common name. However, I am no expert, and to find out for sure, I’d contact the Thomas Cook Group and they should be able to easily verify if the painting is of the same Thomas Cook of the travel agency. Let me know if you have any difficulty contacting them and I’d love to hear what you find out even if it turns out to be another Thomas Cook! Best Jessica

Tim Post author

June 7, 2016 at 7:22 am

Thanks for all this information on Thomas Cook! I am looking to for copy of one of the recommended books on Amazon!

travelcats Post author

June 13, 2016 at 7:30 am

Hi Tim, You are very welcome for the information on Thomas Cook. Amazing story and an important person in modern travel history and the current state of tourism. Good luck finding the book! ~ Jessica

Kerstin Post author

May 24, 2016 at 6:43 am

Meanwhile, Diccon Bewes has written a book on Cook’s Grand Tour of Switzerland, which I highly recommend to anybody interested in Victorian era travel: Slow Train to Switzerland , ISBN 9781857886092.

May 24, 2016 at 7:27 am

Hi Kerstin, Thanks for that book recommendation. I have not read it but it does have good reviews and I think it would be great for those readers interested in Thomas Cook tours to Switzerland or early mass tourism to the Alps! Best, Jessica

Louis Geen Post author

November 12, 2014 at 1:26 am

Thomas Cook was certainly an interesting character. Another interesting fact about this amazing man is that he was a Freemason and that he was Master of the Port Natal Lodge in Durban, South Africa, from 1883/1884. The Lodge now 156 years old, still exists and has in its possession a beautiful oil painting of Thomas Cook in its original gilded frame, which he donated to the Lodge.

November 15, 2014 at 9:28 am

Hi Louis, I did not know this. I don’t recall any reference to the freemasons or even South Africa during my readings and research on Thomas Cook. Do you have a reference for this for those interested in reading more about this? I couldn’t find any info about the lodge online.

Nic Post author

November 7, 2013 at 9:03 am

The quotes from Thomas Cook are great.

November 7, 2013 at 10:14 am

Agreed:) I really like the one in the green box.

Meghan Post author

November 6, 2013 at 6:24 pm

This is so interesting! I’m always so fascinated by stories about travel in the past. I recently learned that it wasn’t until the last few centuries that people began traveling for pleasure. I’ve even read that in some parts of the world, people think it is a little strange for a person to travel just because, and not for some business or personal errand. But all this information I never knew. I’ve never even heard of Thomas Cook until now. Thanks for sharing!

November 7, 2013 at 10:12 am

I know, it is so interesting to read about travels in prior centuries. That’s interesting about how some people see travel as strange today but I imagine in places where people have very little money, leisure travel is not much of a possibility.

bevchen Post author

November 5, 2013 at 11:51 pm

I knew only some of this. It’s very interesting!

November 6, 2013 at 7:20 am

Yes, it is a fascinating history.

Meredith Post author

November 5, 2013 at 9:52 pm

Wow, I had no idea! I’d heard the name but didn’t fully realize the history behind it. I feel like I owe him a big thank you! Even now there are some places in the world that would’ve been difficult for me to see without a tour group. Fascinating!

November 6, 2013 at 7:19 am

Yes, there are definitely several places in the world that make more sense with organized travel or travel guides than on your own. Thomas Cook’s company actually also helped people book unecorted independent travel and just made all the travel arrangements, allowing people to do it on their own. BTW, did you see how he was also captivated by Scotland (made me think of you).

Kate Post author

November 5, 2013 at 5:19 pm

Not only am I amazed I didn’t know any of this, but I am fascinated as to how much history there really is behind Thomas Cook!

November 5, 2013 at 7:21 pm

Yes, it really is an interesting history. The British, like Thomas Cook, were really the pioneers that started the modern tourism industry. It didn’t hurt that the British Empire stretched across the world:)

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Thomas Cook: A 178-year history

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By Amie Keeley

Thomas Cook had a long and colourful history. Over its 178 years the iconic travel brand overcame huge challenges including the Second World War and the recession of the 1970s, and counted Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling and Winston Churchill among its customers.

The UK’s oldest travel agency brand can also lay claim to a number of travel “firsts”, including producing what was to be the forerunner of the modern brochure in 1851 – a publication called The Excursionist, which included rail fares – and being the first travel agent to sell leisure trips by air in 1919.

Who was Thomas Cook?

By 1855 he had started to organise trips overseas.

Thomas Cook was a social idealist. When he created the travel company, his goal was to improve society.

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Thomas Cook archivist Paul Smith told Travel Weekly in 2016: “For Thomas Cook, travel was about social improvement. If people drank less, became better educated and did more with their time and money, society would benefit. Travel was a catalyst for improving society.

“If he could persuade trains to offer cheaper fares, he could promote them and enable more people from a lower class, the middle classes, to travel. In those days people did not travel for leisure; only those who were very wealthy. He was trying to make travel easier, cheaper and safer.”

When Cook opened his first shop, Thomas Cook & Son, at 98 Fleet Street, London, in 1865, he claimed to have booked one million passengers on his trips.

The shop sold railway tickets, tours, including to Paris, Italy and Switzerland, as well as luggage, guidebooks and telescopes.

Thomas and his son John Mason Cook both died during the 1890s and the business was inherited by John’s three sons: Frank Henry, Ernest Edward and Thomas Albert.

In the first quarter of the twentieth century Thos Cook and Son dominated the travel market.

But in 1928, Frank and Ernest sold the business to the Belgian Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens, which operated  the Orient Express.

During the war its Paris headquarters were taken over by occupied forces and the business came close to collapsing. Its assets were requisitioned by the British government and it was later sold to Britain’s four main railway companies.

When these were nationalised Thomas Cook became state owned in 1948.

The business went on to flourish in the post-war boom and in 1965 reported profits in excess of £1 million.

In 1972 Thomas Cook became privately owned again and went on to survive the recession of that decade which had laid claim to a number of travel firms.

In the 1980s and 1990s Thomas Cook grew its long-haul touring programme, and expanded its retail network.

In 1992 Thomas Cook was sold by Midland Bank to German bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank, and charter airline LTU Group.

In 2001, German travel group C&N Touristic AG became the sole owner of Thomas Cook changing its name to Thomas Cook AG.

Six years later in 2007, Thomas Cook Group was formed by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc.

It went on to sign a joint venture with The Co-operative Group increasing its shop network to 1,200. Thomas Cook’s Going Places branded branches were rebranded under the Co-operative’s brand.

More recently, Thomas Cook has faced competition in the package holiday market from the likes of Jet2holidays, which became the second-largest Atol-holder in the UK in 2017  – a spot held by Cook for years.

It closed several hundred shops over the last three years with its store network reduced to around 550. It began expanding its own-brand hotel portfolio hoping it would build future success.

But last summer’s extended heatwave, Brexit and a £1.1 billion write-down of its MyTravel business in May this year have contributed to its eventual demise.

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Simple Flying

The history of thomas cook - 178 years of travel.

The story of a company that changed the world of travel forever.

Thomas Cook was closing in on two centuries of business before its demise in September 2019. After efforts to seek a £200 million bailout failed, Thomas Cook fell into liquidation, ending a business that had operated for 178 years. The failure of Thomas Cook Airlines became the biggest UK airline collapse in history, eclipsing Monarch Airlines, which had gone bust two years prior.

The bankruptcy left over 150,000 passengers stranded worldwide, and up to 600,000 customers had bookings with the airline when it went bust. Let's take a look at the fascinating history of Thomas Cook.

Railways expeditions

The agency's inception dates back to July 1841, with entrepreneur Thomas Cook offering his first excursion. Thomas Cook & Son offered trips to members of the Temperance Society via the Midland Counties Railway. Cook escorted 500 of these members from Leicester to a teetotal rally ten miles north in the nearby town of Loughborough.

Even though the trip may have been short, it would have been the first time many of these travelers entered a train. Therefore, the 500 paid one shilling and sixpence each, which is around £7.00 (adjusted for inflation) for the return trip.

The Derbyshire native soon offered excursions across the counties with a service from Leicester to the vibrant city of Liverpool in 1845. Soon after, Cook used his decade of experience to lead tours of Wales, Ireland and Scotland in 1851. These feats attracted investment from important national figures who wanted to use Cook's services.

Cook was therefore persuaded to use his setup to bring workers from the Midlands and Yorkshire for the Great Exhibition in the UK during 1851. By the time this London event was finished, Cook had taken 150,000 people across the country.

International adventures

This success gave Cook the confidence to expand internationally, combining various forms of transport. From the mid-1850s, Cook's business serviced routes across the English Channel from Essex to the Belgian city of Antwerp. This gave way to a circular tour that included the European cities of Brussels, Cologne, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strasbourg and Paris - Cook's twist on the 'Grand Tour' opened up travel to social classes below the nobility.

Subsequently, the birth of two key aspects of modern tourism was seen following these tours. The first was the 1868 introduction of the hotel coupon, which helped customers pay for their hotel and meals. The second was the 1874 creation of the circular note, which was an early form of the traveler's cheque.

Thereafter, Cook further expanded on his international growth to venture across the Atlantic - a network of North American tours, covering 4,000 miles of railways was set up from 1865. Along with this, Cook set up systems in Egypt with steamers he hired to travel up the river Nile. These milestones were followed by annual world tours using Cook's experienced network and systems.

Ownership changes

Thomas Cook passed away in 1892, leaving John Mason Cook to take the reins of his father's operations. The businessman continued to grow the company from its two offices in Leicester and London before passing away seven years later. The firm was then taken on by Thomas' grandsons until their decision to retire in 1928. Ernest and Frank Cook sold the business to its first outside owners.

Discover more aviation news with Simple Flying.

At this time, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits became the proud owners of Thomas Cook. The French company were famed for their ambitious operations with the Orient Express and were looking to expand their presence.

The firm was sold to Hays Wharf Cartage Company during World War II - however, after the war, the company was nationalized in 1948 to become part of the British Transport Commission. The boom of commercial aviation in the post-war years benefited Thomas Cook, with the firm profiting £1 million in 1965.

After nearly three decades, Thomas Cook was again privatized after surviving the 1970s recession. The group used its expertise in package holidays to ensure safety during a time when many travel firms collapsed. Midland Bank became the sole owner of the business in 1977 and the firm vastly improved customer relations. Proposals such as the launch of the 1974 Money Back Guarantee scheme helped enhance customer service and increased reliability in the years to come.

Entering the modern era

Thomas Cook was then sold to German bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank and charter airline LTU Group for £200 million in 1992. It was during this period that Thomas Cook Group set up its own airline - initially named JMC - in 1999. This ownership lasted only nine years as Thomas Cook was again sold in 2001, this time to German company, C&N Touristic AG, and its airline branch was rebranded to Thomas Cook Airlines in 2003. In 2007, this business merged with MyTravel Group to form Thomas Cook Group plc.

Unfortunately, the travel group soon began racking up more debt - in 2011, its debts exceeded £1 billion and the airline survived by the skin of its teeth with an emergency cash injection. However, mounting interest payments and changes in the holiday industry made things increasingly tough for Thomas Cook. Travelers were also increasingly booking online - making Thomas Cook's 500+ high street outlets slowly redundant - and opting for city breaks over Cook's typical beach package getaways.

By 2019 - the year it would go bankrupt - Thomas Cook's debts had reached around £1.7 billion, and it had paid over £1 billion in interest to lenders over the preceding decade. It desperately sought funding to stay afloat but was unable to secure the £200 million it needed. Then, on September 23, 2019, the old powerhouse finally ceased trading after 178 years.

Check out our analysis on what went wrong at Thomas Cook .

The Thomas Cook legacy

Thomas Cook's mark can be seen all over the world today. The company pioneered package holidays with unique incentives from the beginning. The firm also continued to revolutionize the travel industry by utilizing the ever-changing modes of transport over the years. The package holiday model is still enjoying a boon in the UK, as seen in the success of Jet2.com, now the UK's third-largest airline.

After 178 years of providing travel services across the globe, Thomas Cook's legacy won't be forgotten. As for its fleet , Thomas Cook had 34 aircraft in its possession when it collapsed - 27 Airbus A321s and seven A330s. The majority of these planes were returned to their lessors and found new homes, now flying with a diverse range of carriers like Vietjet, Air Transat and S7 Airlines. A few would end up on the scrap heap, including three A330s abandoned at Manchester Airport which were deemed "unsellable".

Did you use to fly with Thomas Cook? Do you wish the airline would have stayed afloat? Let us know in the comment section.

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The Evolution of Travel Agencies: A Historical Perspective

The history of travel agencies is a compelling narrative that has witnessed significant transformations over the years. This article explores the evolution of travel agencies from their early beginnings to the present day, highlighting key milestones and shifts in the industry.

Early Travel Arrangements:

Before the establishment of travel agencies, individuals took charge of their travel arrangements directly with transportation providers and accommodations. This process was often cumbersome and time-consuming, requiring considerable effort from the traveler.

Emergence of Travel Agencies:

In the 19th century, the concept of travel agencies began to take shape. Thomas Cook & Son, founded in 1841 by Thomas Cook, is recognized as one of the earliest travel agencies. Initially focusing on organizing railway outings, the agency later expanded its services to include international travel.

Growth and Globalization:

As transportation infrastructure grew and global travel became more accessible, the role of travel agencies expanded. They became intermediaries between travelers and various service providers, offering packaged tours and simplifying the booking process.

Technology and Online Booking:

The late 20th century witnessed a transformative shift with the advent of technology. The rise of the internet allowed travelers to research and book their trips online, reducing dependence on traditional brick-and-mortar travel agencies.

Specialization and Niche Markets:

As the travel industry diversified, agencies began specializing in specific niches such as adventure travel, luxury vacations, or eco-tourism. This specialization enabled agencies to cater to the unique preferences of different traveler segments.

Challenges and Adaptation:

The advent of online booking platforms and direct-to-consumer options presented challenges to the traditional travel agency model. However, many agencies have adapted by leveraging technology to enhance customer service, offering personalized experiences and providing expertise in complex travel arrangements.

Conclusion:

While the travel agency landscape has undergone significant changes, agents continue to play a crucial role, particularly for complex or customized trips. Their expertise and personalized service add substantial value, contributing to a resurgence in specific segments of the industry. The role of travel agencies continues to evolve in response to changing consumer preferences and technological advancements, ensuring their relevance in the dynamic world of travel.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this article The opinions and viewpoints expressed in this article are intended to provide an insightful exploration of the history and evolution of tourism ambassadors. However, it is essential to note that these opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the author or the Tourism Academy. The article aims to present a comprehensive overview of the topic based on available information and research, but individual perspectives may vary. Please consider multiple sources and viewpoints when you understand the subject matter.

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Temperance tours to inclusive packages: a history of Thomas Cook

B y today’s standards of all-inclusive resorts with free bars and infinity pools, the first Thomas Cook holiday, which whisked customers 12 miles by train from Leicester to a temperance meeting in Loughborough, sounds like a hard sell.

But the excursion, organised in 1841 by Derbyshire cabinet-maker Thomas Cook for 500 like-minded supporters, laid the foundations of a business that made him the father of modern tourism . The former Baptist preacher believed the ills of Victorian society stemmed largely from alcohol, and saw a chance to spread the word via Britain’s flourishing rail network.

It would be another four years before Cook got into the tourist business proper, organising train trips from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby to Liverpool – this time for profit.

Then, in 1846, he ran the first of the Scottish tours that would soon become a lucrative operation. He conveyed 350 wide-eyed Sassenachs by train and steamboat to Glasgow, and for customers travelling for the first time, he offered guidebooks such as Cook’s Scottish Tourist Practical Directory – which had a chapter headed “Is It Safe for Ladies to Join in Highland Tours?”

Within a decade, Cook was running continental trips: he personally conducted a trip from Harwich to Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Heidelberg and Strasbourg that ended up in Paris for the International Exhibition in 1855.

The Leicester-based company became more ambitious, especially after Thomas’s son John Mason Cook joined. In 1865 they open their first travel agency on Fleet Street in London and the following year Cook junior led its first trip to America.

The world continued to shrink, and in 1873 Thomas Cook completed his first round-the-globe tour, marketed as “London to London”, for 200 guineas. About this time the firm became one of the first to use travellers’ cheques: it called them “circular notes”.

John took over in 1879 and ran the firm until his death 20 years later, when his three sons inherited Thomas Cook & Son. Its success continued into the 20th century as the skies opened up, with the company chalking up another first when it offered “pleasure trips by air” in 1919.

In 1928 the family sold up to the Belgian owners of the Orient Express, but the second world war saw it become part of the nationalised British Railways. After the war, sales took off again with the era of package holidays. By 1950, more than a million Britons were travelling abroad each year, mainly to France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Thomas Cook returned to private ownership in 1972 and has seen a series of mergers and takeovers. In 2007, it merged with the UK-listed owner of Airtours, MyTravel Group , which nearly collapsed in 2011 but was bailed out by its banks . Now, 178 years on, in an industry its founder would not recognise, Thomas Cook may have come to the end of its journey.

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Thomas cook travel inc..

Prior to its acquisition by the American Express Company in 1994, Thomas Cook Travel Inc. was the third-largest travel agency in the United States. At the time of the takeover, Thomas Cook operated 500 offices across the country and sold one out of every 50 airline tickets in the United States. Staffed by more than 3,000 employees, the company had an impressive roster of business clients including Ford Motor Co., AT & T, and John Hancock Financial Services. Independently owned by Linda and David Paresky, Thomas Cook Travel licensed its name from the oldest travel agency in the world, The Thomas Cook Group Ltd., based in the United Kingdom.

Thomas Cook Is Founded in 1841

The Thomas Cook Group Ltd. was the eponymous creation of an industrious English entrepreneur. From a humble beginning chartering a train to a temperance rally in 1841, Cook expanded his business into one of the world's first full-service travel firms. After the resounding success of his first venture, Cook quickly expanded his operations, providing rail trips and making hotel reservations for customers for journeys all over the British Isles. Cook's excursions proved so popular that he began offering trips to Europe, North America, and--beginning in 1871 around the world. Buoyed by these successes, Cook's company was able to open 120 travel offices in the United Kingdom and abroad by 1885, and Cook himself branched out to write guidebooks. The company also remained on the cutting edge of developments in the travel industry. Thomas Cook Ltd. began offering cruise trips as early as the mid-1870s, pioneered an early form of travelers' check, and was booking air travel by 1911, a mere eight years after the Wright Brothers made history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The company also had a long history in the American market. Just months after the Civil War ended in 1865, Cook's ran its first U.S. tour, which included stops at various battlefields. Six years later, Cook formed a partnership with an American businessman that they called Cook, Son & Jenkins. This relationship subsequently dissolved acrimoniously, but by then it had helped Cook's entrench itself in the American market. To bolster its business further, the company took a pavilion at the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia in 1876, and later expanded its offerings to include not just traditional sightseeing trips but even travel packages for immigrants coming to the United States and Canada. By 1896, Cook's American business made travel arrangements to the Klondike for gold prospectors.

Control of the company remained with the Cook family until the late 1920s. Thomas Cook himself had died in 1892, and his son and business partner did the same eight years later. His three grandsons then ran the company until the last of them retired in 1928, at which point it was sold to a Belgian travel concern, Compagnie des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Europeens. When Germany occupied Belgium in World War II, the company was taken over by the German Custodian of Enemy Properties, but the British government arranged for it to be re-acquired by several railway companies at the close of the war. When the railroads were nationalized in 1948, ownership of Thomas Cook Ltd. passed to the crown as well.

Although Thomas Cook had become an institution both in the United Kingdom and the United States, the company risked losing touch with younger consumers in the 1960s. As a state-run business, Thomas Cook was unable to invest the same level of funding into its operations that its private rivals could. While other travel agencies crafted new strategies to attract more customers and increase revenue, such as purchasing airlines, Thomas Cook saw its sales flatten. As a result, the British government tentatively explored selling the travel agency.

U.S. Corporate Laws Prevent New Owner of Thomas Cook from Owning U.S. Offices

Midland Bank acquired Thomas Cook in 1974. Since U.S. banking laws prohibited any national bank--such as Midland--from owning domestic travel agencies, Midland sold Thomas Cook's U.S. operations to Dun & Bradstreet in 1975. Midland did not relinquish control of the Thomas Cook name, but Dun & Bradstreet was allowed to continue to operate the U.S. travel agencies under the Cook name through a licensing agreement. Although The Thomas Cook Group Ltd. had no equity in the American operations, it did link the agencies into its travel network. More importantly, the British branch could supply the independent American offices with travelers' checks, which represented an increasing portion of The Thomas Cook Group Ltd.'s revenues. Only American Express outperformed Cook in this segment of the travel industry.

Crimson Travel Is Founded and Flourishes

At about the same time that Dun & Bradstreet made this pivotal purchase, Crimson Travel Service--the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based travel agency that would later carry the Thomas Cook American franchise--began to expand. Founded in 1965 by the husband-and-wife duo David and Linda Paresky, Crimson quickly grew through creative marketing efforts. Graced with the same gift for travel innovation as Thomas Cook, Paresky launched a number of bold initiatives. As a competitor explained in the September 18, 1994, Boston Globe, 'Paresky saw before most of us that the masses wanted to go, and he knew where they wanted to go.' Crimson chartered several immensely popular 'Cruises to Nowhere,' that brought the luxury of a cruise vacation to middle-class consumers. In 1968 the company forged a strategic alliance with a Western-themed television show called 'Boomtown,' whereby Crimson chartered mass trips for kids (guided by Trailer, the show's host) and received ample exposure in the process. The 'Boomtown' trips were a huge success and continued through the 1990s. By 1969 Crimson had opened its third Boston-area branch office, and its leisure travel business soared. By 1987 the company reported billings of $150 million.

As Crimson saw its fortune rise, the travel industry as a whole experienced tectonic changes in the 1980s. The frenetic globalization of American business meant that corporate employees traveled more frequently and purchased a growing percentage of airline tickets. Since Crimson's revenues came mostly from vacationers, not business people, the company would risk its future profitability if it did not develop the corporate side of its operations. In 1988 Crimson purchased Heritage Travel, a rival Cambridge agency. Not only was Heritage equipped with cutting-edge computer technology, but it also ran a formidable corporate business.

Thomas Cook Changes Ownership in 1988

In 1988 Dun & Bradstreet put Thomas Cook up for sale in order to concentrate on its core marketing, credit risk, finance, and directory information divisions. Publishing magnate Robert Maxwell purchased Thomas Cook in 1989, and immediately renewed the licensing agreement with Midland to use the storied Cook name. At the time of Maxwell's acquisition, Thomas Cook was a sizable operation, generating sales of $365 million and operating 60 full-service locations and nine regional reservation centers. Many industry analysts speculated that Maxwell would quickly sell the company, since publishing was his primary concern. However, Maxwell pledged to expand Thomas Cook through a series of acquisitions that would make the franchise the leading American travel service firm.

But despite his protestations to the contrary, Maxwell sold a 50 percent stake in Thomas Cook to the Pareskys' Crimson/Heritage business in 1988. With Maxwell, the Pareskys presided over the third-largest agency in the country, with revenues topping $1.3 billion. David Paresky served as president, chairman, and chief executive of his new empire, and he moved Thomas Cook's corporate headquarters from New York City to Cambridge. The co-owners quickly turned to bolstering Thomas Cook's roster of corporate clients.

While the ownership of Thomas Cook changed hands in the United States, the keeper of the coveted license--The Thomas Cook Group Ltd.--went through its own shifts. In 1992 Midland sold its subsidiary to LTU Group, one of Germany's largest tour operators, and Westdeutsche Landesbanke, a German bank. Westdeutsche Landesbanke purchased 90 percent of The Thomas Cook Group Ltd.'s shares, while LTU Group controlled the remaining ten. The Orange Country Register was quick to point out to its readers that the sale in no way affected Thomas Cook Travel Inc. 'The company licenses the name and expects to continue doing so under the new ownership,' noted the paper.

The Pareskys Gain 100 Percent Control of Thomas Cook Travel

Although Thomas Cook Travel Inc. had no problems with the license, the company did endure some turbulent times in 1991 when Maxwell died suddenly. One of his privately held companies, Headington Holdings Limited, went into bankruptcy. Headington owned Maxwell Travel Inc., which in turn owned Maxwell's 50 percent share of Thomas Cook. A number of potential buyers hungrily eyed the stake in Thomas Cook, including Midland Bank, which had by then divested the bank that had prevented it from owning the chain in 1979. Paresky had right of first refusal, though, and in 1993 he and his wife purchased the Maxwell stake.

Even with complete control of Thomas Cook Travel, Paresky planned no major changes. 'We're continuing with the same strategy we've had before, differentiating our service through innovation and quality,' he told The Boston Globe on January 12, 1993. 'I don't think our operating philosophy will change.' 1993 sales soared to over $1.7 billion, and the company ran approximately 500 offices throughout the United States.

Paresky's efforts to bolster Thomas Cook's corporate accounts had succeeded. At the close of 1993, 84 percent of the company's sales were from businesses. Thomas Cook's list of clients was impressive. Ford Motor Co., Fidelity Investment, Hewlett-Packard, and John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. all made their travel arrangements through Thomas Cook. In 1994 the company won three more substantial accounts--the British Embassy, Walsh America, and Pharmaceutical Marketing Services Inc.

Sale to American Express

Despite their success, the Pareskys approached arch-rival American Express about selling Thomas Cook. 'American Express will bring more size and more strength and more ability to invest in our people,' Paresky explained to Travel Weekly on September 15, 1994. To the Boston Globe , Paresky admitted that the cost of upgrading technology to better serve global business travelers was a factor in the decision to sell. American Express had much to gain from the purchase. Already gigantic--with over 1,700 travel offices in more than 120 nations--American Express would boost its annual sales an additional 33 percent with this new division. The acquisition also had significant prestige value. Although American Express had recently snapped up five other large agencies, the Cook deal was to be the largest takeover in the history of the travel industry.

The transaction was finalized in September 1994 with American Express paying $375 million for the company. Although they had relinquished their ownership interests, the Pareskys remained involved in the business. Both were appointed vice-presidents, and in 1995, David Paresky was reported to be 'in line' to become president of American Express Travel.

American Express also moved to acquire the corporate accounts of The Thomas Cook Group Ltd. (which represented about ten percent of the British company's total revenues). While this segment of the business was lucrative, The Group was willing to part with it to in order to concentrate on servicing leisure travelers and on its burgeoning financial services division. However, American Express was not able to obtain from The Group the rights to the venerable Thomas Cook name. The Pareskys' licensing agreement had been due to expire in 1999, and, according to the Guardian , The Thomas Cook Group Ltd. took immediate steps to secure a new licensee. As a result, all former Thomas Cook offices were to be re-christened American Express.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories , Vol. 33. St. James Press, 2000.

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How Thomas Cook Played a Key Role in Evolution of Travel Business?

By Alice Nichols

Thomas Cook, a British businessman and entrepreneur, is widely credited as the pioneer of modern-day tourism. He was one of the first people to recognize the potential for travel and tourism as a viable and profitable business.

Cook began his career in 1841 as a train conductor for the Midlands Railway Company in England, where he developed an interest in travel by taking tourists on excursions from Leicester to Loughborough. After a few years, he decided to go into business for himself and established Thomas Cook & Son, a travel agency that arranged package tours and excursions. His first tour was from Leicester to Liverpool in 1845, with 57 people aboard.

Cook was the first to recognize that travel could be organized on a much larger scale than had previously been done. He was an innovator who developed systems for booking hotels and transportation, as well as creating tourist guides and maps. He organized package tours that included everything from transportation to accommodations and meals at discounted prices, which revolutionized the way people could experience travel.

Cook also saw the potential of international travel and took travelers on trips abroad for the first time in 1855 when he organized a group tour from England to Paris. This trip was so successful that it inspired him to continue expanding his business internationally to other countries such as Egypt, Italy and Switzerland. He even took tourists on expeditions to more exotic destinations such as India, China and Australia.

Cook’s success led him to become one of the most influential figures in modern tourism history. His pioneering efforts laid the foundation for what would eventually become the global tourism industry we know today. By providing travelers with affordable packages that allowed them access to destinations they would otherwise not be able to visit due to cost or distance, Cook helped open up new opportunities for people around the world to explore different cultures and places they would never have had access too before.

With his innovative approach to travel and his commitment towards providing quality service at discounted prices, Thomas Cook played an instrumental role in revolutionizing how people experience travel today. His influence can still be seen today through his company’s enduring legacy which continues offering package tours around the world at competitive prices for travelers everywhere.

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History of Travel Agent

First Travel Agent

In 1841, Thomas Cook began running a special excursion train from Leicester to Loughborough in England, a trip of 12 miles. On July 5 th Cook’s train carried 570 passengers at a round trip price of 1 shilling per passenger. This is believed to be the first publicly advertised excursion train. Thus Cook can rightfully be recognized as the first rail excursion agent; his pioneering efforts were eventually copied widely in all parts of the world. Cook’s company grew rapidly, providing escorted tours to Continent and later to the United States and around the World. He started a full time excursion agency in 1845. The railway company agreed to give him 5% commission, which, however, was not enough to make the business worthwhile. Cook had, therefore, to diversify his business in other directions and he became the first tour operator in this world.

Cook started making his tours interesting. In 1845, he arranged the first all-inclusive tour from Leicester to Liverpool. For the purpose of his tour, he invented hotel coupons, which are now a common phenomenon in travel agency business all over the world. In 1846, he took 350 people by train and steamship on a tour of Scotland. Cook also published the first guidebook on this tour. He later moved to London. In 1851, over 1, 50,000 people used Cook’s Lodging and Transportation services to go to London for the world’s first Exposition at Crystal Palace. This was followed by a number of grand circular tours of Europe including visits to different countries. In 1882, Cook started his first Around-the-World tour. The tour took 220 days. It inspired Jules Verne to write his famous book Around the World in Eighty Days.

Cook’s tours went everywhere- to Egypt, to see the Pyramids, to the Holy Land for a Pilgrimage. Cook was hired by the British Government to transport 18,000 men up to Nile to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum. In the late seventies of the nineteenth century, Cook arranged a deluxe tour to India with P&O Steamship line; the tourists saw Bombay and Kashmir. In 1847, he provided another service, which was the beginning of the present day traveler’s cheques. These coupons were called the “circular notes” and were valid at Banks, Hotels, Restaurants and Shops. Later these circular notes came to be known as “traveler’s cheques” and were adopted by the American Express Company. The traveler’s cheques have been a unique phenomenon, which greatly helped the development of tourism in the world. It is insured against loss.

At the later stage, Cook’s son John Cook inherited his father business and continued to provide the service his father did. They realized that a bulk use of transport and accommodations could reduce the cost of travel and thus increase the demand. They provided the personalized services. The Cooks tour throughout the Second half of the nineteenth century was quality tours escorted by a tour leader.

In 1898, the management of the firm passed on to John’s three sons. At the time of his death, the Cook’s business included three major aspects of travel

– selling tours, banking and shipping. The Cook’s tour became sophisticated and more and more easy for travelers. The travelers were met on arrival by car. Cooks agents assisted the travelers through all formalities and to arrange their sightseeing tours. Most of the tours were group tours. The era of all-inclusive tours had started. After the World War II, the British Government acquired

principal interest in Thomas Cook & Sons. The British Government determined the policy of this company. In 1977, the British Government sold Thomas Cook & Sons to Midland Bank Consortium for £ 858.8 million. The company today has over 1,000 offices around the world in 145 countries. The largest of its kind, Thomas Cook & Sons have now business interest in several fields.

Travel Business In America

The American Express Company may be said to have its origin in the same year – 1841 in America. While Thomas Cook hired his first train that year, Henry Wells started his freight business in USA at the same time. Thomas Cook started as, what we now call as a tour operator, and Henry Wells as a shipper who later began the well-known company of America – Wells Fargo. The American Express Company (AMEXO) is the world’s second largest travel agency. It was an offshoot of Wells Fargo Company of Pony Express and Wild West Frame. By 1968, it diversified to become a travel and financial conglomerate. It also provides service to life insurance and property insurance. American Express Company is a major participant in international currency transactions buying and selling about 200 million dollars in foreign currency on each working day. Their traveler’s cheques business is very profitable.

The company has also introduced American Express Credit Cards, which are perhaps the most popular credit cards in the world. A holder of such credit cards can go to any part of the world and pay his/her hotel bills, eat food in restaurants, buy an international air ticket or anything else at place where American Express Cards are recognized. The American Express today is the world’s largest travel outfit – 2,227 offices in 120 countries.

Today, Travel Agencies have been recognised as a vital component of travel and tourism and have become an integral part of travel and tourism industry at global. They Account for more than 90% of international and 70% of domestic tourist traffic. Further, more than 60% of all travel agency revenues are derived from the business travel. Most travel agencies sell both commercial and leisure travel but there is many travel agencies which only specialize in one sector or the other.

The operation of each travel agency is based on the scope of its activities and organisational size. In this chapter we will discuss the functions of a large scale travel’ agency that performs all types of activities such as retail TA, whole selling and tour operations etc. The main functions of a large scale travel agency.

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Planning a trip to Moscow? Our travel guide contains up-to-date, personal information on everything from what to see , to when to visit , where to stay , and what to eat !

• General Information
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Why visit Moscow?

Majestic churches, impressive historic fortresses, and palatial buildings: Moscow is a fascinating city whose emblematic architecture reflects the turbulent history that has defined Russia throughout the centuries.

The traces of the USSR can be found around every corner of the city , side by side with the iconic relics of Imperial Russia , like the mythical Red Square , the imposing Kremlin , and the beautiful  St Basil's Cathedral . 

Discover a fascinating world of Cold War bunkers, golden-domed basilicas, world-class art museums, and the legendary "palace of the people,"  as the Moscow Metro has been nicknamed. Whether you fancy watching a classical Russian ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre , perusing the fine arts at the Pushkin Museum , or marveling at the sheer size of the monuments to the Soviet state's achievements at the  All-Russia Exhibition Centre , this travel guide will help you on your way!

Where to start?

If you're going to travel to Moscow and you don't know much about the city yet, the first thing to do is to dive into its legendary history - understanding the past will help you understand the present. Next, check out our practical hints and tips on traveling to the city before discovering which of its most important museums , monuments , and attractions pique your interest.

Looking for a place to stay?

Booking your accommodation in advance is the best way to get great discounts. Our detailed guide on where to stay in Moscow  will help you decide which neighborhood you'd like to look for hotels or apartments in, and our hotel search engine will find you the best deals!

Why is our Moscow travel guide the best?

Introducing Moscow is a  city guide written by travelers for travelers  and contains personalized advice to help you make the most of your trip to the city.

All the information in this guide is valid as of December 2022. If you find any errors or have any comments, please feel free to contact us .

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Moscow Travel Guide: Best Things to Do + More [2023]

· everything to know about visiting moscow, including the best things to do and how to get around. ·.

Moscow is Russia’s vibrant capital city, and it also happens to be the largest city in all of Europe. The city’s long and infamous history makes it one of the most unique places we have ever visited.

The architecture ranges from centuries-old palaces to uniform, gray concrete buildings. The people range from cold and private to warm and welcoming. Moscow is a city is strong juxtapositions, and we learned a lot during our time there.

This post will break down all you need to know about visiting Moscow, including the best things to do, how to get there, how to get around, and more.

The Best Things to Do in Moscow

1. explore the red square.

The Red Square is the heart of Moscow. Most of the city’s top attractions can be found here, including just about everything on this list. The Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and Lenin’s Mausoleum are all located here, and the State Historical Museum and GUM are not far from here, either.

The Red Square is a common home for parades, protests, and seasonal celebrations. There are massive Christmas celebrations here, with food vendors and carnival rides set up in numbers.

2. Check Out the Ziferblat

The Ziferblat is a café in Moscow that is unlike any café we have ever been to. While most cafes charge you for your drinks and food, the Ziferblat charges you for your time.

Upon arrival, you are given a clock. When you leave, the barista calculates how much time you spent in the café and charges you accordingly. This concept was created to help visitors to be more intentional with their time, and the cafe itself is incredibly charming.

For a detailed look at everything you need to know before you visit, make sure you read my post about visiting the Ziferblat Cafe in Moscow .

3. Marvel at St. Basil’s Cathedral

St. Basil’s Cathedral is one of the most iconic churches in the world, and it was the single thing we were most excited to see while in Moscow. Built almost 500 years ago, St. Basil’s Cathedral is recognized by its colorful domes and whimsical style. The church is of the Russian Orthodox faith, and the inside is just as wondrous as the outside.

St. Basil’s Cathedral is located on the edge of the Red Square, making it incredibly convenient to visit. Entrance for non-worshippers costs 800 rubles, and tickets can be bought at the church

4. Explore the Kremlin

The Kremlin is the largest active fortress in Europe, and it is the site of most of Russia’s government affairs. In addition to government buildings, the Kremlin Complex is filled with courtyards, towers, and museums that are open to the public. If you have the time, you could spend a couple of days fully exploring all that there is to see in the Kremlin.

5. Walk Through Lenin’s Mausoleum

Vladimir Lenin is one of the most important figures in Russian history, and his body is located perfectly embalmed in a mausoleum in the Red Square. The Mausoleum is open to the public to visit, and as long as you are willing to go through a few security checks, it is easily one of the best things to do in Moscow. Its convenient location in the Red Square makes it a can’t miss attraction.

There is absolutely no photography allowed inside the Mausoleum. Do not test this rule.

6. Wander Along Arbat Street

The Arbat is a very popular street in Moscow that is lined with stores, cafes, and other touristy attractions. It is one of the oldest streets in the city, dating back to the 1400s. This street is both quaint and trendy, and there are many walking tours that introduce tourists to the neighborhood’s wonders and highlights.

7. Catch a Show at the Bolshoi Theatre

As a lover of the arts, it is hard to think of Moscow and not think of ballet. Russia has always been a top dog in the world of fine arts, and Bolshoi Theater is one of the best places to catch a performance. We were lucky enough to attend an Opera here, and it is a venue that you don’t want to miss out on if you enjoy opera, ballet, or orchestral performances.

8. Visit the State Historical Museum

The State Historical Museum is one of the most respected museums in Moscow. Despite its name, it is not really focused on the history of Russia as a nation. Rather, it contains a collection of artifacts from all throughout Russia’s history.

The museum’s collection is very broad in nature. It houses some items from indigenous tribes that used to occupy the region, pieces collected by the Romanov family, and more.

9. Wander Around GUM

GUM is an absolutely massive mall within walking distance of the Red Square. It isn’t just the size that draws visitors here; it’s the sense of luxury. The mall is so beautiful inside, much like the metro stations.

While visiting a mall might not sound like it belongs on a bucket list, this mall does. You will not want to miss out on visiting GUM while in Moscow.

10. Admire the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

While St. Basil’s Cathedral is the most iconic church in Moscow, it isn’t the only one. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is absolutely stunning, with massive golden domes. It is the tallest Orthodox church in the world, and it is the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow.

It is located just about a mile from the Red Square, just south of the Kremlin Complex. You can walk to it from the Red Square in about 20 minutes.

How to Get to Moscow

Flying to moscow.

Moscow has three major international airports: Sheremetyevo (SVO) , Domodedovo (DMO) , and Vnukovo (VKO) . All three of them are directly connected to downtown Moscow by the Aeroexpress trains, which leave every 30 minutes throughout the day. By Aeroexpress train, you can expect to get to the city center in 25-45 minutes depending on the airport that you fly into.

Sheremetyevo is the biggest and busiest of the three airports, and it is the one you are most likely to fly into – especially if you are coming from outside of Europe or the Caucus region. We flew into Sheremetyevo on a direct flight from New York City.

I usually provide backup airport options, because flying right into the city isn’t always the cheapest way to get where you’re going. Unfortunately, when it comes to Moscow, don’t really have a choice other than to fly right into Moscow. It is a very remote city, and it is usually the cheapest place to fly into in Russia as a whole.

Since Sheremetyevo is so busy, you will probably find a great flight option anyway. I wrote in  my post about finding cheap flights  that using hub airports will lead to more affordable airfare, and the same logic applies here. Even though Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, is no longer a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, Moscow is still a major hub connecting passengers from all over the world.

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Train or Bus to Moscow

Trains and buses are one of the most popular ways to get around Europe. However, they’re of very little use when you’re trying to get to Moscow.

Moscow is hundreds of miles from the nearest major cities. The only major European city that can even be reached within 8 hours on the ground is St. Petersburg, and even the Baltic capitals of Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn are over 12 hours away.

If you want to get to Moscow, the best option is almost always to fly. While the train routes to Moscow are scenic, they simply take forever.

How to Get Around Moscow

METRO | TROLLEYS | TRAMS | BUSES

Moscow has one of the most memorable metro systems in the world. Its metro lines are very deep underground, and the stations are absolutely stunning. Each station has its own unique style, but all of them contain escalators that seem to go on forever.

The system was built in an effort to showcase the power of the Soviet Union and its bright future. The plans were a form of propaganda, but they resulted in what is still one of the most visually appealing subway systems on earth.

Moscow’s metro system isn’t just pretty. It is also very useful and accessible. The system has 17 lines that connect the city and its surrounding area.

But wait; there’s more!

The Moscow metro system is also incredibly affordable, with each ride costing less than a dollar. The metro is by far the best way to get around Moscow, as it is almost impossible to beat the connection times and the low cost to ride.

Tickets can be bought at electronic, English-speaking kiosks in stations, or directly from ticket counters at certain larger stations. There are also day passes available, which are a very solid option if you plan on riding the metro several times per day.

The metro is by far the best way to get around Moscow.

In addition to the metro system, Moscow also has a network of buses, trams, and trolleys. This system is nowhere near as convenient or well-connected as the metro, though, and is likely of little use to you during your trip. There is no Uber in Moscow, but a similar app named Yandex is available if you need a ride in a pinch.

How Many Days Do You Need in Moscow?

Moscow is the biggest city in all of Europe, and it is absolutely loaded with things to do. You could spend weeks in Moscow and still find new things to do. Of course, most travelers don’t have that kind of time to spend in one place!

I recommend spending no less than three full days in Moscow, and ideally closer to five or seven.

Moscow is very spread out, and it can take some time to get from one major point to another. There are also so many places that are nice to just sit back and relax, which is hard to do when you’re in a hurry trying to cram activities into just a few days.

If you only have a week to visit Russia, I’d advise spending all of the time in one city. If you decide to split your time between Moscow and St. Petersburg, I recommend not trying to squeeze in any day trips beyond those two cities.

When Is the Best Time of the Year to Visit Moscow?

There are two different ways to approach this question. Personally, I think the best time to visit Moscow is around Christmas and New Year’s Day. While the weather will be absolutely freezing, Moscow is a surreal winter wonderland in December and January.

We were in Moscow right before Christmas. While it was very cold, you can always bundle up. Exploring the Christmas markets and pop-up ice skating rinks throughout Moscow is one of my favorite memories from anywhere I’ve traveled, and I dream of going back to do it again.

If you aren’t fond of the cold, Moscow is beautiful in the summer. It tends to get pretty cold in the shoulder seasons, so if you want warm weather, you should plan to visit in the summer. Moscow actually gets pretty warm in July and August, and there are a bunch of fantastic places to soak up the sun within the city.

The best time to visit Moscow is either around Christmas or from late May to August.

Is Moscow Safe to Visit?

While Moscow is a truly wonderful city, there’s no denying that visiting Russia comes with risks. As the country is run by an infamous communist dictator, concerns about visiting are valid. While we didn’t experience any sort of threat or negative treatment during our time in Moscow, we visited in a peaceful time.

In our experience, Russia doesn’t seem to detain normal Americans or Westerners to use as pawns. As a regular person, as long as you don’t commit any crimes, there is a slim chance you will run into any issues. However, Russia will not hesitate to enforce its laws against foreigners, and illegal behaviors will likely land you in a very compromising position.

Russia will not hesitate to enforce its laws against foreigners, and illegal behaviors will likely land you in a very compromising position.

To make matters worse, Russia has a bad reputation for gang violence. While the Russian mafia has very little interest in normal Western tourists, they won’t hesitate to pick a fight with anyone who ventures into their sphere of influence. If you seek out illegal substances or activities, you could be a target of the mafia.

If you seek out illegal substances or activities, you could be a target of the mafia.

Finally, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, things are all very different. Russia is currently at war, and there are battles raging within 8 hours of Moscow. While it is still relatively safe to visit, that could change at any time as the war with Ukraine continues.

Is Moscow Worth Visiting?

Without a doubt, Moscow is worth visiting. It is one of the most unique major cities we have ever visited, and we hope to make it back one day. The Russian Orthodox churches are stunning, the city’s history is unlike any other, and the food is to die for.

While many visitors prefer St. Petersburg to Moscow, I think Moscow deserves a lot of hype of its own. Moscow is the beating heart of Russian culture and history, and it’s a place I highly recommend checking out if you have the chance.

That’s all we have for you about Moscow! I hope this post was helpful as you plan your trip to Russia’s capital.

Have you been to Moscow? Or is this your first time visiting? Comment below if you have anything to add to our travel guide!

Hi, I'm Greg. I'm an avid traveler who has traveled to over 50 countries all around the world with my wife and kids. I've lived in Italy, Mexico, China, and the United States, and I dream of moving abroad again in the future. With this blog, I provide my audience with detailed destination guides to my favorite places and pro-tips to make travel as stress-free as possible.

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