Seven hundred years ago …

ViewpointrlTravel

anniversaries

chapter by chapter layout of the book is not vastly different from previous tourism texts. However. there are some unusual structural features. Destination (Part 3 of the System) is by far the largest section, constituting six out of the 16 chapters; Transport, Accommodation and Attractions are under separate categories (ie Travel and Destination). Though Gee, Choy and Makens adopt the same approach, the majority of texts devote a single section to the ‘components’ of the industry; Mill and Morrison leave marketing until last. impression of the My overriding structure of The Tourism System is that it is the bravest and most coherent substantial textbook thus far. It strikes a good balance between operations, development and marketplanning, ing, and between public and private interests most competently. Mill and Morrison has drawbacks as a teaching text. It is heavily biased towards the USA and Canada, though it does highlight the substantial differences between tourism in these two countries. But there are insufficient European examples to justify its use as the one and only textbook for degree and diploma students in Europe. The second drawback is that the text is too cramped and exhaustive for younger students, particularly the detailed sections on research and planning in Ontario. Gee, Choy and

Makens is far better presented as a teaching text with simply expressed ideas, learning objectives and discussion questions. My third criticism is of the term ‘market’ ie the first part of The Tourism System. The term is too confusing. Why not use ‘purchase’ or even ‘tourist’. Fourthly the concept of a tourism system is taken directly from Clare Gunn’s text Tourism Planning with minimal modification. Mill and Morrison certainly do more with the concept, but some acknowledgement of the source would have been welcome. The authors also fail to mention Leiper, who developed a five part system in the 1970s. and who in my view has made a substantial contribution to the idea of the industrialization of tourism”. The tourism system is not new, and Mill and Morrison could have contributed more to the philosophical debate by recognizing the legacy of Gunn, Leiper and others. Mill and Morrison is not an ideal text, and needs further refinement. But the basic concept of The Tourism System, the book’s structure and its comprehensive coverage should be commended. The age of tourism systems is upon us! Brian King Department of Hospitality and Administrative Studies Footscray Institute of Technology PO Box 64, Footscray Victoria, Australia 301 I

Notes:

‘J.C. Holloway,

The Business of Tourism,

Pitman, London, UK, 1986. ‘P. Murphy, Tourism, A Community Approach, Methuen, New York, USA, 1985. 3C.Y. Gee, D.J.L. Choy and J.C. Makens, The Travel Industry, AVI, CT, USA, 1984. 4D. Foster, Travel and Tourism Management, MacMillan, London, UK, 1985. ‘A.J. Burkart and S. Medlik, Tourism: fast, Present and Future, Heinemann, London, UK, 1981. %. Mill and A. Morrison, The Tourism System, Prentice-Hall, Eaglewood. NJ, USA, 1985. ‘Burkart and Medlik. op tit, Ref 5. ‘Foster, op tit, Ref 4. ‘C. Gunn, Tourism Planning, Crane Russak, New York, USA, 1979.. “‘D. Pearce. Tourist Development, Lonoman, London, UK, 1981. “Matheson and Wall, Tourism: Economic, Social and Physical Impacfs, Lorqnan, London , UK, 1982. “S. Wahab, Tourism Management. Nements of State Policy, Tourism International Press, London, UK, 1975. 13Gunn, op tit, Ref 9. 14N, Leiper, ‘The Framework of Tourism. Towards a Definition of Tourism, Tourist and Tourist Industry’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol 1, No 4, 1974, pp 390-407; N. Leiper, ‘Towards a Cohesive Curriculum in Tourism. The Case for a Distinct Discipline’, Anna/s of Tourism Research, Vol 8, No 1, 1981, pp 69-84; N. Leiper An Inter-Disciplinary Study of Ausfralian Tourism: Its Scope, Characteristics and Consequences with Particular Reference to Government Policies since 7965, M. Gen. Stud. Thesis, Dept. of General Studies, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Travel anniversaries Seven hundred years ago In the bad old days - long before the coming of good roads, reliable maps, printed books, steamships and railways - the advice given to would-be travellers amounted to a basic survival system: always keep to the largest and best-armed group; and wherever possible avoid all defiles, forests and other hiding places for brigands. Be prepared for long, arduous journeys on foot, horse-back, or by camel; and never forget those important final

274

. . .

arrangements before setting off: last testaments, instructions for family and friends, dispositions of property, rents, and income. Seven hundred years ago to travel was to risk life and fortune, especially in the East where the limits of the known world faded into partibus infidelium somewhere east of Jerusalem and Constantinople. And yet in 1287 one of the most famous travellers in world history was on the move in

TOURISM

India, noting the habits of the people, their dress or lack of dress. and the many strange practices of a very different civilization. In 1271, at the age of 17, Marco Polo had left Palestine with his father and uncle. Their destination was the most distant of lands, the remote and fabulous country of Cathay. Three and a half years later their party finally arrived at the court of the Great Khan, the greatest of the Mongol rulers of China and grandson of the dreaded Chinghiz Khan. When the travellers managed to get back to Venice in 1295, the no longer young

MANAGEMENT

September

1987

Long, long after Marco Polo the caravans

continued

to move across Asia

and the Chinese junks provided marine transportation.

TOURISM

MANAGEMENT

September

1987

275

276

TOURtSM

MANAGEMENT

September

7987

\iarco hdd visited mail>- parts of ;isia that \~er~ to remain peans

until

cen:ur). rxord in

ci~>e
the middle

EU~CO-

of thr

He was the first

19th

observer

to

what he had seen in the East -

China.

Ceylon.

Siam.

Japan.

chronicler.

Burma,

As

Christian

Indian,

India.

scribe

Messer Rustichello

said with all truth. man,

his

or

and

of Pk.

‘there has been no

or

Pagan. Tartar

or

of any race whatsoever.

who has known

or explored

so man!

of the various parts of the kvorld 9s this wne

Xlisssrr

1larw

Polo‘.

The chapters of the Trar~1.s qt‘ CO Polo

of all travel stories. makings

They

base all the

of a first-class

adventures, customs

.tlar-

perhaps the greatest

conlpose

yarn:

man?

exotic accounts of strange

and distant

sonal eupsrirnceb.

lands.

vivid per-

fascinating historic-

al anecdotes. and 3 narrative

pace that

speeds the reader from one marvel to another. system Polo,

‘Let of

us

now

turn

post-horses’.

to

the

saq’s ;Ilarco

‘by Lvhich the Great Khan sends

his dispatches.’

And

there

follwvc

detailed account of the imperial and communications

P)>tern - pohting

houses at intervals

of 3

and of the ci)urir‘rs from one station

a

road

to 75 miles -

R ho ride or run

to another

latest nc‘\vs for Kuhil,ti

ivith the

Khan.

‘IVhrrn

the need arises for the Great Khan receive

immediaie

messengers sometimes

to

tidings

the

ride 200 miles

in a day,

even 3511.‘

Careful

observations

sustain

the

lonp account. Marco Polo had a merchant’s eye for the economic factors in the immews Fir

imperial

noted

the

paper-mow> stamped

-

tvith

administration.

process

making

htandardised

oblongs

the seal of the Great

Khan and legal tender throughout Empire.

They

all citizens. they

wsre

for

the

same

poods or

for

precious stones’. Europeans.

thev. 2 oo

po ships. trading

contain ‘bulkheads of stout

planks

another.

This

ship’s

is

hull should

TOURISM

uwful

in

Christopher

Columbus

the distance

that the true

close on 11 000 miles. China and the Indiss,

on a vast new continent.

‘royal

of

their

that the! made

into

one

case the

miscalculation

of

the

The first

owed much to Marco Polo’s

grand voyage _ L

account

letters

Pales

it the

more

He was not distance

was

So. Columbus

in 11X!.

bound for

taking with him

of recommendation

the Grand Khan and lords

from

as little

than 3550 nautical miles. to know

and

had used Polo

to Hangchou

sailed from

chance to bet dam-

MANAGEMENT

before

in calculating Canaries

discover): that he had in fact happened

or partitions

ciwetailctd

from

some time in 17_9S, two crn-

comments:

set off on his third voyage and for the

in their car-

and reports

e\-erything

his-

and

seems that the Admiral

note well

Marco Palo examines ~esseis

dictated

helped to

of European

annotations

in China.

is the matter

there

He

turirs

For

compartments

tory.

pearls

better

instance.

In its way the Polo story change the course memory

or

on a reef or being

rammed by a whale in search of food’.

currency,

how they do things water-tight

aged by striking

the

greatly valued by

‘since every\vherr

pay in

whether

and the system of government.

of

for

and for all the kings

of India.‘

of China and Japan: he had ovrrestimated

the

cstent

of

Asia

and the

distance between Japan and the mainland.

Columbus

had a Latin

tion of the Tratds.

September

1987

transla-

much marked with

1.F. Clarke Emeritus Professor of Engiish Strathclyde University, UK

277