Thomas Cook and the Grand Tours
"Cook has made travel simple, easy and a pleasure. He will sell you a ticket to any place on the globe. Cook is your banker everywhere. His clerks will answer all the questions you ask, and do it courteously. I recommend Cook's tickets and I do so without embarrassment, for I get no commission. I do not know Cook." - Mark Twain, Europe and Elsewhere, 1923
Thomas Cook's first excursion took place in 1841, when 570 people boarded a train at Leicester Station for a day of relaxation. Little did they know they were the first organized "tour", designed and executed by the brilliant visionary and entrepreneur, Thomas Cook.
Railroads were still a novelty, and the concept of a round-trip fare hadn't been foreseen by the railroads. By putting together a package which included "eleven miles and back for a shilling, and children half-price," Cook brought excursions within the budget of common ordinary citizens. Up until that time, only the wealthy and aristocratic traveled for pleasure; other folks traveled only out of necessity, as roads were hazardous, safety unsure, and accommodations rather rough.
For this first tour, Cook went to Liverpool beforehand, and ensured that hotels and restaurants would provide the best possible service for his guests. He even wrote the first guidebook, "A Handbook of the Trip to Liverpool".
Other trips followed, Cook's pioneering excursionists to Scotland were greeted with crowd-lined streets, brass bands and cannon fire because the tourist was still unusual enough to be an entertaining curiousity.
Cook was also an opportunist. He was quick to see the possibilities for travel which the newly invented railways presented, and he reacted speedily when the S S Great Britain ran aground in Dundrum Bay by organizing an exursion to view the stranded ship in 1847. The Great Exhibition of 1851 brought him an excellent opportunity to expand his business and he seized it with relish. The service wasn't yet profitable, but he did make his name by persuading a great many people to visit the Exhibition with Cooks.
With the railroads trying to undermine him by undercutting his prices, he was forced to find more passengers than he had at first calculated. He brought his son John Mason, 17, into the business to help and together they paraded though the streets of Sheffield, Leeds, Derby and Bradford with a band, making speeches about their trips to the Great Exhibition. They had also set up clubs so working men could pay in small sums a week toward the total cost which included accommodation at the Ranclagh Club - bed and a hearty Victorian breakfast - for two shillings, and the fare was five shillings. Through their direct selling methods, he was able to take 165,000 people to the Exhibition.
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