Seaside Resorts and Cultures of Tourism - Literature review Example

In the history of its development in the nineteenth century Britain, seaside holiday had changed for the several times. After being invented as the place of aristocratic vacation, it steadily included middle-class representatives and by the end of the century has turned into the activity oriented mostly on the working class. Due to this change, it is reasonable to state that seaside holiday after being the exclusive leisure for the wealthiest people became more developed and steadily transformed into the popular activity for the majority of British population. In this context, the roles of pleasure holiday places and resorts of Scarborough and Blackpool serve as manifestations of this development, especially in terms of reflecting the changes in resort’s social composition and including of catering practice. Thus, the given analysis discusses the main stages of the British seaside holiday development in two dimensions. On the one hand, it emphasizes the differences of spending the free rime and the seaside between aristocrats, middle class and working class. On another hand, it investigates the role of two above-mentioned resorts (Scarborough and Blackpool) in the seaside holiday development. Thus, it turns evident that seaside holiday had a dynamic development in the nineteenth century, and its appearance relied on both the social composition and marketing strategy of each resort in Britain. At the very beginning of seaside holiday, Corbin (1994) indicates the initial primacy of the aristocracy in this process (269). In this perspective, this social class enabled the appearance of seaside holiday itself. As the general phenomenon, it has its roots in the collective choice of French aristocrats (Corbin, 1994: 273). In England, this activity find its place at the coast of Brighton. For this idea to appear, the role of Doctor Richard Russell was crucial, since he was the powerful promoter of seawater’s positive influence on health (Gray, 2006: 46). Thus, numerous representatives of the upper class found the valid reason to attend seaside at the regular basis. Among the main actors involved in spending the free time on the seaside at the very beginning, Corbin (1994) mentions “concentric spheres of the royal family, the high-ranking nobility, talented individuals or celebrities who were ‘in, and the gentry” (269). In this context, the activities of royal family always gained a special attention in this group. Concerning its time-spending style, Corbin (1994) reflects all the tea sessions, yachting practices, excursions to castles, bathing in a morning and evening promenades of royal family in 1789, which served as a typical set of aristocratic seaside holiday (270-271). Among the daily activities of the other actors, Corbin (1994) indicates that aristocrats mostly preferred horses, hunting, yachting, and playing cricket (males) or books, music, and other arts (females) on the resorts (272). In addition, he notices the afternoon marine promenades and visits to the shops, neighbors or charity organizations and evening dancing and discussion as essential parts of aristocratic daily seaside routine (Corbin, 1994: 272-273). In short, aristocratic model used “the presence of a member of the royal family in order to attract distinguished quests” (Corbin, 1994: 272). For instance, the promotion of seaside holiday as as a seasonal practice was based on the willingness of Prince of Wales to visit his uncle, Duke of Cumberland, and fix his health by bathing. Thus, his upcoming faithfulness to seaside attendance for several decades attracted the court and enable a shift “from therapeutic aims to hedonistic ones” to happen (Corbin, 1994: 272). Therefore, aristocratic seaside holiday was closely linked to medical reasons and personal tastes of the royal family. In the growing attendance of middle class at the seaside, the fact of opening the railway to Brighton in 1841 played the most important role (Corbin, 1994: 277). Because of the mass attendants, aristocracy started to visit the resorts in the low seasons (autumn) and left summer for merchants (Corbin, 1994: 277). However, the newcomers did not had an intension to break the seaside routine. In this context, certain scholars discuss the role of Doctor Russell as not only the popularizer of seawater aristocratic therapeutic procedures but also the founder of seaside holiday at the second half of the nineteenth century (Gray, 2006: 47). Nevertheless, the clear changes appeared with the broader social engagement. Even though the upcoming middle class tried its best to imitate the aristocratic style, the new “rhythms and… customs” (Corbin, 1994: 270) formed the reality of seaside resorts in the middle of the century. For instance, the inability of middle class to maintain luxurious aristocratic lifestyle left the cheapest activities among them (spending the time on beach and talking to the relatives). Hence, previously established model of “medical and philosophical currents” common among the aristocrats was changed by “more banal and mundane concerns associated with fashion, consumption, and display” (Walton, 2001: 274). In fact, it was evident through different manifestations. For instance, Corbin (1994) stresses on the ritual of bathing popular among the middle class representatives as the intention to copy castle daily routine (270), which illustrates the turn from medical purpose to leisure concerns (Walton, 2001: 275). In other words, it is evident that the aristocratic seaside holiday had created a sort of fashion for the middle class. In this perspective, Jane Austen as the coeval of this shift reflected on the “lack of culture and morality and the stupidity” of the middle-class imitation of aristocratic stays at the seaside (Corbin, 1994: 279). However, certain resorts (like Sussex) that oriented on the aristocratic attendants in the circumstances of the railroad appearance also encouraged certain representatives of “subsequently respectable middle-class visitors” to come as the part of “elite” (Gray, 2006: 47). Moreover, such an emphasis on the imitation practices was in contrast to the coming appearance of working class with the wider popularity of railway roads. After the entrance of middle class, “the mainstream family resorts” entered the stage with its peculiarities of “gentle comedies combining displacement, routine, discomfort and boredom” (Walton, 2011). In this context, Walton (1983) discusses the impossibility of resort to meet the interests of both “upper-middle-class” and numerous workers, since the former one required “’better-class’ and ‘respectable custom’,” while the latter class enjoyed “free-and-easy atmosphere” (164). Thus, it is evident that the appearance of middle class changed the routine of the seaside, but this contrast was not that sharp (Gray, 2006: 54) and enabled middle class leisure style to unite with the previous upper-class interests. At the second half of the nineteenth century, “the introduction of the steam engine and rail transport technologies” (Gray, 2006: 48) entered the British stage and deepened the transformation of seaside holiday. In short, the industrial conditions of the developing cities created the new reason to visit the resorts for the masses: to escape the summer heat (Corbin, 1994: 278). Because of this, the more people took a train and escaped for the cooler seaside places in Britain for different periods: from daily trips to the weekly seaside holiday. As for the daily trippers, the Sunday School’s cheap excursions were the most important source of mass attendance (Walton, 2011). Moreover, the appearance of Parliamentary trains that introduced penny-for mile payment in 1844 (Walton, 2011) enlarged the number of people coming to seaside and developed the seaside areas into the resorts. And so, the true development of this exclusive time spending into “an activity capable of generating and sustaining commercial investment and entrepreneurial innovation” (Walton, 2001: 274) is of English responsibility, even though this idea was of French aristocrats. In this context, the popularity of resorts among the working class was crucial for this development to happen. In order to attract the working class on the seaside, the resorts used modest or cheap offers in the circumstances of hard weather conditions in industrial summer (Corbin, 1994: 278). In other words, “seaside resorts needed to do more than make money from nature” (Gray, 2006: 45), as the new reality of industrial capitalism enabled to think of each activity. In this context, most British resorts (among them, the most successful one was Blackpool) tried their best in order to keep their mass attendants as long as possible and not to let them be bored. As Walton (1983) noticed, workers mostly “enjoyed stalls, showmen and alcoholic indulgence” (164). However, Grey (2006) sees in these activities the part of certain illusion created at the seaside. In his own words, “resorts proffered an utopian world combining in various measures leisure, pleasure, health and nature separated from work and sometimes family and community” (Gray, 2006: 46). Precisely, this catered resort was a “pleasure palace” with the appearance of “combined music-hall, variety and dancing with a broader menu which might include zoos, opera houses, theatres, aquaria, lagoons with Venetian gondolas and gondoliers, pleasure garderns and exhibition” (Walton, 2011). In other words, the development of entertaining practices gained its success, since the attendants wanted such an illusion by themselves. In this context, the local government gave freedom for the resorts, and the resorts themselves developed in order to fulfill the needs of its “best-playing or mostly-desired class of holidaymaker” (Walton, 1983: 162); in this context, the commercial success and popularity characterized the resorts that had chosen working class as its holidaymaker. While discussing the particular British resorts of the nineteenth century, the appearance of Scarborough, the place on Yorkshire coast, can serve as an example of typical seaside resort of that time. In particular, the mass popularity of its attendance also had its source in the opening of a railway. Because of this, numerous visitors from York escaped the summer heat, regardless to their social class. And so, the above-mentioned trend of different seasons based on the social classes was evident in this resort. In particular, the landed aristocracy resided in East and West Ridings started to arrive “after the great races that were run on the beach during August” (Corbin, 1994: 277). In order to fulfill the needs of seaside holiday for both classes, resorts like Scarborough emphasized on the specific “fortunes of a resort” through specific architecture of buildings and cultural identity of “seaside holidaymaker” (Gray, 2006: 45). In this context, this division stimulated the resort to use hidden facilities for the upper class, like “gated and private residential estates, golf courses, health clubs and private resorts” (Gray, 2006: 54). In particular, this resort known as a coastal spa area enabled the upper class to find their place hidden from the masses by emphasizing on aristocratic style of finding both “respectable and rational entertainments” (Grey, 2006: 245) at the seaside. Hence, keeping established in the eighteenth century bathing machine (Grey, 2006: 147-148) was inevitable in order to meet the stable interests of upper class. In order to stimulate its diverse attendance base, Scarborough resort widely used promotional tools like creating postcards and posters (Grey, 2006: 84), which enabled the popularity of its cultural identity based on the stylish seaside holiday. As for the Blackpool, the development of this resort is closely linked to the involvement of working class into spending holidays at the seaside. In fact, Preson’s upper class had chosen more aristocratic Sussex instead of “magnificent sands of Blackpool,” which was left mostly for Preson’s middle and working classes (Corbin, 1994: 278). Thus, Blackpool has a title of the first working-class resort in Britain, which did not need to think of how to unite several different social classes in its seaside holiday. Correspondingly, Walton (2001) discusses the role of this resort as “English popular playground, the mecca of the English (and increasingly Welsh and Scottish) working class” (273). Nevertheless, its appearance created a competitive field between the resorts in aristocratic terms, since by 1841 it already had “1,500 houses of lovely appearance… built below the cliff… a terrace and a marine promenade” (269). Notwithstanding its natural amenities, it had clearly chosen workers as their holidaymakers. Hence, it attracted numerous workers by the “unparalleled cheapness” (Walton, 2001: 278) of its services and the pioneering usage of advertisement and other marketing tools (Gray, 2006: 66). In order to attract the working class, Blackpool started to widely use catering, pleasure places, “easy-going homeliness,” and overall freedom of entertainment and enjoyment (Walton, 1983: 165). For instance, Walton (2011) indicates of the Blackpool’s Tower as “apotheosis” of the entertainment culture created on this resort. However, Blackpool did not limit its potential, and also created certain commodities for middle class by offering quieter corners of North Shore, since its representatives mostly valued peaceful seaside holidays (Walton, 1983: 165).In the context of market competition, non-involvement of the government in the resort’s development was crucial in contrast to other European resorts (Walton, 2001: 273). In general, the business model of its development included the extension of the attractions in contrast to the centrality of simple bathing (Walton, 2001: 278). Due to this choice, the number of attendants in Blackpool dramatically increased annually (from 850,000 in 1873 to 7 million in 1930s) and turned this resort into the leading player in its market segment (Walton, 2001: 278). Thus, noticing the trend of increase in working class attendance and finding the means of entertaining it enabled Blackpool’s prosperity as the seaside holiday resort. In order to sum up, it is evident that seaside holiday as it appears in the nineteenth century Britain lived through several transformations in the circumstances of Industrial revolution. The invention of the Railway Act in 1844 serves as a crucial trigger for bringing both middle and worker class representatives at the seaside. In fact, the change of social composition evoked the tremendous changes in the daily routine at the seaside. From the very beginning, royal family and its aristocratic environment used the seawater among all for therapeutic means, and brought their common leisure activities of hunting, arts, cricket and yachting at these places. However, more accessible railway transport turned these resorts into the family areas with the appearance of middle class, even though its representatives tried to imitate the previous aristocratic practices on them. Finally, cheapness of both the transportation and the resort offers provided an opportunity for workers to escape from summer industrial heat in the cities, which led to the entrance of illusion, entertainment, and catering in the new popular resorts. In this case, the examples of Scarborough and Blackpool are representative. At the very beginning of the resort transformation, old spa areas like Scarborough emphasized on the creation of their resort culture identity; in its essence, it tended to separate middle class from working class in its daily activities. At the same time, Blackpool as the first working class resort transformed the very idea of seaside holiday into the picturesque entertainment park where bathing no longer plays its central medical role. Moreover, both Scarborough and Blackpool paid close attention to the popularization and entertaining potential of their resorts by the end of the nineteenth century. Thus, it is reasonable to state that Industrial revolution had changed the appearance of seaside holiday to the core by enlarging the attendance base and introducing the new tools to entertain its visitors. References: Corbin, A., 1994. The Lure of the Sea: The Discovery of the Seaside in the Western World, 1750-1840. California: University of California Press. Gray, F., 2006. Designing the Seaside: Architecture, Society and Nature. London: Reaktion Books. Walton, J., 1983. Municipal government and the holiday industry in Blackpool, 1876-1914. In: J. Walton, and J. Walvin, eds., 1983. Leisure in Britain, 1780-1839. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Pp. 159-186. Walton, J., 2001. Consuming the Beach: Seaside Resorts and Cultures of Tourism in England and Spain from 1840s to the 1930s. In S. Baranowski and E. Furlough, eds., 2001. Being Elsewhere: Tourism, Consumer Culture, and Identity in Modern Europe and North America. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan. pp. 272-298. Walton, J., 2011. The Victorian Seaside. BBC. Available at: [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015]. Read More