From pilgrims to companions

A History of the Travel Industry

Published 14 October 2026Updated 14 October 2026

Families have always travelled. The industry that sells them the ticket is much younger. For most of history the journey itself was the work: a pilgrimage, a trade route, a Grand Tour for a wealthy son. Organised popular travel, with a fare, a timetable and someone else holding the plan, starts in the railway age. This note follows that line, using only facts you can check, through to AI travel companions and where Hey Ula sits on it.

Updated 14 October 2026. Dates and names below are taken from the primary or institutional pages listed under Sources. Where two good sources disagree, both are given. We do not invent passenger counts or market shares.

Before there was an industry

Long before anyone sold a package holiday, people left home for faith. In medieval Christianity, pilgrims walked or sailed to Santiago de Compostela, Rome or Jerusalem. The Camino de Santiago grew from the tradition that the apostle St James was buried at Compostela. In the Middle Ages his tomb became a major pilgrimage site, and a network of routes spread across western Europe. Pilgrims went for devotion and, in Roman Catholic teaching of the time, for indulgences that remitted sin (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Camino de Santiago).

In Islam, the hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is the fifth of the Five Pillars. Every adult Muslim is to make it at least once if they are physically and financially able. The rite runs from the 7th to the 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hajj; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Pillars of Islam). Families still travel together for both of these journeys. The point for this history is simple: organised movement of ordinary people, with a destination and a ritual calendar, existed centuries before a travel company did.

The Grand Tour was something else. From the 17th century into the early 19th, it was a rite of passage for upper-class young European men, especially British ones, of about 21, usually with a tutor. Italy was the core: Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples. Royal Museums Greenwich dates the phrase itself to Richard Lassels's 1670 guidebook The Voyage of Italy, and says the average tour lasted at least a year (Royal Museums Greenwich). This was education and taste for people who already had money. It was not a product a working family could buy.

Thomas Cook and the railway outing

On 5 July 1841 Thomas Cook, then a cabinet maker and temperance campaigner, arranged a return railway trip from Leicester's Campbell Street station to a temperance gathering in Loughborough. The fare was one shilling. The party travelled in open tub-style carriages and was accompanied by a band. Story of Leicester, the city's own history site, says the train carried 485 passengers, including Cook's seven-year-old son John Mason Cook. The 1901 Dictionary of National Biography calls it the first publicly advertised excursion train in England and gives 570 passengers. A BBC report on the 175th anniversary summarises the ride as about 12 miles and about 500 people. The exact headcount is not settled. The fare, the date, the route and the temperance purpose are (Story of Leicester; Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement; BBC News, 5 July 2016).

That outing matters for families because a child was on it, and because Cook's next summers were not built for aristocrats. The DNB says he was asked to plan excursions for temperance societies and Sunday-school children in 1842, 1843 and 1844. A day return that a parent and a seven-year-old could take is a different product from a year in Italy with a tutor.

Cook then went further. Story of Leicester records a grand circular tour of European cities in 1855 as his first overseas rail excursion. The company's own archived key dates say he personally conducted two parties from Harwich to Antwerp, then Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Strasbourg and Paris for the International Exhibition. In 1871 the firm became Thomas Cook & Son when John Mason Cook joined as a partner. In 1872 and 1873 Thomas led a round-the-world tour, away for 222 days and covering more than 25,000 miles (Story of Leicester; Thomas Cook, Key Dates, archived 2017).

The company that began with that shilling train ceased trading on 23 September 2019. The UK Civil Aviation Authority said so the same day. The BBC reported that the collapse triggered a peacetime repatriation aimed at bringing more than 150,000 British holidaymakers home (BBC News, 23 September 2019). High-street packages did not vanish with the name. The firm that taught millions of families to buy a holiday from a counter did.

Railways, then the jet age

Railways shrank a day's travel from a coach slog to a timetable. Families could visit a relative, a seaside town or a meeting and be back the same night. Cook's first product only exists because the Midland Counties Railway was already there.

Jets did the same thing to oceans. On 2 May 1952 the de Havilland Comet entered service with BOAC as the first commercial jet airliner, on a multi-stop flight from London to Johannesburg. The RAF Museum records that this first type could carry 36 passengers at about 450 mph over about 2,500 miles (RAF Museum; FlightGlobal, April 2022). Early Comets were grounded after accidents. Transatlantic jet service returned in October 1958: BOAC's Comet 4 flew London to New York on 4 October, and Pan Am inaugurated Boeing 707 scheduled service from New York to Paris on 26 October (FlightGlobal, October 2018).

A family holiday on another continent became a ticket, not an expedition. The constraint shifted from 'can we get there' to 'can we afford the seats, the cots and the week off'. That is still the constraint most parents start with.

Travel agencies and the computer in the back room

For much of the late 20th century a family booked through a travel agent, not a website. The agent called an airline or used a terminal. The machine behind many of those terminals was Sabre, built by American Airlines with IBM. IBM's own history says the idea began in 1953, when IBM salesman R. Blair Smith sat next to American Airlines president C. R. Smith on a flight. Sabre was fully operational in 1964 as a central reservation system. American extended it to travel agents in 1976. IBM says about 130 agency offices had terminals by the end of that first agency year in the Sabre Story account, and that easySabre in 1985 let consumers book through services such as AOL and CompuServe. In 1996 Sabre launched Travelocity, a consumer booking site (IBM, Sabre; Computerworld, Sabre timeline).

Travelocity's own 20th-anniversary notice dates the consumer site to 12 March 1996, as a Sabre Interactive venture. Before that, the same notice says, booking still meant a mall agency, the yellow pages, or the airport counter (Travelocity via PR Newswire, 11 March 2016). The global distribution system, the GDS, is the quiet layer under all of this: a computer that holds airline seats, and later hotels and cars, so an agent in one city can sell inventory from another. Families met it as a person behind a desk who could 'see what is left on the 14th'.

Online travel agencies

Then the desk moved onto the home computer. Microsoft launched Expedia on the web on 22 October 1996, at expedia.MSN.com. The company said customers could book air, car and hotel reservations online, 24 hours a day, and called it the first major technology company in online travel services (Microsoft Source, 22 October 1996).

In the Netherlands, Geert-Jan Bruinsma started Bookings.nl. Booking.com's partner magazine dates that founding to 12 November 1996. Bruinsma, a University of Twente graduate, has described building the site with a server under his desk after he could not find a Dutch hotel-booking website. Booking.com's own story page places the start in a small Amsterdam office and says The Priceline Group acquired Bookings.nl in 2005 and combined it with Active Hotels, giving the Booking.com known today (Booking.com Click Magazine; University of Twente alumni; Booking.com, Our Story).

For a family, the change was practical. You could compare three hotels after bedtime, see a kitchen or a cot in the photos, and book without taking an afternoon off for the high street. You also inherited a new job: you became your own agent. The GDS was still underneath. The person who used to hold the plan was now you.

The phone in the queue

Mobile booking started before the smartphone camera roll. On 16 October 2000, RCR Wireless reported that Travelocity had launched a mobile flight-booking and rebooking tool for internet-enabled phones and wireless handhelds, including AT&T Wireless, British Telecom, Nextel, Vodafone and Palm devices on OmniSky. Travellers could buy a ticket or rebook if they were running late (RCR Wireless, 16 October 2000).

Phones later made the whole trip live in a pocket: boarding passes, hotel messages, a map of the playground. They also made it easy to over-research. A parent can now open five apps in a departure lounge and still not know which option respects a nap. The industry got faster. Family constraints did not get simpler.

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AI travel agents and companions

The next shift is software that does more than show a list. Booking.com's Travel Trends survey of 32,800 travellers in 34 countries, reported in January 2026, found that half already use AI tools while planning or travelling, to find stays, compare options or build itineraries (Booking.com Travel Trends 2026, via Money Tourism). Amadeus's Tailored Horizons survey of 1,000 U.S. travellers in July 2026 found that 74% had already used AI while planning, and 85% agreed it saves time and gives more personalised recommendations (Amadeus).

That is still mostly planning help. An agentic travel agent is built to go further: keep the family's constraints, search live availability, return a short list, and book only after a clear yes. A human advisor is still the better call for complex or high-stakes trips; we set that out in AI travel agent vs a human travel agent. For a weekend with kids, the job looks a lot like Cook's original problem, restated: get this group to a real place, on a real budget, and home in time.

Where Hey Ula fits

Ula is your AI travel companion. She is built for the family you already have, not a blank prompt. You tell her the ages, the stroller, the walking pace, breakfast and a budget cap. She stores that as Travel DNA. For a free weekend she is built to return three real options that fit, then wait for your yes before any booking.

That sits at the end of this timeline on purpose. Pilgrims had a destination and a calendar. Cook sold a seat and a day. The jet sold distance. The agency and the GDS sold inventory. The OTA sold comparison. The phone sold the queue in your pocket. A companion is supposed to hold the family brief so you do not retype it every Saturday. Hey Ula is in Beta (early access). Join the waitlist at heyula.ai.

If you want the method without waiting, how to use AI to plan a family trip works in any capable tool. If you want a round-up of current planners, see the best AI travel planners for families.

Sources

• Story of Leicester, Thomas Cook's Leicester: 5 July 1841 Leicester to Loughborough, one shilling, 485 passengers including John Mason Cook, aged seven; 1855 circular European tour. storyofleicester.info
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement, Cook, Thomas (1808-1892): first publicly advertised excursion train in England, 570 passengers, Sunday-school excursions in 1842 to 1844. Wikisource
• BBC News, 5 July 2016: 175th anniversary of the Leicester to Loughborough outing, about 12 miles, one shilling. bbc.co.uk
• Thomas Cook, Key Dates 1841 to 2014 (archived 5 August 2017): 1855 first continental tour; 1871 Thomas Cook & Son; 1872/73 round-the-world tour, 222 days, more than 25,000 miles. web.archive.org
• BBC News, 23 September 2019: Thomas Cook ceased trading; UK CAA repatriation for more than 150,000 British holidaymakers. bbc.co.uk
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Camino de Santiago: medieval pilgrimage to St James's tomb, routes across western Europe, indulgences. britannica.com
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hajj, and Pillars of Islam: pilgrimage to Mecca, fifth pillar, once in a lifetime if able. Hajj; Pillars
• Royal Museums Greenwich, What was the Grand Tour?: 18th-century rite for young aristocratic English men; phrase from Lassels, 1670; typical tour at least a year. rmg.co.uk
• RAF Museum, Comet Enters Service: 2 May 1952, first commercial jet airliner, 36 passengers, about 450 mph, about 2,500 miles. rafmuseum.org.uk
• FlightGlobal, How Comet's debut service launched the passenger jet age (April 2022) and How the jet travel era began in earnest (October 2018): BOAC Comet, 2 May 1952; Comet 4 London to New York, 4 October 1958; Pan Am 707 New York to Paris, 26 October 1958. 2022 feature; 2018 analysis
• IBM, Sabre: 1953 Smith meeting; operational 1964; travel agents 1976; easySabre 1985; Travelocity 1996. ibm.com/history/sabre
• Computerworld, Sidebar: Sabre Timeline: 1960 Briarcliff Manor installation; 1964 nationwide network completed. computerworld.com
• Travelocity via PR Newswire, 11 March 2016: consumer site launched 12 March 1996 by Sabre Interactive. prnewswire.com
• Microsoft Source, 22 October 1996: Expedia debuts on the web; air, car and hotel booking. news.microsoft.com
• Booking.com Click Magazine: Bookings.nl founded 12 November 1996 by Geert-Jan Bruinsma. partner.booking.com
• University of Twente alumni profile, Geert-Jan Bruinsma (TBK'94): first booking website, server under the desk, 1996. utwente.nl
• Booking.com, Our Story: Amsterdam start; Priceline Group acquired Bookings.nl in 2005 and combined it with Active Hotels. news.booking.com
• RCR Wireless, 16 October 2000: Travelocity mobile flight-booking and rebooking tool. rcrwireless.com
• Booking.com Travel Trends 2026, via Money Tourism: 32,800 travellers in 34 countries; half already use AI tools while planning or travelling. money-tourism.gr
• Amadeus, Tailored Horizons, July 2026: 1,000 U.S. travellers; 74% used AI in planning; 85% agreed it saves time. amadeus.com

The next chapter is a companion that already knows the kids. Hey Ula is in Beta. Join the waitlist at heyula.ai and Ula, your AI travel companion, will plan and book from the family you already described.

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