Travel

Before the Selfie: Vintage Photos of Tourists Traveling in Style

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Tourists in Gizeh, Egypt, 1921. (Taller de Imagen (TDI)/Cover/Getty Images)

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Tourists in Gizeh, Egypt, 1921. (Taller de Imagen (TDI)/Cover/Getty Images)

Today, tourists around the world explore the sights with ubiquitous travel essentials: backpacks and comfy footwear and outerwear to brave the elements. But there was a time when world travel meant glamour and style (no selfie sticks!) — from Victorian-era women wearing high-collared gowns while riding camels in Egypt to ladies in the 1950s sporting heels and white gloves as they visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Travel for pleasure existed as early as ancient Egypt and Greece. In classical Rome the growth of infrastructure spawned the birth of travel, with wealthy Romans vacationing at seaside resorts in the South, according to EGO.

(MORE: Glamour in the Skies: Vintage Air Travel Photos)

But it wasn’t until the 19th century that modern tourism was born. Thomas Cook, a British cabinet-maker turned entrepreneur, created a “vacation package” for temperance supporters in 1841, arranging for a special train to take roughly 500 people from Leicester to Loughborough, according to the Thomas Cook Group.

The trip was a success and Cook pursued his first commercial endeavor, which involved organizing a trip to Liverpool. He charged for first and second-class tickets and wrote a detailed handbook about the journey – a precursor to the modern-day travel brochure, according to the Thomas Cook Group. Cook played a major role in facilitating mass tourism and the birth of travel agencies, giving him the name the “Father of Tourism.”

(MORE: The Golden Age of Train Travel (PHOTOS))

In the 1950s, with the increase of commercial air transportation, traveling by airplane became more affordable, encouraging more families to get out, vacation and see the world. The overall experience was far more glamorous than flying now.

View the slideshow above to see how tourists dressed and vacationed from the 1900s on.