Conclusions: Combining Leisure and Tourism From the Eighteenth Century to World War II

Abstract

This concluding chapter begins by contextualising the emergence of archaeological tourism in Modernity. Several transversal aspects of the book are then highlighted. The first of them is nationalism as the political basis of interest in the past, explaining how this influenced archaeological tourism. Second, there is the continuous development of the means of transport, from steamships, to trains, bicycles and cars and finally the airplane. The third aspect that appears in all chapters of the book is class and the role that archaeological tourism played in producing and reproducing class relations. Fourth, archaeological tourism is a business for which both the state and private initiative have been essential components. This can also be seen in the development of the different elements related to tourism: from guidebooks, to travel agencies, postcards, and souvenirs (actual souvenirs, antiquities and even fakes). In addition to all the above a fifth aspect found in all chapters of the book is the expanding geographical area reached by tourists interested in archaeological remains. Finally, although politics is a constant in the book the explanation of what happened to archaeological tourism in Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany is highlighted as an extreme example of how funding for archaeology and archaeological tourism may come with strings attached. The chapter finishes with some ideas of the development regarding the archaeological tourism after World War II.