Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Leicester is Birthplace of Modern Tourism

The City of Leicester, one of Britain`s oldest, is rightly acclaimed as the birthplace of modern tourism.

In 1841, Thomas Cook organised a rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough. He had been asked by his colleagues in the Temperance movement to promote a tea party that they were organising in the smaller town.

While pondering how best to achieve this, he was walking one day from Market Harborough, where he was living at the time, to Leicester, some 15 miles away, to attend a meeting. While walking through Kibworth, he hit on the idea of hiring a train, a radical thought indeed as the rail network was in its infancy.

The excursion was a great success, and of course Thomas saw the commercial possibilities, going on to found the world famous company that bears his name.

Posted by colin on Tuesday 10th May, 2011 at 9:47am