A couple of centuries ago, most people were poor and had to work all year. There were no public holidays and there were no holidays from work, either. A very few rich people travelled around the world, mainly to other parts of Europe. They went on what was called 'the grand tour'. They also made trips to the seaside. But that was because they thought it was a healthy thing to do, not because they wanted to have fun.

In Victorian times, towards the end of the 19th century, public holidays were introduced. These started out in Britain as 'Bank Holidays', and other countries did much the same. At the same time, the railways brought in cheap fares to the seaside. So a day off for a public holiday, and a cheap fare to the seaside did two things: it gave almost everyone a holiday, and it meant a huge growth in seaside towns. The most famous seaside town to grow this way was Blackpool in northwestern England, but there were seaside towns within reach of most cities. At this time tourists were called 'holiday-makers'.

By the middle of the 20th century it was common for people to have one or two weeks holiday with pay. As a result, people began to take a week or a fortnight by the sea. Some people could also afford cars, and they started touring holidays, often pulling a caravan after them.

As more people could afford cars, so the touring holiday became more important. Those who did not have a car could go by motor coach - which at that time were called charabancs.

But by the 1970s, air travel was becoming cheaper and people had more money because their jobs were paying them more. As a result, they began to fly to other countries - often those with guaranteed sunshine. So The Mediterranean became popular, as did Florida and California. Other people began to fly to places of historic interest, such as the Pyramids of Egypt.

Then some countries, such as China, which had been poor for a long time, also began to get richer and wanted to become tourists, too. In the future more people from Asia in particular, will become the most common tourists – and many of them want to visit Europe and America. As a result, big cities like London and New York are now very important tourists centres, too.

The video shows a historic village and tourists in Germany.