until 1946, i.e. the period between the world wars, much of international travel was for the privileged, wealthy and elite groups in society.
"Thomas Cook introduced the first package tour in 1841, but in fact by that time the railways (The first passenger railway (Liverpool and Manchester) opened in 1830) themselves were offering excursion trips, for a traffic which they had not originally expected to carry. The first objective had been carriage of freight, and secondly the provision of faster transport for the current stagecoach travelers at far from cheap prices. The popularity of cheap excursion fares for special events was not expected" (Lickorish, Jenkins, 1997)