Even where the object of the trip was not to experience the arts, most
tourism since its earliest days has been characterized, incidentally, by
entertainment as a distraction along the route or at the destination itself
(Feifer, 1985). For instance, pilgrims to the ‘Holy Land’ (from the thirteenth
century onwards) would be entertained at inns by travelling performers who
sang or recited. Those who went on the later Grand Tours (sixteenth through
to the nineteenth centuries) found many diversions from their serious
purpose, both en route and at their destinations. Theatres and concert halls
in Italy and in Paris, for instance, were popular with tourists. Some Grand
Tour journeys were planned so as to coincide with festivals and events of
various sorts including religious festivals in Rome and carnival in Venice.
For nineteenth century Grand Tour visitors to Paris, the Louvre was a major
attraction but during evenings there was an active social life including
literary salons and visits to the theatre as well as public promenading and
display in pleasure gardens, boulevards and the ‘new’ restaurants (Withey,
1998).