Event tourism: the Spanish cruises in the inauguration of the Suez Canal of 1869

What is it about?

The opening ceremony of the Suez Canal took place on 17th November 1869. This historic event, which was celebrated at length by the media, attracted visitors from all over Europe thus generating the promotion of several packaged tours. After a brief introduction about the main facts that lead to the opening of the new sea route, this paper will focus on two singular projects of Spanish cruises, at a time when recreational trips abroad, and indeed tourism as a whole, were only proliferating amongst foreign elites. The study of these projects will help shed light on some of the differential features of the first cruise experiences in Spain which started taking place in the mid XIX century.

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