Xavier Guillot

From one globalization to another In search of the seeds of modern tourism in the Levant A western perspective

In the last third of the XXth century, international tourism in the world had undergone spectacular development: it became the first industry of the world in the revenue it generates every year. Although the progress of this industry in the Middle East was slowed by the instability of the regional political situation, it did not entirely miss out on this economic opportunity. T he cases of Egypt, and more recently, countries of the Bilad El Sham, the historical region previously known as Greater Syria, and today covering Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Occupied Palestinian Te rritory and Israelare examples of nations which are nowadays part of the global tourism industry.

In this respect, some authors have pointed out conflicting situations accompanying the development of this industry, which is mainly generated and managed by western firms (Lanfant 1995, Robinson 2001). To accommodate the growing number of travelers, cities have undergone major transformations. This is particularly obvious with the growth of high -rise five-star hotels in large cities, managed by international chains, which have become modern urban icons. Transformation has also occurred in rural areas. In this domain other authors have denounced the misuse of local culture, whereby specific patterns (i.e. the nomadic Arab culture) rather than others are marketed in order to please the western traveler, (Shoup 1985, Daher 1999). These transformations are to be associated with the structural changes that have occurred in the economy and society over the last thirty years, and which are also representative of th e emergence of a so called "global culture" (Featherstone, 1996).

However, despite the importance of the physical, social and cultural changes associated with global tourism, these changing patterns are not entirely new, nor is the process behind it. For centuries the Middle East has been a destination for western travelers with assorted motives. Traders, writers, pilgrims and simply the curious were attracted by the "mysterious Orient" and the religious historical background that characterized this part of the world. Already, in the late XIXth century, the Bilad El Sham could be considered as a "prime cultural tourist destination" in a modern sense. In 1930, The Handbook of Palestine and Transjordan, published by MacMillan and Co in London, presented Palestine literally as "a tourist resort". (p.140) i This "early modern period of tourism" did not occur without significant local "adaptation" to meet the demands and comfort of western travelers. It generated important transformation in local economies and societies. As tourists' numbers increased, one sees the emergence of a new set of facilities and infrastructures allowing this population to move around easily and to settle temporarily in a region which was largely unknown to them. Looking at this early p hase of modern tourism

leads us to put international mass tourism into perspective as a long-term cycle evolving industry, and to evaluate its current development patterns more objectively. Indeed, if progress made in transportation and telecommunication since the Second World War (air transport, satellite communication, in particular), marks the beginning of the current global and mass tourism phenomena, this progress should not overshadow those which occurred a century earlier, and which have similarly revolutionized human transportation and communication at the world scale. For example, following the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the entire Orient was connected to the west by the telegraph. In 1870, Jerusalem was connected to Europe -the same year as Singapore. At the same time, steamers were crossing the Mediterranean Sea and regular lines were already operational. In fact, already in the last third of the XIXth century, traveling to the Orient had become a relatively easy and schedulable enterprise, whether by sea or by land.

This paper is about this "travel revolution" which occurred during the last third of the XIXth century and at the turn of the next century. It is about the construction of an idea as well as a new industry which took place at the same time as the first globalization ii . It aims to understand the birth of this industry and its development by identifying four crucial agents or "operators", which until now have been concomitant with the "functioning" of this industry in its most recent version : transportation, accomodation, specialized literature and package tours.

The XIXth century transportation revolution: Making the journey to the Orient 'schedulable'

Transportation and progress linked to the industrial revolution, is the first operator to be examined. Until the middle of the XIXth century, traveling to the Middle East was largely an individual adventure, greatly depending on the weather (if sailing), or security, if traveling by land. In both cases, it was a long and dangerous journey. Being blocked in harbors for several weeks due to weather conditions was common. It is known that Chateaubriand spent more time waiting for favorable winds to sail out of Egypt than in visiting the country itself. Traveling to the Orient was also an expensive journey. One needed strong motivations to travel on such a visit. Chateaubriand spent almost 50,000 francs on his travel, while Lamartine spent double this amount for the expedition he organized in 1832-1833. Volney dedicated all the money he inherited to finance his enterprise (Berchet 1985).

The development of the steam engine and the improvement of security on the Mediterranean after the end of the conflict between Greece and Turkey, revolutionized traveling conditions between Europe and the Middle East. In the spring of 1833, the steamship François 1st gave the green light. She embarked on an experimental cruise to Greece with 50 guests of King Othon. At the end of the decade, the Messageries Françaises of the Austrian Lloyd already had regular lines, in particular for the postal service between Europe, Turkey, Greece and Egypt. Regular lines multiplied after 1840, for instance between Constantinople and Beirut, through Smyrna, Rhodes, and Cyprus.

River transport has also played its part in facilitating tourism growth. After the Paris Congress of 1866, which regulated international traffic, it became possible to travel to the Middle East by cruising the Danube River to the Black Sea, from which it was then possible to reach Istanbul by land. From this time on, travel become a "schedulable trip". In The Fellah, Edmond About declares with pride that "the fast train could carry you from Paris to Marseille in 16 hours, and the postal ship of the Messagerie put Alexandria at 6 days sailing from Marseille" (Berchet 1985). This timing would not change until the First World War and until the first commercial flights started operation.

In addition to steam ships, the invention of the steam engine is also associated with rail transport, which was another important means of transportation, both in accessing the Middle East f rom the west, and for movement within the region. It first appeared in 1850 in Egypt with the Delta Network, and later in the Bilad El Sham. At the turn of the century most of the large cities were connected to each other by railway: Jerusalem was connected to Jaffa, and Damascus to Beirut and Mecca by the Hijaz railway. From Europe, in 1884 it was possible to access the Black Sea with the Wagon Lits company which operated the Paris -Varna line. In 1890, the famous Orient Express reached Istanbul from where it was possible to access other parts of Bilad El Sham. The last great enterprise in this domain was the construction of the railway to Baghdad from Istanbul, via Aleppo, and which was completed in 1914.

Improved traveling mechanization and increased speed mobility not only occurred on long distance transportation. It is also seen at the "local level" within the cities. As early as 1904, in Damascus, the "Société Impériale Ottoman de Tramway et d'éclairage Electrique de Damas" was contracted by the Ottoman Government to build tramway lines and to produce and distribute electrical power. In 1907, two lines of 3 km and 2 km were operating and were later extended. In Beirut in 1906, an Ottoman Company had the same type of concession as in Damascus and, as early as 1914, three lines were already operating. Parallel to the beginning of the tramway, the automobile appeared in cities in the 1920s, and in the same decade, all the gates of the city of Damascus had been adapted to fit the use of the automobile.

It is in this highly competitive context, at the turn of the century that travel to the Middle East became fast, easy and schedulable. It is from this revolution in the mat erial condition of transportation that modern tourism was born.

Settling temporarily in the Middle East: from basic accommodation to modern hotels

Being able to access distant destinations rapidly and in comfort is not the only operator in the development of tourism. Upon arrival at his/her destination, the tourist needs specific f acilities to make the visit feasible. Among them, accommodation is a priority. Until the middle of the nineteenth century western travelers were accommodated in places that were not tourist hotels as such. Travelers of special status, such as government officials, writers or scientists would stay at the consul house of their own country. Pilgrims would naturally stay in religious communities.

If travelers did not fit into the above-mentioned categories, they would have to rely on what the local culture offered. Outside cities, they relied on the hospitality of local families, or improvised in tents. In cities, they often stayed in monasteries that were primarily used by pilg rims. The monastery of Mont Carmel at Jaffa was well known for providing accommodation when European travelers reached the Levant for the first time. Beirut also had such places. Inland, Jerusalem had several hostels linked to religious communities that welcomed all kinds of travelers, such as the Franciscan Casanova and the Austrian Hospice. Built in the mid nineteenth century, these hostels still operate with the same status as being a place for both pilgrims and cultural tourists iii . Khans, also called caravanserai, represented another popular alternative. The word khan, from the Turkish, means hotel. It is a specific building type that developed in cities of Muslim influence f rom Central Asia to the Atlantic. Its design is generally characterized by a re ctangular courtyard distributing rooms at the periphery which were used for trade or sleeping. Because of its enclosed shape, the building had a capacity of isolation from the exterior life, but because of its commercial function it was connected to the city life. This double aspect welcomed foreigners while keeping them away. There were many of these khans in cities like Damascus, Aleppo or Beirut, which were major trading centers in Bilad El Sham iv . In Beirut, a major point of arrival for travelers coming from the west, one could find two types of khans: the khans for trading composed of two stories, and khans for travelers, some of them more often used by western travelers v . Comf ort in khans was, however, very basic. There was no furniture. Usually, travelers had to bring their own carpet for use as a bed, their machlah (coat) as a blanket, and their own provisions (Guys 1847)

The first move towards lodging providing western standards of comfort can be traced through the construction of locandas: an Italian word that was often used to refer to hotels or pensions for western travelers. Usually locandas were owned by entrepreneurs from Malta, Italy, or Greece. The first locanda in the region was built in 1843 by Antonio Bianchi. It had the appearance of an old house surrounded by a garden. Georges Robinson (1837) writes in his diary: "the 20 September 1830, I found here what I was not ready to find in the region, that is an excellent pension managed by a Maltais whose name is Giuseppe. It is, I think the only place to stay in all Syria that deserves this name". For a lot of travelers, staying in a locanda was like being back in their own country. John Durbin, the former director of Dockinson College in Pennsylvania, writes: "our guide brought us to the Hotel Baptista where there were comfortable rooms in comparison to what we found since we left Cairo, and again, we heard language and found the manner of Europe. The arrival in Beirut was a bit like coming back home" (Durbin 1854, 48 -49). In the second part of the nineteenth century, these locandas started to adopt names other than that of their owners, in order to recall hotels found in the West vi . But despite these new names, these hotels were rather rudimentary comfort-wise. In fact, they were old oriental houses adapted to accommodate travelers. Hotels specifically designed and built to accommodate foreigners did not yet exist. The first modern style hotel which offered some of the comforts of Europe, was opened in Jaf fa in the 1850s by Kopel Blatner and Sons. Tourist accommodation improved further when Cook opened his office in Jaffa in 1870. Built at the same time in Beirut, the Grand Hotel d'Orient was probably the first building designed and built as a hotel vii . The Grand and the Hotel Bellevuewhere Cook opened his second office -were the two famous hotels in the district of Zeitouneh (Borgi, 1995).

However, up until the First World War, these types of hotels were rare. It was during the Mandate period that hotel construction increased and spread to mor e remote areas. Henceforth it was possible to find hotels in culturally interesting areas, such as archeological sites, which also became more accessible. These same hotels are today heritage sites. Despite this increase in number, no specific innovations were noted during this period viii . Changes were more quantitative than qualitative ix . In cities, besides khans, a mix of different types of western facilities was to be found: convents, hospices, locandas and hotels. Jerusalem, a major pole of tourist attraction, if not the most visited by western travelers, is outstanding because of the telescoping of different types of hotels and the different types of travelers they represent. This "telescopage" is still present today.

The publication of the first tourist guide and the invention of a "Levantine space"

In addition to safe, fast travel, with comfortable accommodation, there is a third type of requirement by the traveler: information regarding destination. Indeed, both in order to make a decision, and once having arrived, the traveler need to decide where to go and how to get there. In response to this need, a special type of literature appeared in the middle of the nineteenth century: the tourist guide.

Publishers of tourist guides benefited from the large literature heritage written by Western travelers to the region over the centuries. Because of its strong connection with religion, this region had been a prolific source of inspiration for travelers since the Middle Ages, reaching a peak in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Besides religion, the Middle East was an important field of research for scientific missions, in particular in the field of archeology x . It is therefore not surprising that the content of the first tourist guides was built on both sources of knowledge, mixing ethnographic data randomly gathered by travel writers, and more historical and geographical information reported by scientists on specific missions. It is not surprising that the first publication of tourist guides was the work of one of these scientists.

It is in England that the tourist guide made its first appearance, with the publication of Murray's HandBook in 1840, and translated into French in 1846, under the name Le guide en Orient de Quetin. One should recall that in the early nineteenth century, tourism in the Middle East was primarily a British interest because of its world domination after 1815. As Berchet (1985) reminds us, before the Suez Canal construction, the Nile delta was on the route to India for families, as well as for military. One disembarked at Alexandria, to re-embark in Suez after having visited the Pyramids. In this way, traveling in this region becomes popular: one saw the first groups in Palestine in the form of tourism pilgrims.

For two decades, the Murray guide remained the only reference until Joanne (French), and Baedeker (German), publishers released their own original guides in France and Germany. The first edition of the "Guide Joanne" was published in 1861 and entitled: Un itinéraire descriptif, historique et archéologique de l'Orient (A descriptive, historical and archeological itinerary of the Orient). It was a volume of more than 1,100 pages xi . In Germany, the first edition of the Baedeker guide, published in 1882, was based on the work of the famous orientalist Albert Socin from Bale. Following editions kept in line with its original scientific data, as from 1891, it was regularly revised and augmented by Dr. I. Benzinger who lived and had extensively traveled in the Middle East .

At the end of the nineteenth century, the Murray, Joanne and Baedecker guides had become major references for English, French and German tourists. Their influence in shaping and homogenizing traveling patterns deserves special mention. Indeed, approach es to introducing this region were rather similar from one guide to another, and eventually the Baedeker was translated into F rench and English. Although scientific knowledge was a high priority, it was always balanced by chapters dedicated to practical information. Each of these guides was more or less used the same strategy and gave three types of information, as follows:

1. Practical information covering all types of data, and reflect the modernization of the region. E.g. accommodation, transport, currency, food, climate, language etc 2. Itinerarysuggested routes and timings, descriptions of places of interest 3. Detailed maps of countries and cities.

These three guides largely contributed to what Berchet called the creation of a "Levantine Space" (Berchet 1985). Indeed, until the end of the eighteenth century, travelers, and in particular scientists, used local travelers' caravans and were more or less guided by fate. As one entered the nineteenth century, travelers were becoming less adventurous. Progressing in time, itineraries followed by writers went through a reverse transformation to that of the scientific traveler. The idea of "Traveling in the Orient" xii became codified and travelers no longer risked leaving main welltraveled routes.

Suggested itineraries presented in tourist guides were in fact largely influenced by itineraries elaborated by nineteenth century travel writers. Travels by Flaubert, Maxime du Camp or Chateaubriand, for instance, offered the "model of an ideal trip": Egypt, Palestine , Lebanon, Constantinople and Greece. It was this "circular itinerary" (Berchet 1985) copied again and again that the Guide Joanne codified, with some alternatives and some recommendations, such as winter in Egypt, Easter in Jerusalem, etc.

The publication of Cook's Help book was largely inscribed in this process. As with previous guides, it suggested a specific itinerary for exploring the region and gave all practical advice to achieve it xiii . Cook's Help book reinforced this process by bringing it to a step further in terms of information provided for the tourist's visit to the region. In addition to cultural facts and practical information (such as best time of traveling, cheapest ways, etc), one could find an additional section called the Help book advertiser: a list of hotels, shops, transportation companies recommended by Cook, and responding to the standard demands of the "Cookies". What is remarkable with Thomas Cook's contribution to the emerging tourism industry is that he was not only a publisher, but also an entrepreneur. Indeed, Cook symbolizes the transformation of leisure traveling into a specific industry through the implementation of a network of services advertised in his publication, and at the same time through the implementation of a new approach to traveling -the "organized tour":

Travelling in a "suitable social environment": The invention of the organized tour After several years of investigation, Thomas Cook decided, in 1869 (the year in which the Suez Canal opened) to launch the first tour of ten travelers (led by him personally) through Palestine and Egypt. Between 1869 and 1883, organized tours by Cook brought about 4,500 travelers to Palestine, which according to him, accounted for approximately two thirds of the total number of tourists arriving from the West xiv .

Although the role of Thomas Cook in popularizing organized tours in the Middle East is indisputable, the idea of designing and selling such tours was not originally his. Religious groups and pilgrims from Europe had invented the concept earlier. Tours had been organized in the early 1850s by Roman Catholic groups from Italy, traveling by the Lloyd Triestino steamship line, and from France, tours were organized by the order of St Vincent de Paul, starting from Marseille twice a year, at Easter and in August. There were also tours from the United States. Ruth Kark (2001) recorded an organized "leisure trip" to Palestine in 1867, initiated by Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church. It was an important package tour for 150 Americans, and comprised a visit to Europe and then to Egypt and Palestine.

Thomas Cook followed in the footsteps of these religious tours. By combining piety with commerce, Cook's Eastern Tours helped transform Palestine from a Terra Sancta for pilgrims, as it had been for generations, into a destination for tourists who were not ready to spend time their travel, or to accept unpredictable travel conditions. This is the very fundamental of mass tourism that Cook was the first to exploit: targeting an English and American middle-class protestant clientele, with no experience in traveling far from their home, by offering them ready -made and safe travel. It should be noted that Cook's Eastern Tours, although group tours, were not cheap. A trip to Palestine in the 1860s averaged thirty-one shillings a day, including accommodation, dragoman, military escort and provisions imported from Britain.

Almost every thing was paid in advance, reducing the risk of robbery. In 1873, for the journey to Palestine, Cook used the railways to Genoa and Trieste, or the Danube Steam Navigation to Varna on the Black Sea. From the Mediterranean ports, steamers took travelers to Alexandria, Port Said, Jaffa and Beirut.

To make the tourist's journey successful, Cook created a "suitable social environment" by of fering comfortable hotels, hygienic food and water, and finding a reliable dragoman, etc. It was reported that Cook acquired a house and grounds in 1875, near the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem, and threatened to concentrate business in this house if local contractors and hoteliers "do not treat our travelers and ourselves as they and we ought to be treated" (Kark 2001). At the end of the century, however, many new hostels and hotels were built. Several hotels such as the J erusalem, Mediterranean or the New Grand agreed on arrangements with Cook's travel agency. In 1903, Cook had three offices in Palestine (in David Street, Jerusalem, the German Colony in Jaf f a, and near Hotel Carmel in Haifa) (Kark 2001, 166). Simultaneously, other tourist agencies such as Tadras, Clark, Hamburg, Barakat and Nasir and Farjalla, were found besides Cook's, as competitors in the market. From now on, touring the Orient entered a new era because of the economic and cultural implications of the presence of western travelers.

As traveler numbers increased, the local activity and economy developed. Commissioners could be hired to help passengers disembark, release luggage from customs, and secure lodgings, horses and carriages. Ferrying and wagon services were available, as well as hundreds of porters, guides and escorts. Local firms proliferated. Restaurants and cafés multiplied: in Jaffa there were sixty-four restaurants and eighty-one coffeehouses in 1905 (Kark 2001). This deployment of human activity demonstrates that one century ago social, economic and cultural implications at the local level linked with the development of tourism at the international level was already in place. Because of the profit to be made by western firms, a profession was born, as well as an industry, which is now the most profitable in the world.

The legacy of the XIXth century in today's tourism industry in the Middle East

Since Thomas Cook and his son first lead tourist groups to the Holy Land, and globalization entered a new phase, the tourism industry has also entered a new phase in its evolution. In the second part of the twentieth century low-cost travel enabling access to virtually all parts of the world, has developed, and international hotel companies offer ing western standards can be f ound in all main cities. Tourism has entered the mass media. Travel literature and tourist guides have become an industry. Simultaneously, the concept of international mass tourism has emerged in developing countries with, in many cases, irreversible consequences on space and societies.. Yet, although the « tourism production system » has radically changed qualitatively and quantitatively, the operators that we have identified in our review of the growth of tourism in the Middl e East remain valid. What has changed from "one globalization to another" is the reinforcement of a culture of tourism and international mobility with the transformation of some of the features that characterized modern tourism during its first period.

1. The first characteristic is the process of "individuation" that characterizes modern tourism patterns. « It involves specific cultural practices governing what is seen, how it is seen, the composition of tour groups, the behavior of individuals and the group during the tourist experience, and so on (Feiffer 1985, MacCannel 1989). With the birth of modern transport, comfortable hotels and regularly updated travel guides, traveling to the Orient became schedulable, comfortable and safe. Package tours are nowadays increasingly designed to satisfy particular individual choices, be they cultural, sport, or health oriented. Furthermore, business and leisure are increasingly linked with travelers' motives. Organized tours by Cook were a stage in this process that tends to satisf y individual choices, as well as using economic scale advantages. As Britton says, "there was a long-term trend in Western society towards recognizing the individual as distinct from the group. This in turn has facilitated : (a) a corresponding differentiation and specialization of leisure pursuits ; and (b) the linkage of personal status of 'individual identity' (with corresponding differentiation of life-styles and experiences) through the consumption of commodities" (Britton 1991, p.460) 2. The word "commodity" associated with tourism leads us to the second characteristic of today's tourism patterns. In the second globalization, tourism has become a commodified product. In one way, Cook initiated the process with his with his organized tours, combined with his handbook, and by incorporating an advertising section, making the organized tour a true commodity. In its most recent development, the novelty is that leisure activities have become increasingly commodified as a 'culture of consumption' has evolved (Featherstone 1990). As Britton pointed out "the expansion of deepening of commodity markets has witnessed the transfer of the logic and rationality of commodity production to the sphere of consumption and culture. This process complement s, yet subverts, the trend towards individuation of leisure, with the personalization and differentiation of leisure products expressed in market niching, cosmetic design, variations, and advertising disguising the industrialization and mass production of such products" (Britton 1991, p.461).

3. In the individuation of leisure, there is an important paradox: as people become more and more individualistic in traveling choices, simultaneously they become more and more dependent on a larger set of facilities and infrastructures, such as transportation and communication networks (Gras 1993). Until World War Two the nature of this individuation -dependency relationship remained relatively stable. After this date, it evolved significantly as globalization entered its second phase of development. Modernity and individuation of daily life during the twentieth century relies on the presence and the use of what Giddens called "expert systems" and "symbolic tokens" (Giddens 1990) which interfere in every part of our daily lives : large sets of infrastructures, facilities, such as cars, money, etc.

Newly formed Arab nations that once composed the Bilad El Sham have not been exempt from modern tourism patterns, although it has not yet reached the magnitude of other part s of the world. First Lebanon in the 1950s and 1960s, then Jordan, and more recently, to a certain extent Syria, these three counties are nowadays equipped with the "basic modern infrastructures", such as highways, airports, international hotels, to mention a few, that are associated with international mass tourism. This evolution did not occur without significant impact on places visited by tourists and local communities inhabiting these places. In Petra (Jordan), for instance, camping as it was establis hed by Cook xv in the midst of the Nabatean city was naturally part of history. Within the last thirty years, Wadi Musa, the adjacent village has developed into a stop-over town for tourists, and comprises a range of accommodation including renowned international hotels, such as Movenpick and Marriott. Nowadays, Petra is on the backpackers' trail as well as on the map of all kinds of organized tours, including those wonders of the world for fortunate corporate who visit the so-called world heritage sites in minimum time xvi . In the middle of the ruins of Palmyra (Syria), the small stand-alone structure Hotel Zanobia, built in the early twentieth century, witnesses another era of tourism. Once part of a settlement that had grown randomly within the ruins, and othe rwise famous during the Mandate period for its eccentric French female manager xvii , it has become today an isolated structure, since the ruins were cleared of the local population habitat. Tourist hotels are located farther removed in the town of Tadmore.

Although Petra and Palmyra represent emblematic examples of the evolution of tourism practicethe individuation and consuming pattern as mentioned above -it is nevertheless significant of the very selective process that accompanies the growth of international cultural tourism, and of the focus that some sites deserve more than others. One should notice that some specific sites are very well known and placed on a world tourist map (such as those belonging to the world heritage list by UNESCO) and other is not.

One of the implications of the growth of international cultural tourism is the process of 'hygienification' of cultural sites which is occurring at the same time -cultural sites are isolated from the local domestic life and treated as special social and economical entities. This separation is a process that accompanies the implication of new players in the development, in particular in cultural tourism and the so-called management of cultural sites. As international cultural labels are given, such as the world heritage of UNESCO, local authorities must comply with specific norms, in terms of restoration and tourism management. Simultaneously, touring the Orient is now becoming an integrated industry which is heavily controlled by strong organization s, which are not only in the hands of individuals and private entrepreneurs, but also under the control of international private corporations and public and semi-public organizations. Gaining access to this status has become a prime concern for local communities and nations because of economic implications in terms of tourism. This normative international labeling system, and the technical and political struggle to comply with it, is perhaps the new type of operator that has emerged over the last few decade s, and that is representative of the evolution of the tourism industry in the second globalization, marking its difference with the first.

NOTES:

Palestine as a resort for tourists possesses unique attractions, religious, historical, climatic and archeological, which need to be enlarged upon here….By the quickest route, under normal conditions, Palestine is reached from London in six to seven days and from Cairo in fifteen hours. The best season to visit Palestine is from January to June. Luke, Harry an d Keith-Roach, (eds.) 1930, The Handbook of Palestine and Transjordan, London: MacMillian and Co, Limited.

2

  In using the expression « First globalization », I refer here to a discussion I had in Amman in June 2003 with historian Henry Laurens specialized in the Middle East, and quote him. Laurens ref ers to various technological events which occurred in the mid XIXth century and ended with Word War 1. He also refers to specific writings, which express this idea of the world becoming more accessible because of the improvement of transportation and communication, such as Jules Vernes (Around the World in 80 days). These more than century old technological events -and their economic and social impact -is one of the features of what is called the first globalization It was mentionned in the Baedecker Tourist guide that in 1893 there were in Beyrouth two large hotels : L'Hotel de l'Orient ( called Locanda Bassoul) and l'Hotel de Bellevue (called Locanda Andrea) and five hotels of lower category : Hotel d'Europe, Hotel d'Angleterre, Hotel de Paris, Hotel de l'Univers and Hotel Allemand. in the XIXth century. It developed through both progress made in philology and archeology. Already, Pierre Belon, apothecary of the Cardinal de Tournon, published in 1553 a book on "plusieurs singularité et choses mémorables trouvées en Grèse et en Orient " . But it was later, through the work made by the Royal Society of London that scientific knowledge in the west made significant progress. The reports by English travelers of the eighteenth century ( Henry Maundrell, Thomas Shaw, and Richard Pococke). contain remarkable information on the language, geography and architecture of Palestine The event that would be the landmark was the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon, crowned by the philology work of Champollion, and marking the last step of the decipherment of hieroglyphs. The West was shaken by the work of Bopp and Burnouf on the Sanskrit language, and then by Edgar Quinet who announced a second Renaissance: an Oriental Renaissance. "Renaissance orientale" (See the article by François Laplanche, A travers les récits de voyage en Terre Sainte (XVIe-XIXe s.): Le dévot, le curieux et le savant, Centre de Recherche Français de Jerusalem). This interest for the Orient was marked by the creation in situ of various specialized institutes and, in Germany, by the creation of many research seminars in universities. Palestine et Syrie, Routes principales à travers la Mésopotamie et la Babylonie, l'île de Chypre. Leiptzig. -Berchet, Jean-Claude. 1985. "Introduction." pp. 3-22, in Le voyage en Orient. Anthologie des voyageurs français dans le Levant au XIXème siècle. Robert Laffont. -Borgi, Georges. 1995. "Hotels et Hoteliers de Beyrouth au XIXème siècle." pp. 57-85, in Kalimat Al-Balamand. No.2. Université de Balamand. Gentrification and the Politics of Power, Capital and Culture in an Emergi ng Jordanian Heritage Industry." Traditional Dwelling and Settlement Review, Volume X, Number 11, pp. 33-45. -De Pardieu. 1851. Excursion en Orient. Paris -Durbin, John. 1854. Observation in the East. Vol. II. New York. -Featherstone, Mike. 1990. "Perspectives on consumer culture." Sociology, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 5-22 -Featherstone, Mike. 1996. Global Culture, Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity . London: Sage -Feiffer M. 1985. Going Places: The ways of the Tourist from the Imperial Rome to the Present Days. London: Macmillan -Giddens, Anthony. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press in association with Basis Blackwell, Oxford, and Stanford University Press, Stanford. -Gras, Alain. 1993. Grandeur et Dépendance. Sociologie des macro-systèmes techniques. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France -Guys, H. 1847. Relation d'un séjour de plusieurs années à Beyrouth et dans le Liban , E.I., Paris : Taylor et Reglems -Kark, Ruth. 2001. "From Pilgrimage to Budding Tourism: the role of Thomas Cook in the rediscovery of the Holy Land in the nineteen century." Pp. 155 -174, in Searight, Sarah and Wagstaff Malcom (eds.), Travellers in the Levant: Voyagers and Visionaries. Durham: Astene. -Khoury, Elias. 1999. "L'évolution des complexes touristiques balnéaires et de montagne au Mont Liban", Doctorate thesis in geography, under the supervision of professors Sarkis T abar et Michael Davie, Université Libanaise et Université François-Rabelais, Tours. -Lanfant, Marie-Françoise. 1995. "International Tourism, Internationalisation and the Challenge to Identity." Pp. 24-43, in Lanfant. M-F, Allock, J.B, Bruner, E. M. (eds.), Internatinal Tourism, Identity and Change: Sage Studies in International Sociology, Vol. 47, London -Laplanche, François. 2000. "A travers les récits de voyage en Terre Sainte (XVIe -XIXe): Le dévot, le curieux, le savant." in Bulletin du centre CNRS de Jerusalem. -Monmarché Marcel (ed), 1932. Syrie -Palestine -Iraq -Transjordanie, Les Guides Bleus, Librairie Hachette. -Harry Luke and Roach Keith (eds.), 1930. The Handbook of Palestine and Transjordan, London: MacMillian and Co, Limited. -MacCannel D. 1989. The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Shoeken Book. -Opperman, Martin. 1993. "Tourism space in developing countries." Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 20, pp. 535-556. -Robinson, Mike. 2001. "Tourism Encounters: Inter-and Intra-Cultural Conflicts and the World's Largest Industry." Pp.34-67, in Al-Sayyad, Nezar. (ed.), Consuming Tradition, Manufacturing Heritage: Global Norms and Urban Forms in the Age of Tourism . New York: Routledge. -Searight Sarah. 1979. The British in the Middle East. London and The Hague: East-West Publications. -Shoup, John. 1985. "The Impact of Tourism on the Bedouin of Petra." The Middle East Journal, Volume 39, No. 2, pp: 277-291 -The Reverent Jabez Burns. 1870. Help-Book for Travelers to the East: including Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Greece and Italy. Thomas Cook

	Repères bibliographique
	-Baedeker, Karl. 1912.

-Britton S., 1991. "Tourism, capital, and

place: towards a critical geography of tourism." Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol. 9, pp. 451-478. -Christopher, Lumby. 1934. Cook's traveler's Handbook to Palestine, Syria and Iraq. London: Simpkin Marshall Ltd.

-Daher, Rami. 1999. "

Voir Kark. Ruth., 1990, Jaffa -A City in Evolution, 1799-1917 , Jerusalem : Yad Izhak Benzvi

In Beirut, most of the khans were demolished either because of the redevelopment of the city or by the war. This is not the case in Damascus or Aleppo where many of these buildings remain.

In his doctoral thesis, Elias Khoury, drew up a map of Beirut in which he identified 31 khans. In this period one can distinguishes two types of khans: the khans for trading composed of two storey and the khan for travelers.

"Nous regagnâmes le port, sur lequel nous rencontrâmes le signore Battista, propriétaire de l'Hôtel de l'Europe", wrote Ch De Pardieu while traveling to Beirut,(De Pardieu , Ch, 1851 : 325)

Built by Nicolas Bassoul, it contained 20 rooms. The same family managed the hotel for a century until it was damaged during the war in 1976, and finally demolished in 1995. This hotel was the only one in Beyrouth to have gone through a century of welcoming travelers, tourists and VIPs who visited Lebanon.( Khoury, 1999)

After World War Two tourism accommodation standards took a new step and the use of the khan as a place for tourists declined. The Baedecker guide of 191 2 mentions the presence of three lodging possibilities: the western hotels, the convents and hospices, and the khans….two decades later, the two latter possibilities are not mentioned.

In 1923, the names of the most important hotels of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon were listed in the Guide de la Société de Villegiature au Liban, which was published in Cairo.

It was later published again from 1873 to 1882 in 3 volumes of 800 pages, the last volume being entirely dedicated to Syria and Palestine. Being the work of an "erudite", the Doctor Emile Isambert, the Joanne guide was a real encyclopedia of the Orient where one can find all practical information dealing with hotels, transportation, local guides (called dragoman), including average daily expenses : 40 to 50 francs. The guide declares the travel "open to any budget" for those willing to travel deck class during the warm season that is to travel 4 th class.

The formula «Travel in the Orient » seems to have appeared in 1772 through the French translation of the book of R. Pococke A Description of the East (London 1743-1745).

The first publications of the Cook's Help book covered a larger geographical area (Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, Greece and Italy). In the later publication, specific volumes were dedicated to each of these countries.

By comparison, French Roman Catholics organized thirty-five caravans between 1853 and 1873 -which carried only 618 pilgrimsstill vastly outnumbered, of course, by Eastern pilgrims f rom Russia, the Balkans and the Near East. His importance is attested to by the fact Cook brought four-fifths of all British and American tourists who visited the country between 1881 and 1883.

Quote the story of the Nazzal family who owned the Amman based Philadelphia Hotel and who organized the excursion from there with Thomas Cook.

As it was described by the General Manager of Movenpick in Wadi Musa who organized the accommodation package, and would access the site by Concorde (when still flying) and having no clue of what the rest of the country looks like (except the road between nearby Aqaba airport and Wadi Musa)

Marga d'Andurain manager of the « Hotel de la Reine Zénobie » from

to 1932 (see Marie -Cecile de Taillac, La comtessede Palmyre, Belfond, 1994).