The Development of the Hotel and Tourism Industry in the Twentieth Century

This edited collection explores the pivotal role of the hotel industry in building Western Europe’s tourism economy during the 20th century. The book brings together ten contributions focused on the same period, 1900-1970, to offer comparative perspectives from across the region including Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain and Britain. Drawing on historical case studies, chapters illuminate the different factors linking hotels and the broader tourism system including interventions of the public authorities and the State, the importance of private involvement, commercial strategies, the medium-term development of private hotels, hotel entrepreneurship, and the impact of economic crises and wars. By placing differing national approaches taken to the growth of the hotel industry in comparison, the book aims to fill a gap in the historiography of European hospitality and shed light on the wider impact of hotels and tourism on economic development at both a national and regional level. It will be of interest to a range of scholars, including in economic and business history, tourism studies, the history of tourism management, and social history. Carlos Larrinaga is Reader in Economic History at the University of Granada, Andalusia, Spain. His research is in the history of tourism, railways in the 19th century and the service sector. He has undertaken research in several stays at Bordeaux-Montaigne University and at Aberystwyth University. He leads the project ‘Tourism in Spain in the first third of the 20th century: characteristics and evolution of an economic activity and a social practice in comparative perspective’, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain and European Regional Development Fund. Donatella Strangio is Full Professor of Economic History at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. She has been Director of Masters program in Business Management at Sapienza University of Rome. She is a researcher of the project ‘Tourism in Spain in the first third of the 20th century: characteristics and evolution of an economic activity and a social practice in comparative perspective’, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain and European Regional Development Fund.