The Museum of Tourism
A project by all for all
Other articles by the author: The Museum of Tourism continued to grow in 2023
The Museum of Tourism
A project by all for all
What is the "Museum of Tourism"? It is a participatory and collaborative initiative that is not for profit and aims to disseminate the history of the world's leading economic sector. It has its origins in the enthusiasm of several tourism professionals in Spain, who decided to highlight the value of tourism through the display of objects from private collections, travel guides, photos, postcards, souvenirs, promotional brochures, catalogues, posters, textbooks... and everything related to the annals of tourism, all done in a completely altruistic way. It also pays tribute to those who laid the foundations of the tourism industry and thus raise awareness of the importance of maintaining the legacy that has survived to the present day.
This project began with a phrase that was a great reflection for the creator of the idea of the Museum, Alberto Bosque. Serge Patelli (a Belgian resident in Spain) once commented to Alberto that "half of Spanish culture was in the rubbish".
Those words were a starting point to start doing something for all the things that we all have in our homes related to the sector and that, effectively, could end up in a container.
From there, the work of recovering what could be of interest to be contemplated and thus prevent so many items related to tourism from being lost began. To help preserve the memory of the journeys that were once made and to enjoy them through the objects that we preserve today.
This initiative began to grow in Spain and soon spread to other countries, like an oil slick, becoming a global initiative for the enhancement of tourism through the dissemination of its history.
There are currently some 400 people in the world who collaborate in one way or another in this project, as well as dozens of institutions and companies that help The Museum of Tourism to grow as a global participatory project.
This collaboration comes in the form of donations of objects, but also through tasks such as research, design, maintenance of the website and social networks, organisation of activities, preparation of a "Room", etc. More than 50 institutions and companies are collaborating, among others: Tourism and Society Think Tank, NEOS Giornalisti di viaggio associati, Travel Quotidiano, ENIT, Archivio Alinari, Touring Club Italiano, Turespaña, Iberia, Paradores, YCP Creativos, TurismoTV Argentina), Nexotur, Expreso, etc.
The Museum shows the history of tourism in two different ways.
On the one hand, virtually, through its website, www.themuseumoftourism.org and its social networks. And, on the other hand, in its more conventional aspect, with physical venues.
The website centralises all the museum's information, which in turn moves through its social networks and physical rooms. There is information about what the Museum is, a blog with articles by our cooperators, who are the people in charge and collaborators, a window to the different rooms, and also sections that allow us to delve into the history of the sector, such as exhibitions, academic articles on the history of tourism, which lead us to discover different aspects of the past of the world of travel.
The Museum also has a series of social networks from which, on a daily basis, it disseminates information about what tourism was like in the past. Today, it has 17 language pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Linkedn and YouTube. This means that we can address more than 4 billion people, more than half of the world's population, in their native language.
The Museum of Tourism is not only virtual. It also has its physical locations. This is the novel concept offered by this initiative: it is not located in a single place, but spreads around the world through tourist establishments such as hotels, travel agencies, museums, universities, tourist information offices, etc.
Each room is dedicated to a theme, which is always related to the tourist history of the destination in which it is located.
In just six years of life, this initiative has managed to raise awareness of the importance of the sector and the relevance of the work of the people, companies and institutions that have laid the foundations of the tourism industry. An industry of enormous importance not only economically but also socially and culturally.
With 105 rooms in 17 countries, in 4 continents and the dissemination of the history of tourism in 17 languages in its social networks, we can boast that it has become the most widespread museum in the world, which makes it unique and with an original, altruistic and participatory concept, close to what is defined as "Museo diffuso". The future is even better. Because more and more people, companies and entities are joining in this objective of rescuing from oblivion those who laid the foundations of the tourism industry and honouring those who worked to form the marvellous network that is today this cross-cutting industry.
We invite everyone to follow the Museum of Tourism through its website and its social networks, to visit its "Salas" and to collaborate in the work in which so many of us have already become involved: to disseminate and honour the history of the tourism sector.
For further information: www.themuseumoftourism.org
Contact: Javier Mateos de Porras Gómez
Communications Director of The Museum of Tourism
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Tourism and Society Think Tank and do not commit the Organization, and should not be attributed to TSTT or its members.
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