Travel, Sea Air and (Geo)Tourism in Coastal Southern England

From the 17th century, European leisure travellers sought novel experiences, places and landscapes; they explored them within the context of contemporary, but temporally changing, social norms. Amongst travellers’ earliest motivations were reportage, curiosity and recuperation in managed landscapes. From the late 18th century, images in art galleries and then guidebooks directed leisure travellers into ‘wild’ places. Supporting and part-driving these developments were travel and antiquarian publications. That normalisation of ‘wild places’ exploration coincided with natural history’s popularisation. From the early 19th century, geosites were recognised, scientifically described, and popularised through a range of publications; this marked the beginning of geotourism. This can be contextualised within the rise in resort-based coastal tourism. These various themes are explored in relation to ‘Coastal Southern England’, an important tourism region from the early-18th century. By the Great War’s (1914–1918) close, its tourism patterns and nature, recognisable in present-day offerings, were established. Its development as a geotourism region can be conceptualised through the ‘travellers’ gaze’ and ‘adapted comfort zone’ models. Early geotourism literature and artistic representations, along with their creators’ biographies, could underpin modern geo-interpretation, of which some exemplars are given. General conclusions are drawn and future research suggested.