Nature-based tourism in the 1920s and 1930s

This paper outlines the massive expansion in nature-based tourism in Australia in the 1920s and the 1930s. It is argued that an understanding of the historical development of nature-based tourism is greatly important for understanding the current situation and future trends. However, previous studies of the history of tourism have tended to neglect nature-based tourism in Australia, particularly in these two critical decades. The paper focuses on three elements: - bushwalking, accommodation and fauna based attractions. In the 1920s and 1930s these were major areas of development, laying down the foundations of these sectors. The paper also considers why nature-based tourism expanded in these decades. On the face of it this seems curious, for these were decades of great political unrest and economic hardship, hardly conditions which we would normally associate with increasing tourism or the love of nature.