Not long ago SAGA, a leading British travel specialist, bought its own cruise liner. In the trade, what SAGA is exploiting is known as sectorized tourism. Increasingly it is seen as the answer to the Western middle class's slow reaction against mass package tourism. Today every interest and activity seems to be represented by individually tailored holidays, from painting to cooking, bicycling, archaeology and interest in famous battlefields. Even safaris are becoming custom-made.
Hardship is a thing of the past.
No one can say where, or if, it will all end. But new attractions keep popping up. Poland has seen a six-fold rise in the number of foreign tourists since 1990. Ethiopia's Christian sites are back in the brochures after an absence of two decades. Imagine how tourist arrivals there might rise if the U.S. lifts its trade embargo.