Travel Writing the man behind Lonely Planet we take the 960 s. Hippie trail from Europe to Katmandu and we relive the birth of Euro Disney So strap in sit back and enjoy holidays in foreign parts used to be something that only the very rich could afford to do but after the end of the 2nd World War All that began to change nowadays it's not unusual to see flights across continents advertised for just a few dollars as the ultra low cost airlines fight to get bums on seats but the 1st ever low cost flights across the Atlantic took place as long ago as the 1950 s. Mike luncheon has been speaking to 2 people who remember a revolutionary Icelandic airline. The air terminal was really was the really just like a shack yet the happiness in the Glee and the bars and I think probably as a child I remember such pride my father coming out one day on the tarmac and seeing 4 big aircraft that said laughter Icelandic and seeing people from all over the world inside this little tiny terminal. That's the Helgason her father was signatory Helgason the man who launched the world's 1st ever low cost flights from Europe to the USA and this is hands either a loft ladies head of sales or marketing in the one $960.00 s. We were of course called the grandmothers all over the years in the old days the grandmothers of low grandmothers because we were the 1st carrier offering low fares we cause lower but we're all were slower but lower that was us that was below the logo Wasn't it by how much we slashing the fares mirror slashing affairs about 3035 percent in the 1950 s. Air travel across the Atlantic Ocean was dominated by major carriers such as America's Pan-Am b o a c from the u.k. And others they were all members of the International Air Transport Association I arter which regulated. Routes and more importantly the fares loft later was a small national airline in Iceland when it does Father Sigurd or join the board in 1053 some of its directors were trying to move the company out of the airline business altogether but he had other ideas there were on the board the people who really wanted to go into the oil distribution and buy ships. And it was a revolution basically on the on the board on the sewer and the other guys they succeeded and it was decided to continue on the North Atlantic and to learn that there were made Conway contract between the us government and the Icelandic government for us to fly to New York outside that area we started flying being outside I Azza meant that the Icelandic firm could set its own fares up to 30 percent lower than its rivals and it could use smaller turboprop planes rather than Jets packing the passengers in with a stopover in Reykjavik Iceland the 1st low cost flight from Europe into j.f.k. New York was launched in 1955 in those years in the fifty's there was only one for one aircraft one aircraft of the country was yelling so you actually started the 1st route from j.f.k. To Europe as a cheap airline with one plane we don't use the word cheap. Low cost low cost you started with $1.00 plane basically yes 3 times a week it was in the getting a loan of course there was a really long until we had 3 flights a day you're obviously a little girl at the time can you remember the 1st time you travelled on the on the new route Yes I mean I remember several occasions the trip took from regular probably almost 14 hours but we as kids they had a sleeping compartment you could sleep sort of upstairs in the upper area where you like in it at today's aircraft you put your hand baggage but we could sleep in those compartments so it's quite it was quite a trip what was. It must be wrong board like it was quite packed with well they were quite packed I mean there's $189.00 seats and there was no 1st class no business class so all the seats were the same but they were serviced by very good flight attendants and there was a you know there was a basically a 3 course meal served with wine and coffee and cognac for dessert so it was quite unlike low cost air carriers today. In the early 1960 s. Latest low cost flights began attracting more attention and more customers hands was running the sales department in the New York office you know swish building on the City's 5th Avenue I think there were 5 people in reservation we went up to 100 people in all time and we were taking something like 10000 phone calls or they would visit her father at that same 5th Avenue office there was no computers this was all telephones and this was all done by hand and I think I can describe it as I'd never seen so many shoe boxes in a room in my life so to speak they weren't shoe boxes but they looked like it because those were the reservation carts for all the different flight it was amazing to see business was very good there tapped into a generation of young Americans eager to explore the world but for whom the idea of transatlantic air travel had been a distant dream among those early passengers was a young Bill Clinton the Icelandic company also came up with other ideas to attract the cash strapped youngsters so he was selling at the time slot for Iceland with so it was intriguing for people we sold to for $12.50 another thing that we started doing which was quite Do you want to cut the time it was flying now pay later plan fly now pay later how did that work nobody wanted to do this and on no the bigger lines I mean. It was just cast or to go didn't even apply but we took a chance and we had great success with cheap flights cheap hotels will stop overs payments by instalments pulled in the young American passengers it wasn't long before last later was nicknamed the hippie Express. I remember you know night sort of in the summer time at j.f.k. There were literally you know hundreds and hundreds of people there and you know a lot of hippies people with long hair and and then we got on board and in those days smoking was allowed on the aircraft and at one point I remember thinking Well these people you know there are lots of laughter and then I asked my mother what was that smell that smell it in quite smell like a regular cigarette it wasn't unusual for the hippies it just took up the guitar some started playing and it was like a concert across the Atlantic. At its peak in the mid 1960 s. Love later was carrying more than 2 percent of all transatlantic air passengers a massive amount for such a tiny company it also helped open up Iceland a sparsely populated Well it's a really unknown country to tourists from the u.s. And beyond but competition with the larger airlines was becoming more cutthroat while they were lowering their own fares making all kinds of gimmicks in competition with us but we tried to hold it hold on both the things really became difficult and then in 1973 turmoil in the Middle East provoked a sharp hike in world oil prices that hit the airline industry particularly hard costs soared profits dropped old aircraft and equipment had to be replaced a decision was taken to merge love later with the Icelandic company that render mystic flights creating the company Iceland. That still exists today looking at the state of low cost airline industry now what do you think about it but I think this has gone a little bit overboard when you have to basically pay for all water for the hand thank you so you bring on board the cut into list service this was the key with Iceland there when we had that there will this we maintain the service what would your dad I think of the what you think he would think of the industry nowadays he always warned against rapid expansion. So that's probably what he would be saying is saying is it viable to expand so rapidly I think it's all gone crazy. That was hands in that it doesn't and head to Helgason remembering love the late Icelandic they were talking about luncheon and you can see a quaint little advertisement for the airline as it appeared on New York's 5th Avenue in the 1950 s. On our website search for b.b.c. With us the explosion in travel around the world over the last 60 years hasn't just been down to the increasing availability of cheap air travel there is also been something of a changed mindset about the benefits of travel the idea of broadening the mind or indeed expanding the consciousness back in the 1960 s. And seventy's for example there was something called the hippie trail which took travelers by bus from Western Europe to Asia Simon Watts has been speaking to one former hippie. In 1974 Richard Gregory set out on the journey of a lifetime which is even immortalized in song. To me. I was 18 years old I was looking for adventure I saw an ad in what we call the underground press and it said bus that goes to Lebanon Afghanistan Kashmir and the pole the only thing that I knew about these countries were they were the world's major producers of hasheesh which back in those. Was quite enthusiastic for. The 3. Richard caught the bus to Shangri-La are from Totteridge and Whetstone underground station in North London he gave up his job in a brewery and paid $89.00 pounds for a one way ticket that and $200.00 pounds spending money would be enough for 4 months on the hippy trail George Oughton was the bus driver and he was a former wrestler as I understand it I think he was from Yorkshire up north somewhere I mean quite a character and he'd done it before and he continued to do it afterwards for a while and his assistant was a young Indian guy about my age called Ram He was also a wrestler and what kind of people were on board we had a very varied group of people they certainly were hippies and there was a couple of young English capos a young Welsh go it was a. Out Indian gentleman who has returned home an American go away with his young daughter she is about 9 years old wow Japanese right lovely girl and there were people on business frankly you know sending back local crafts and carpets and knick knacks and stuff. The hippie trail had started in the 1960 s. When westerners became increasingly interested in Indian culture in mysticism as well as cheaper cease the Beatles were pioneers famously visiting Northern India by plane in 1968 for hippies on more of a budget on trip and set up overland services which its past made its way as fast as it could through Europe and the Middle East before reaching the prime high she's growing area of Afghanistan it was a pretty mild place I mean it has quite harsh climate is all mountains and desert very little traffic lots of don't tease lots of camels but the people were fabulous one of my favorite memories was walking down the street in Herat some people invited me into this child shop where they serve take. Over about 30 Afghans a sitting round the outside wall drinking tea sitting crosslegged there were some musicians with stringed instruments in the meadow and people rather Asaad had hand drums and then suddenly the music started I was dragged into this I don't think any of them spoke English it was all done with gestures and saw and I joined in as best I could but it was terribly enjoyable. And in Kabul there was an area where all the hippies went which was called Chicken Street where they had cheap hotels crafts shops those in my element in the hotel I stayed. It was called the Peace Hotel was all kind it up in psychedelic colors and next door so that was Cities hotel which was very well known good food and rice pudding it said on the sign and I had chest sets for people to apply including him quite a large chess set in the guard nothing the pieces about trees for a foot tall they were kind of networking centers because there were no travel guys back then there's no internet so you'd meet up and discuss the next town on a route with someone who's heading the other why. In India the hippy invasion the beach Bollywood where the hit film of the time was Harry Rama Hari Krishna. Richard remembers that as he went around the Taj Mahal another tourist attractions children would rush up to this hippie and sing it's hit some damn. Thing came one of the highlights of the trip did a diversion up to Kashmir sure and I go where I stayed on a small house by on the lake and I had my 19th birthday there which was probably the most memorable birth I have ever had I went up to the Shalamar gardens very nice got involved in an imprint of cricket with some locals came back down the hill and there were these walnut trees everywhere along the side of the like and underneath them camp is laid out I use a visual memory that sticks with me but I never have worked out why they do that I mean maybe to curing the carpets maybe that catching a falling well nuts are really down there anyway any evening the owner of the house by his name is Mohammed lovely guy he actually sent me a postcard the next year back to London he sent me off with his sons down into town . I was given Dana and Sharon all these spectacular local comm pits and I knew I couldn't buy one I was on my way to Katmandu and I didn't have any money but I'm very proud and wanted to show me what I did and we sat there and I had taken a smoke as we did just about everywhere a very memorable. Minute. The end of the lawn on the hippy trail was a place in Katmandu cool freak street is lined with restaurants that sold things for people with the munchies and I had a glorious time in Katmandu I had never been so fit in my life because you're walking in the mountains in the fresh air beautiful city made of largely of wood. Sadly I then ran out of money I had one goal it was Katmandu or bust and I hadn't really given too much thought what I was going to do after that and that's really where my adventure began because travelling 6000 miles on a bus with someone who's been before and a bunch of other people supporting you is one thing coming back on your own on public transport is something else altogether everywhere I went much to my surprise in a local people would always help me it be certain somewhere not knowing what to do next or where how to get a connection and someone would come out and you know look after me I got hospitality and generosity from some of the poorest people on earth and I was just the scruffy English teenager. Was there ever a moment when you felt alone or it felt dangerous I mean I think I was born lucky I mean I didn't have any real trouble I had some great escapes but I did know people who'd been casualties out there because it was pretty tough and it was pretty risque I mean I never felt threatened anywhere I went even sitting on an Afghani pass next to some guy with his rifle when it but people did get sick which was no laughing matter some people got put in jail which is even less funny. Urbanised people survived and made it back home and what doesn't kill you makes us stronger. Than any. Richard Gregory is now a sign painter and musician he was talking to Simon Watts and he's allowed us to put a wonderful picture of him relaxing in Kabul in 1904 on our website search for b.b.c. With us the habitrail as experienced by Richard sadly came to an end in 1909 when the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan effectively closed off the land route to India so what have we learned so far that cheap airfares and the allure of the exotic have changed the travel industry beyond all recognition since $950.00 s. Joining me now is Simon Calder travel editor for The Independent newspaper and some to put what we've heard into some sort of historical perspective what was the scale of global tourism before the 1950 s. Almost immeasurably low and the vast majority of tourists who were lucky enough to have regular vacations would take those at home the idea of going abroad certainly growing up in post-war Europe was fairly preposterous and indeed it was it was only about $950.00 that the very 1st so-called package holidays began they were started up by a Russian emigre who was living in London and managed to get around the very stringent airline rules by chartering in a flight and then selling it only to teachers and students he was able to put together foreign trips to a campsite on the island of Corsica of the French mainland and that really was the birth of Mediterranean tourism and similar stories happening around the world but of course the fantastic account of how a small Icelandic care airline was at the forefront of the low cost revolution is just marvelous So now given the perspective that we have looking back over the last of 5060 years how much. Has changed how important was as you say things like that Icelandic airline I think the hippie trail the 960 s. Well let's start with aviation if we may and this is a case of puce are stronger and the more things change the more they stay the same the ability of you or I or anyone listening to this to fly long haul has been transformed by the economics of low cost aviation even though of course fuel is much more expensive than it was relatively and governments like to tax aviation generally if you're lucky enough to be employed on the national minimum wage in a country like the u.k. For example it would take about 2 weeks to earn enough to fly to Australia and back so it's been transformed but would you believe there's another Nordic airline No we didn't which this summer is trying to reinvent low cost flying across the Atlantic by starting long haul flights using traditionally short haul aircraft the Boeing 737 and bringing down the cost of transatlantic flying still further Meanwhile across the other side of the world looking East of course in the olden days so fantastic to hear Richard Gregory story people like him were traveling by bus to Katmandu because it would be prosperous to try to fly but of course now it's all changed and actually if you were able to find your way through the very complicated borders in Turkey Iran Central Asia and so on and get yourself somehow to Katmandu it would cost an awful lot more than a cheap flight is tourism good for everybody I mean my broaden the mind a bit for rich Westerners and those newly rich in other parts of the world but does it represent a form of modern economic colonialism in the destination countries which have come to depend on tourism it shouldn't when it's done properly and in a thoughtful way it should be a win win and I don't actually know of any. Other economic mechanism that is he's better at transferring wealth from rich countries in the West to developing countries it's absolutely marvelous it's a very labor intensive industry of course if you have got all inclusive resorts where there's big barriers between the local people and the tourists I don't think that works well for people and actually the more of a problem I think is over tourism if you go to Barcelona for example which back in the 1970 s. Nobody went on vacation to today the local people are talking about tourism as a form of terrorism because they are just feel complete the overwhelmed by the number of people who are traveling there but in general I can't think of many human activities that are more benign then tourism and looking back over the last half century or so is it as if humankind has got the bug once those with enough wealth have tasted travel they generally can't get enough of it 970 s. Oil shocks wars global instability it doesn't matter Oh exactly and there is a huge I think economists would say in the last to City Yes people love traveling they love the freedom to go and see the world wonders to meet people with very different backgrounds and see how much actually we have in common with each other Simon Calder of the independent Many thanks and Simon is staying with us for the next half hour as we explore more aspects of tourism and travel history in just a moment. This is the b.b.c. World Service where the art center is heading north well could see Reykjavik the world's most know the capital the 24 hour city with the summer days just so long the some daily sets it's a pretty fantastic time to be alive but you can't really huge sense of seasons changing in Iceland I make a baby every month we take the Arts our own 2 to a different city to meet some of the world's most creative people this time I'll be joined live on stage by the mastermind behind many of the country's most internationally high profile crimes and I interrogate bestselling author yourself to go down the. Criminals really they're not very good a crime. That should be doing something else for sure I'll be laughing at local comedian Arielle John and we've got music from feminist rap collective guilt is a break you. Join Mickey Beatty for the Arts our own sewer at b.b.c. World Service dot com slash arts are coming up in part 2 of the history our tourism special the tension caused by a luxury resort on the Red Sea The important thing was not getting the parties together but keeping them apart and we put the Egyptians in one room the Israelis in another room and how Disney came to Europe was a rainy miserable December day and I kept thinking oh my God we're going to build a theme park and the weather's can be like this 1st a new summery b.b.c. News with an make you world leaders have paid tribute to the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at a ceremony in the European Parliament in Strasbourg his one time protege think of America all said he'd helped to lay the fuse people heard about German unification and had influenced an entire generation of Europeans Mr Powell's coffin is being taken down the Rhine by boat to show by a cathedral in Germany where he will be buried. Ukraine says Russian security services were involved in the cyber attack on the country air earlier this week Kiev said data obtained from international antivirus companies indicated that the operation was carried out by the same hackers who targeted Ukraine last year Moscow has denied involvement. Thousands of people calling for greater democracy in Hong Kong have marched through the city as the former colony marks 20 years since its return to Chinese rule the annual protest to place amid tight security for the visit of President Xi Jinping who warned that the authority of Beijing should not be challenge to Pope Francis has decided not to renew the mandate of the man who oversees one of the most powerful offices in the Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Gary Hart more or who heads the Vatican department responsible for church doctrine has clashed with several of the pope's liberal reforms the former American President Barack Obama has warned against divisive politics based on race and religion speaking in the Indonesian capital Jakarta he said some countries had adopted an aggressive kind of nationalism events are taking place in Canada to mark the 150th anniversary of its Confederation half a 1000000 people are expected to attend celebrations in Ottawa and the prominent British film critic and journalist Barry Norman has died at the age of 83 Barry Norman presented the B.B.C.'s film program from the 1970 s. To the late ninety's b.b.c. News. Welcome back to part 2 of the history hour with Max Pearson this week looking at the history of modern tourism Still to come how a resort on the Red Sea nearly scuppered the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and how Disneyland came to Europe but before that how one couple's wonderlust evolved into the most significant travel writing publishing house on the planet this Lonely Planet back in the days of the hippie trail that we heard about earlier people had to ask fellow travelers who they met along the way about the places Up ahead what to expect where to stay what to see and so on that is until 1973 and the launch of the 1st guy book in the Lonely Planet series for Hannah Hyder has been speaking to Tony Wheeler who along with his wife found it lonely planet. Tony and Maureen really when you were in their early twenty's when on July the 4th 1972 they decided to head off on the holiday of a lifetime. Travelling from London to Sydney Australia via Asia Tony really has never lost his passion for travel and I caught up with him on the road in Iran we bought an old car we drove it from London to Michigan Iran where I am right now and on into Afghanistan and we sold in Kabul in Afghanistan for a small profit then we carried on by every other means of travel you could mention and so we got down to Bali in Indonesia or and hitched a ride on a yacht and ended up in Australia and travelled around Sydney and then while we were living in Sydney that year in $73.00 so many people asked us What did you do how did you do whatever it cost that we wrote a book about it and that book was the 1st Lonely Planet guide book and what was in the 1st what the 1st book entailed the 1st book was all of Asia in 96 pages written at the Willis kitchen table in Sydney that 1st Lonely Planet guide book across Asia on the cheap was well reviewed and sold 1500 copies in a week the title. Series was also a happy accident we done the 1st book it was more or less finished and ready to go to the printer and we didn't have a name for the publishing house yet and we were just pops in a bit too much red wine that night but we were talking about a possible name for the business and we'd been to see the rock n roll band on the road films Madame's an Englishman Joe Cocker and me on Russell. And there was a solvent that movie and that record and there was a line and it's about I thought Lonely Planet alarms novel and so it was a mistake it's been a mistake all these years a very successful mistake there was a nice name and I still like the name a lot by sharing their own approach to low cost travel the we listened found a gap in the market soon the impact on a 2nd pick Southeast Asia on a shoestring this time it was better planned you know we set out on day one thinking we are going to do this trip and we will write a guidebook at the end of it and we said I was writing it for anybody in the world was the concept how to travel around with little or no money there was very much and the sort of organization that we developed for the book pretty early on as they truly were since you know I start off by introducing the price and telling you what things you want to see and where you're going to stay and where you're going to eat and what you're going to do at night and how you get Iran's and that that's basic concept of the information is still there today it was a clear format an op close local knowledge that made the Lonely Planet guides on usual they provided their readers with maps insider tips highlights as well as cultural insights detailed information right down to local bus routes and they encouraged people to get in touch if anything was wrong or out of date almost from the start there was that sort of social media thing. About it we told people in the very 1st book you know if you don't like something in this corrected and people did corrected people started sending us postcards almost immediately 981 so the publication of Lonely Planet's India guidebook for the 1st time there was several writers involved in the one book Tony and Maureen headed off with 2 other writers with an advance of a $1000.00 for expenses I always will say that my favorite book in the whole non-parent list was India because India when we did it was a bigger project than we've ever done because we were some very small business we had less than 10 people and suddenly we were doing a book that required 3 people and a lot of research so it was really making a big investment for a small business and yet it was an investment that paid off you know India's a big can often difficult country and to try and explain all that you know it was it was a great thrill doing and the series was not without controversy in 2000 there were calls to boycott travel to Milan Mar or Burma because of human rights concerns Lonely Planet came under intense criticism the Foreign Office confirmed today that James mordantly the young human rights activist banged up by the military regime in Burma will be set free on Friday for all the delight of his family and friends fellow pro-democracy campaigners a live it with one of this country's most popular travel guides just as most of these being released Lonely Planet guys are helping tourists to visit the place we're joined by Tony will who's the founder of The Lonely Planet guide I want also r.c.t. You set yourself above saying search is what's best for Burma so I don't do that at all wait when they. Shouldn't go that's her that's perfectly have a right to say that she wanted democratic elections and I wish and I wish she was in power unfortunately for that and what authority you say. What Burma book did advanced age causes huge amount of trouble and you know the funny thing was I feel sort of justified now because of all sorts of reasons but one of the people who sort. We we sort of thought we were supporting We had this in the guest house and we sort of thought well if you're not covering things like that then this guy was a little guest house is not getting the the business he deserves and that was one of the reasons why we did it and he's now the minister of tourism and there's the ongoing criticism that cheap travel does little good for the local economy if tourists are spending less the locals are getting less no I disagree you can stay an expensive hotel and the foreign money goes straight back overseas you stay in some little guest house and the money goes straight in some local person's pocket so the fact you're spending less money doesn't mean that your money is less directed since its inception Lonely Planet has printed more than 120000000 books in 11 languages so what does Tony think its legacy is it operates not a different way as I really like the way people you know use them and go to places they wouldn't have gone to otherwise are member of the me he ran and ran saying this an American journalist and was an advisor to Bill Clinton things now remember him saying once in a magazine article that if you wanted to know about Iran you're much better going to the Lonely Planet guide book than going to a CIA briefing and I thought that's great you know CIA has many millions and we've sent a couple of intrepid writers to Iran and find out more stuff than they did Tony Wheeler who has so far visited just 170 countries he sold the Lonely Planet series in 2011 and he was speaking too for how to hide. The Lonely Planet Travel Guides are aimed mainly at the scruffy and of the market some people though do like a bit of luxury a big hotel with all the trimmings and in the 1980 s. a Dispute over just such a hotel and resort at Taba on the Sinai Peninsula threatened to undermine the peace which had been so carefully forged between Israel and Egypt it took 10 years for Israel to agree to return Taba to Egypt Louisa Dago has been speaking to the former American judge Abraham's affair who helped to bring the Taba dispute to a conclusion the 1st meeting was a catastrophe if I hadn't separated them within the 1st hour they would have been screaming at each other and would have destroyed my chances of moving ahead for the next year it was $985.00 judge Abraham sofa's 1st try it mediating an agreement in a part of the world known for some of the most intractable disagreements on earth this one was a very small spit of beach 750 yards long called top and the top most corner of the Sinai Peninsula and the southernmost tip if Israel the Egyptians September was part of Sinai and then Israel disagreed it's right on the Red Sea really a very beautiful spot it had been developed after the 67 War 2 main facilities 5 star hotel called the Sonesta and then going south essentially and nude beach swinging kind of environment dancing on the beaches. But you really felt was this is Mickey Mouse by the Egyptians we've given them back all of Sinai they've got hundreds of miles of beach and we've got 150 meters of whatever it was and why are they making such a fuss if they really want to have peace with us and there was a sense of bitterness in. Egypt and Israel had signed their historic peace to. In 1979 and under the Camp David Accords Egypt recognized Israel in return for Israel handing back the Sinai Peninsula which had a captured in the 19676 Day War The Israelis kept their promise and 3 years later withdrew from all of Sinai except for Taba and in the years that followed this tiny enclave on the Israeli border had become a running saw in the peace between these 2 old adverse threes there were lots of anti-Semitic articles and cartoons in the Egyptian press at the time the Egyptians had promised they would improve trade relations and tourism and it was all one way they were allowing is really tourists into Egypt but not allowing Egyptian tourists into Israel and they were very frustrated that there had been 6 years that the issue had not moved anywhere for. The Americans had brokered by Egypt an Israeli peace deal and in 1905 judge Abraham sofa was approached by the then u.s. Secretary of State George Shultz and asked if he could help it was not a problem I was aware of it all at the time the peace treaty was such a great achievement you know I thought that the treating had set the borders and that is right withdrawing from Santa but it turned out that it had been struck and my job was to move it. To. The Israelis built there from there that was just north of the hotel addictions put up their post just to the south and in between 6 the hotel run by the Israelis lusted after by the Egyptians to the Israel is it's a matter of simple economics to have it as a great draw for tourists for the Egyptians it's a matter of principle. By the 1980 s. What had been a small dusty bit of death as on the edge of the Red Sea when Israel captured it had become one of the country's. Popular result there was an airport at the nearby Israeli town of a lot of great diving in the red sea sand sun and these 2 developments one run by the he me an ex journalist Raffi Nelson the other by Israeli property magnate Eli papa shot a big contrast between the 2 of them roughly Nelson got things going with Hudson stuff not a lot of capital expenditures papa shadow who is a very interesting character also very successful businessman got all the licenses permits and everything that he needed to actually build a very substantial and beautiful hotel the thought was I suppose that it was a contested area and if it were necessary to leave ever it would be something they could negotiate about but publish utter he had invested millions in this hotel hadn't he wasn't he worried I'm sure he worried but he was a risk taker the relatively conservative members of the Israeli government they did not want it to happen and the mayor of a lot said it's not going to happen for 100 years of whatever publish Otto's said no way and named a price that was staggeringly high for the hotel and something else that you found out during these negotiations was that the formidable Israeli politician and soldier the late Ariel Sharon he'd take a big part in capturing the Sinai Peninsula her 967 after the wars have on have had these pillars all posts marking the border around Taba moved 70 this was the border that had been set decades earlier by the by the British what happened there was a feeling on Sharon's part that the British had been deliberately unfair in determining the border and the border where the pillars were was not an advantage is border for Israel and then he essentially ordered his people after the . 67 war to knock down the border pillars it bobbed and the Egyptians said we're sure they knocked down a border pillar deliberately in the Israelis would tell me yes I was there said the General I was there and I saw him order that the pillars be knocked down so there was this sense among the Egyptians that Israelis were just being well for and there was a sense among the Israelis a says that the Egyptians had failed to keep their side of the agreement and not given the Israelis a proper meaningful peace. What was at stake at Taba wasn't just the beach huts in the Grand Hotel there were tourist rights mineral rights and the question of access across the border to both Israelis and Egyptians Abe Sofaer learned quickly from that disastrous 1st meeting the important thing was not getting the parties together but keeping them apart and we put the Egyptians in one room the Israelis in another room I learned very soon to listen and I was stunned at how much progress you can make sometimes by just keeping your mouth shut and sometimes they will tell you things that they regard as possible that you would not have thought of so with those rules in place I was able to gradually remove brackets over time until we had a compromise an international panel was set up to arbitrate on the Buddha eventually ruling in favor of Egypt and it was agreed that Egypt would buy Raffi Nelson's beach village and give Pepa show to a reported $40000000.00 for his hotel the final agreement handing Tabak to Egypt was signed in February 190910 years after the peace deal the Israelis left a month later today Taba is a popular resort with Egyptian and was with Israelis who could travel there visa free until a bomb attack on the hotel in 2000 and. Louise it algo not everyone wants to go to a remote beach or dive in the clear waters of the Red Sea Now instead somehow after the holiday boughs of a theme park the daddy of them all is won't Disney World in Florida it opened in 171 but you can now find Disney resorts in California Tokyo Shanghai Hong Kong and for the last 25 years there's been a Disney park just outside Paris from the outset though the Disney project in France had problems as Rebecca can be found out when she spoke to the former c.e.o. Of Euro Disney Bob Fitzpatrick. The. It's the spring of 1992 and the Magic Kingdom has come to Europe a man said. That there. Was no office here. That. Had lost the flamboyant opening ceremony and file works after years of turbulent relations between America and Disney and the Paris or Thorazine the French describing Disney as arrogant Disney regarding the French as impossible the man given the job of forcing the fairy tale into reality was Bob Fitzpatrick president of the California Institute for the arts but persuaded out of the cozy American cultural elite by the desperate Disney management. Paul had a reputation as a man who could get the job done and most importantly he was a fluent French speaker what intrigued me was the opportunity to do it less badly than somebody who didn't care about France and didn't care about Europe and other cultures and I also thought that the idea of popular entertainment really well done was going to be a really interesting challenge Bob was right it certainly was going to be a challenge and he'd only have a been to a fame part once. Before in his life northern fronts had been picked to maximize accessibility but it wasn't sunny Florida as he soon realized when he visited the site I came back to be dressed in a business suit and properly polished shoes and it was a rainy miserable December day so we start walking through the beat fields by now I've got mud up to my kneecaps and I kept thinking oh my God we're going to build theme park in the weather's going to be like this dismal weather wasn't going to be the only CIO Bob Fitzpatrick would experience a highly respected figure in the international scene joining Disney didn't go down well with his high brow friends especially the French ones he particularly remembers one prominent directors reaction the day I took the job I am a new called me and said new to them we can no longer be friends to news that you have betrayed us to fact Shona build creature that you can to create a cultural trend noble Was there any part of you that took that comments to heart and did question why you would taking on this job yes or certainly moments like that all I can say is that if France was able to succeed in living through the invasion of the Germans and the British in the previous century then surely their bible of a mouse has interests threaten that national intelligence feat Keith thank you. All became some of the opposition in the French arts community by hiring Oprah specialists to choreograph some of the attractions but he was also viewed with suspicion at times from the other side of the Atlantic make sure our problem is that Disney there were very few people that had lived abroad studied abroad or spoke a foreign language from the. Disney point of view they were always concerned that I was going to be too French or too European from the Europeans point of view I was too American Michael Eisner was the c.e.o. Of Disney at the time and came to explore the Magic Kingdom but he drew the line at some of Bob's Europe am inspired innovations I wanted to serve beer and wine which Disney never dies in the Magic Kingdom theme park in the United States in France particularly this the tradition of a glass of wine with a meal and I kept getting told no and fine I convinced Michael Eisner that we should go to Tivoli the theme park and then Mark and we flew up one night with Jane his wife and my wife Sylvie had a good meal in a restaurant and I kept saying Michael you have nothing to lose so as we're walking out he says Ok I'm still a little leery but you convinced me you can go ahead and sell beer and wine our restaurants we walk outside and from a bar next door guy comes out drunk and throws up on the mantel Blahnik shoes Jane Eisner and Michael turns to me and he said we are no longer serving beer and wine in the theme park subject closed. So was. When the park finally opened Bob was faced with a novice sobering challenge Francis strict employment laws and one of the most unionized workforces in the world Disney describes its employees as cost members they're required to pitch in my eyes with Disney Dreams fresh clean a minute and share for. You. Certainly in the United States serving somebody is not demeaning it is considered an honorable profession if you will the notion of service with a smile is not a French concept. Hundreds of workers walked out in the early years complaining of what they considered fair working conditions long I was strict dress codes and the fact that they were told to smile constantly. If. There were some that complained to which my answer was grumpy and complain on your own time not on company time I have 0 sympathy for that who speak to you to complain to grumble to mumble is occasionally a tribute to the French as a national Tartarus tick and I said Look you're actors this is not a play about the French Revolution or Joan of Arc This is an American play and if you want to be an American playwright and then you have to play that role you don't welcome people with a scowl. Fronts like much of Europe was in a recession in the early nineties attendance figures were around Hoff what had been expected and that was another problem European tourists spend differently to their American cousins in America will go to the theme park and they will get snacks throughout the afternoon of the morning Europeans for the most part in my experience they don't eat a lot between meals the Americans spend a lot on little gifts souvenirs Europeans at most would buy one thing and so the revenues in those 2 areas were noticeably less than had originally been predicted I read that actually Euro Disney was losing around a $1000000.00 a day at one point and I just wonder how did that feel for you let me tell you it's not an agreeable sensation but you have to understand the financial structure I was the c.e.o. Of Euro Disney but I was named and took my orders from the walk Disney company and so the ability to control certain expenditures wasn't as autonomous. But it might be in a totally freestone cooperation. And you know on the. Fitzpatrick left Euro Disney about a year after it opened the company continued to struggle coming close to bankruptcy before major reinvestment from Disney and the Saudi prince but the fortunes of the park improved it changed its name to Disneyland Paris and now boasts something of a fairy sale ending as one of France's most visited tourist attractions. And that was Rebecca can't be who spoke to Bob Fitzpatrick in 2030 before you go then Simon Calder travel editor of The Independent has been listening to those slices of tourism history with us in the end Simon does history tell us that humans have this yearning to travel but perhaps we like to take our own cultures with us so we get Disney In Paris Hilton hotels on the Red Sea and McDonald's in gentleman Square that's a really really nice way of putting it I think of course there will always be people who seek home comfort but ultimately when you are traveling it's the people that you're encounter along the way I mean we heard from Tony Wheeler there about his exploits and I would actually see that what the only planet for instance has done has been empowering people just the same as putting a nice recognizable Hilton Hotel on the Red Sea at Taba or indeed a place with their I say it for a 1000000 food in the shape of McDonald's in gentleman square so anything which makes people more comfortable and more prepared to go slightly beyond their comfort zone is a good thing we haven't mentioned the dreaded carbon footprint should we all be staying at home if we want to save the planet. I don't think that staying at home to necessarily a good idea simply because of the economic benefits that tourism confers upon the world I am most certainly in favor of travelling in as undermining a way as possible but look if you or I want an absolutely green vacation then we would stay within 50 kilometers of where we live we're not actually going to do that we do want things like Euro Disney but we can do it in a a more thoughtful way that's by flying on modern aircraft which are absolutely packed full of course if you can travel by rail that's probably going to be a good thing generally I think we're on a fairly reasonable path and I'm fairly confident we're going in the right direction Simon Calder of the independent Many thanks and that's over this edition of the history I will be straddling the globe in search of more key moments from the past again next week this is Max because Thanks for listening and travel safely This is the b.b.c. World Service and here's what's coming up in the next part of icy Rees the truth about cancer cells and it become abnormal you turn white and you are in end it is it's Tanzania to find out how simple screening procedures can change women's lives and it's as simple as that just within a day gift and it is the truth about cancer at b.b.c. World Service dot com slash discovery. You're listening to the b.b.c. World Service North America editor John Sopel reports from New York let's get to the B.B.C.'s Anna Holligan He's following the trial in The Hague our chief international correspondent Elise dissenters just returned from a lab it was over to Kinshasa now on the tarmac facing me online at b.b.c. World Service dot com This is the b.b.c. World Service the world's radio station. Welcome to assignment on the b.b.c. World Service with me into Presley many of us live in fear of a terror attack and one violent strikes often what emerges are incredible.