A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leis ...

to a location that is close enough to make a round-trip within a day but does not require an overnight stay. The logistics and/or costs of spending nights on the road are worth avoiding. Such travel of using one location as a homebase is popular with budget and active travelers to avoid finding new lodging at each destination. A caregiver may take a day trip from their home to return to their children or pets.

History

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

times a destination for such a trip would be

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

(to a nearby

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

) or commercial (for example, to a seasonal fair). Later, in England, visits to stately homes by those who regarded themselves

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Co ...

became frequent, and it was the tradition to reward the butler or housekeeper with a tip (gratuity) for providing access to their employer's home. As such homes were meant for show, it is unlikely that the owning family would object, provided they were not in residence at the time. The arrival of the railway excursion, often using Day Tripper tickets, in the mid 19th century saw the blossoming of a distinctive day-tripper industry. Trippers also travelled in their thousands by paddlesteamer or steamship to the many

pier Seaside pleasure pier in England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out ...

s around

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...

seaside resort A seaside resort is a resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, suc ...

s. The General Slocum excursion was an example.

Cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from tw ...

became a very popular day-tripper activity, especially amongst urban and

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...

workers, from the mid-1880s onwards.

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and charabanc outings followed as the

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal co ...

became reliable enough to get the paying customers out and back again. Works outings and church or chapel excursions were extremely popular until the 1970s. While all of the foregoing still exist, the modern day-tripper experience is usually by

motor car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded a ...

as a result of the growth of car ownership. Also,

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

s such as (formerly) Palmair promote day trips.

Statistics

In Germany in 2011, day trips were the predominant type of tourism. According to figures from the Hanover Chamber of Industry and Commerce, 2.84 billion day trippers spent an average of 28 euros in total (gross) that year, around 79.5 billion euros and 564 million Day business travelers €14.2 billion. Other surveys also assume an added value of between €20 and €30 per day tourist. The city of Berlin has, on average, calculated an added value of €32.50 per visitor in recent years with 132 million day visitors. The numbers are i. i.e. R. collected by a representative survey in the source area (survey at the place of residence). The reason for a day stay is often to visit local attractions or sights, to visit sports and leisure facilities, museums, cultural events such as musicals, opera/operettas, concerts and theater performances or just to shop in the city's shops.''68 Millionen Tagesausflüge in die Heimat – Studie Tagestourismus in der Metropolregion Hamburg''.
Metropolregion Hamburg, 7 December 2011

References

Types of tourism {{Tourism-stub

History

Statistics

See also

References