Top 20 Vintage Tourism Ads (Part 1): The best of the first
April 7, 2011
Posted By: Manolis Psarros
This first part of abouTourism's series of vintage tourism ads is a collection of the best posters from the first part of the previous century, the "Golden Age of Travel", as a remembrance of how it all begun.
Looking at these vintage posters from destinations all over the world we wonder how much things have actually changed over these past 100 years. Even today, during the online revolution and with the availability of affordable and wide spreading media, you will still find tourism campaigns that rely just on an inspiring photo and logo to attract international tourists.
We cannot help but admire the simple yet powerful designs and colors, while realising that some concepts are not as new as we thought. Most ads were created by design legends and commissioned by the powerful transportation industries or the first national tourism agencies promoting a world of enticing destinations and new modes of transportation. Historical information, wherever available, complete the collection. Enjoy!
#20. Bretagne, Hugo d'Alesi (1903)
Simply because it is probably one of the very first.
#19. Norway - The Land of the Midnight Sun, Ben Blessum (1925)
The first-dated Greek Tourist poster featuring the Parthenon as photographed by famous photographer Nelly’s, following the foundation of the Greek Tourist Organization during the second period of the political leadership of Eleftherios Venizelos (1928-32).
This poster showing an Indian encampment next to a lake, was made for the Unites States Travel Bureau, funded by the WPA, which was created during the Great Depression by FDR's New Deal. In an attempt to lower unemployment, the WPA hired millions of people from all walks of life, including artists. This poster is from the "See America" series, created under a Federal Art Program and made between 1936-1938 to promote tourism in Montana.



#12. Get in the queue for Queenstown, New Zealand (~1930)

"Get in the queue for Queenstown" urges this vintage New Zealand travel poster with its catchy slogan. It shows trampers looking out over Lake Wakatipu toward the Remarkables clambering through a styilised capital letter "Q" with the then small town of Queenstown below them. This was orginally a large screenprinted poster probably issued by either the NZ railways publicity branch or the quaintly named "Department of Tourist and Health Resorts" in the early part of the 20th century.
Stay tuned for Vintage Tourism Ads part 2
COMMENTS
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[...] 3.Top 20 Vintage Tourism Ads (Parts I & II) [...]
Manolis
Thank you Lorraine! Part 2 will follow in a few days...stay tuned!