Editing Seaside resort (section)

==History==
[[File:Brighton, the front and the chain pier seen in the distance.jpg|thumb|''Brighton, The Front and the Chain Pier Seen in the Distance'', an early 19th century watercolour painting of [[Brighton]], a seaside resort in [[East Sussex]], England]]
[[File:View from Vittoria Lighthouse.jpg|thumb|[[Barcola]] in [[Northeast Italy]], a holiday seaside resort historically and currently]]
[[File:Heiligendamm um 1841 Salon und Badehaus, Godewind Verlag.jpg|thumb|A {{Circa|1841}} illustration [[Heiligendamm]] in [[Mecklenburg]], [[Germany]], established in 1793, the oldest seaside resort in [[continental Europe]]]]
Seaside resorts have existed since antiquity. In [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] times, the town of [[Baiae]] by the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] in [[Italy]] was a resort for those who were sufficiently prosperous.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=baiae-geo | title=Baiae | work=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography | year=1854 | first=William | last=Smith | access-date=13 August 2019 }}</ref> [[Barcola]] by the [[Adriatic Sea]] in northern Italy with its Roman luxury villas is considered a special example of ancient leisure culture by the sea.<ref>Zeno Saracino: "Pompei in miniatura": la storia di "Vallicula" o Barcola. In: Trieste All News, 29 September 2018.</ref> [[Mersea Island]] in [[Essex]], [[England]] was a seaside holiday destination for wealthy ancient Romans living in [[Colchester]].<ref>{{cite report|first=Sue|last=Tyler|title=West Mersea: Seaside Heritage Project|publisher=Essex County Council|date=September 2009|url=http://www.colchester.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2729&p=0|access-date=23 September 2014|page=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205348/http://www.colchester.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2729&p=0|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The development of the beach as a popular leisure resort from the mid-19th century was the first manifestation of what is now the global tourist industry. The first seaside resorts were opened in the 18th century for the aristocracy, who began to frequent the seaside as well as the then fashionable spa towns, for recreation and health.<ref name="The business of tourism">{{cite book | title=The business of tourism | author1=J. Christopher Holloway | author2=Neil Taylor | publisher=Pearson Education | year=2006 | isbn=0-273-70161-4 | page=29 }}</ref> One of the earliest such seaside resorts was [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]] in [[Yorkshire]] during the 1720s; it had been a popular spa town since a stream of acidic water was discovered running from one of the cliffs to the south of the town in the 17th century.<ref name="The business of tourism"/> The first rolling [[bathing machine]]s were introduced by 1735.

In 1793, [[Heiligendamm]] in [[Mecklenburg]], [[Germany]] was founded as the first seaside resort of the European continent, which successfully attracted Europe's aristocracy to the [[Baltic Sea]].<ref name="nyt">Bradley, Kimberly. [http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/travel/03surfacing.html?scp=1&sq=Heiligendamm%20&st=cse  "A Spa Town Reclaims Its Glory,"] ''New York Times.'' 3 June 2007.</ref>

The opening of the resort in [[Brighton]] and its reception of [[patronage|royal patronage]] from King [[George IV]] extended the seaside as a resort for health and pleasure to the much larger [[London]] market, and the beach became a centre for upper-class pleasure and frivolity. This trend was praised and artistically elevated by the new [[Romanticism|romantic]] ideal of the picturesque landscape; [[Jane Austen]]'s unfinished novel ''[[Sanditon]]'' is an example of that. Later, [[Queen Victoria]]'s long-standing patronage of the [[Isle of Wight]] and [[Ramsgate]] in [[Kent]] ensured that a seaside residence was considered a highly fashionable possession for those wealthy enough to afford more than one home.

===Seaside resorts for the middle and working classes===
[[File:The promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, England, ca. 1898.jpg|thumb|The [[Blackpool]] promenade in [[Lancashire]], [[England]], {{Circa|1898}}]]
The extension of this form of leisure to the middle and working classes began with the development of the railways in the 1840s; they offered cheap travel to fast-growing resort towns. In particular, the branch line to the small seaside town of [[Blackpool]] from [[Poulton-le-Fylde]] led to a sustained economic and demographic boom. A sudden influx of visitors arriving by rail motivated entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and rapid growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blackpool History |publisher=[[Blackpool Tourist Office]]|url=http://www.blackpooltourism.com/resources/files/2_Blackpool%20History.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705082737/http://www.blackpooltourism.com/resources/files/2_Blackpool%20History.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 July 2007 |access-date=18 March 2007}}</ref>

The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire [[cotton mill]] owners of closing the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as [[wakes week]]s. Each town's mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer. A prominent feature of the resort was the [[promenade]] and the [[pleasure pier]]s, where an eclectic variety of performances vied for the people's attention. In 1863, the [[North Pier, Blackpool|North Pier]] in Blackpool was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for elite{{clarify|date=July 2019}} visitors. [[Central Pier, Blackpool|Central Pier]] was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor.<ref name=Rough597>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Robert |title=The Rough Guide to Britain |publisher=Rough Guides |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-85828-881-9 |page=597}}</ref>

Many popular beach resorts were equipped with [[bathing machine]]s, because even the all-covering [[swimsuit|beachwear]] of the period was considered immodest.

By the end of the century the English coastline had over 100 large resort towns, some with populations exceeding 50,000.<ref>{{cite web |author=Walton |first=John K. |author-link=John K. Walton |title=The seaside resort: a British cultural export |url=http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Sea/articles/walton.html |publisher=Department of Humanities, University of Central Lancashire}}</ref>

===Expansion around the world===
[[File:Monte Carlo Casino seaside facade before 1878 - Bonillo 2004 p113.jpg|thumb|A seaside façade in [[Monte Carlo]] in [[Monaco]] in the 1870s]]
[[File:Ahlbeck Strandkörbe 2013.JPG|thumb|The [[strandkorb]] became a symbol of seaside tourism by the end of the 19th century, especially on the southern [[Baltic Sea]] coast]]
The development of the seaside resort abroad was stimulated by the well-developed [[English people|English]] love of the beach. The [[French Riviera]] on the [[Mediterranean Sea]] had already become a destination for the British upper class by the end of the 18th century. In 1864, the first railway to [[Nice]] was completed, making the Riviera accessible to visitors from all over Europe. By 1874, foreign residents in Nice, mostly British, numbered 25,000. The coastline became renowned for attracting the royalty of Europe, including [[Queen Victoria]] and King [[Edward VII]].<ref>Michael Nelson, ''Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera'', Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007.</ref>

In the [[United States]], early seaside resorts in the late 1800s catered to the wealthy, including city businessmen. [[Cape May, New Jersey]] became one of the first coastal resorts in the United States, when regular steamboat traffic on the [[Delaware River]] began after the War of 1812. Early visitors to Cape May included [[Henry Clay]] in 1847, and [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1849. By 1880, [[Henry Flagler]] had extended several rail lines southward down the US Atlantic coastline, enticing northern upper-class families south to subtropical Florida. The [[Florida East Coast Railway]] brought northern tourists to [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]] in greater numbers, and by 1887 Flagler began to build two large ornate hotels in St. Augustine, the 540-room [[Ponce de Leon Hotel]] and the [[Hotel Alcazar]], and bought the [[Casa Monica Hotel]] the next year.

Continental European attitudes towards gambling and nudity tended to be more lax than in Britain, and British and French entrepreneurs were quick to exploit the possibilities. In 1863, the Prince of [[Monaco]], [[Charles III, Prince of Monaco|Charles III]] and [[François Blanc]], a French businessman, arranged for [[steamship]]s and carriages to take visitors from Nice to Monaco, where large luxury hotels, gardens and casinos were built. The place was renamed [[Monte Carlo]].{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} Commercial seabathing also spread to other areas of the [[United States]] and parts of the [[British Empire]] such as [[Australia]], where [[surfing]] became popular in the early 20th century. By the 1970s cheap and affordable air travel was the catalyst for the growth of a global tourism market.

Since the late 20th century, [[recreational fishing]] and leisure boat pursuits have become very lucrative, and traditional [[fishing village]]s are often well positioned to take advantage of this. [[Destin, Florida]], for instance, has evolved from an [[artisanal fishing]] village into a seaside resort dedicated to tourism with a large fishing fleet of recreational charter boats.<ref>[http://www.destinchamber.com/destin/history-fishing.asp History of the World's Luckiest Fishing Village] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116180137/http://www.destinchamber.com/destin/history-fishing.asp |date=16 November 2007 }} The Destin Area Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 21 April 2009.</ref>