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Atravel documentary is adocumentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel ortourist attractions without endorsing specific commercial package deals or tour operators. A travelogue is an early iteration of this genre, often serving as an exploratoryethnographic film. According to film scholar Alison Griffiths, early ethnographic films functioned as a "spectacle of difference," allowing spectators to relate to a globalized world by viewing cultures beyond their own geographic boundaries.[1] While documentary films had limited visibility within theHollywood studio system prior to the 1930s, the decade marked a significant shift in film history as independent filmmakers gained popularity and established the travelogue as a viable cinematic form.[2]
Thegenre has been represented by television shows such asAcross the Seven Seas, which showcased travelogues produced by third parties, and by occasional itinerant presentations of travelogues in theaters and other venues.
TheBritishcomedian and actorMichael Palin has made several series in this genre beginning withAround the World in 80 Days (1989).PBS has several travel shows including those hosted byRick Steves andBurt Wolf.
Travelogues were used to provide the general public with a means of observing different countries and cultures since the late 19th century. Travelogues are considered to be a form of virtualtourism or travel documentary and were often presented as lectures narrating accompanying films and photos.[3] A travelogue is based on the personal experience of someone travelling through a new landscape and in contexts of ethnographic films where it exists a protagonist which took the whole story along. Travelogues are defined as nonfiction films that use a place as their primary subject.[4] They often display the cinematic apparatus and have an open narration. The ideal travel film carries the appealing landscapes that brought the audience toward an emotional attachment with the help of storytelling and characters.
Travelogues were usually about eighty minutes in length, consisting of two 1000-footreels of 16mm film, with an intermission in-between to change reels. The travelogue film speaker, often but not always the filmmaker, would usually introduce each reel, ask for the lights to be dimmed, and then narrate the film live from an onstagelectern. Travelogue series were usually offered during the winter months and were often sold on subscription basis in small and medium-sized towns. Patrons could then meet the speaker in-person after the show.
As cinema progress, the standard film program provided by the most theaters consisted of a feature-length film accompanied by a newsreel and at least one additional short subject, which might take the form of a travelogue, a comedy, a cartoon, or a film about a topical novelty subject matter.[5] Travelogues further developed to incorporate movie rides which were coordinated sounds, motion pictures and mechanical movement to simulate virtual travel.[6]Cinéorama, which simulates a ride in a hot air balloon andMareorama, which simulates voyages of the sea, became major attractions at world fairs and expositions.[6]
Today's travelogues may be shown with either live or recordedvoice-over narration, often with an in-sync audio soundtrack featuring music and location sound. The shows are often performed in school gymnasiums, civic auditoriums, senior center multi-purpose rooms, private clubs, and theatrical venues. Travelogues have been a popular source of fundraising for local, non-profit community-service organizations, such asKiwanis,Lions Clubs, andRotary Clubs, among others, with many such clubs hosting travelogue series for decades.
Travelogues stem from the work of American writer and lecturer,John Lawson Stoddard who began traveling around the world in 1874. He went on to publish books about his adventures and gave lectures across North America. The original lectures were accompanied by black and white lantern slides printed from his photographs. In 1892, John Lawson Stoddard recruitedBurton Holmes as his junior associate. When Stoddard was ready to retire in 1897, he arranged for Holmes to take over the rest of his speaking arrangements. Holmes went on to become the premier travel lecturer of his day and coined the term, "travelogues," in 1904 when he introduced film clips to lecture series making them wildly popular. After World War II,Lowell Thomas created popularMovietone News Reel travelogues shown in movie theaters across the U.S.
During the 1950s and 1960s, more independent film producers created travelogues, which were shown in towns and schools across the U.S. and Canada. In the 1970s and 1980s, the popularity of traditional travelogues declined but the advent of cable television channels and the availability of small, high quality, digital video equipment has renewed the popularity of travel films. Though travelogues have enjoyed much popularity historically, these films have been criticized for culturally insensitive representations since the films were not made by anthropologists. A famous example is the film about a family in the Canadian Arctic,Nanook of the North, where much of the scenes were staged.[7]
Early travelogues were deeply rooted in a desire to document foreign cultures for Western audiences. Film scholar Alison Griffiths describes this phenomenon as a fundamental part of the genre's appeal:
The travelogue, like the museum of natural history or the world's fair, provided a 'spectacle of difference' that marked the historically disparate efforts of western painters, photographers, and filmmakers to visually evoke the encounter with the ethnographic Other.
— Alison Griffiths[8]
Travelogues are credited with helping cultivating the interest in thetravel industry at the same timetransportation infrastructure was being developed to make it possible.[citation needed] Asrailways andsteamships became more accessible, more people became willing and eager to travel to distant places because of what was displayed in the popular travelogues of the day.[9] Today, travelogues are most often seen inIMAX theaters and play a role in fiction film cinematography. IMAX was invented more than 40 years ago by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroiter, and Robert Kerr who pioneered the technology and debuted it at the EXPO 67 inMontreal, Canada and later again at EXPO 70 inOsaka, Japan. Since then, IMAX and travelogues have latched onto each other.[10] In the 1970s and 1980s, the popularity of traditional travelogues declined. But the advent of cable television channels, such as theDiscovery Channel and theTravel Channel and the availability of small, high quality, digital video equipment has renewed the popularity of travel films. Amateur films of an individual's travels can be considered travelogues as well.[11]The Flavor of Kolkata (2015), a short travel documentary shot in the Indian cityKolkata, was India's first3D short travel documentary.
Travel documentaries serve as a subgenre ofdocumentary film that primarily focuses on storytelling through travel or the exploration of specific destinations. Typically centered around a "leading figure" or host, who is often a subject-matter expert or a travel journalist, these films provide a guided narrative through local landmarks, cultural landscapes, culinary traditions, and social customs.[12]
Beyond mere tourism, such documentary works function can serve as a form ofhuman geography, contextualizing a region's history and contemporary identity for a global audience. Combining visual anthropology with personal narrative, travel documentaries can facilitate entertaining "armchair travel" while promoting cross-cultural understanding.[12]
The following are TV stations that air primarily travel based content:
