Tourism and Sport
In the late 19th century, the "high summer" of Victorian Britain
UK is the world's leading Empire and is constantly expanding. Living standards
of the middle classes are rising rapidly. Taxation is very low. Among the things
on which people spent their money was foreign travel. Much of the world was
coming within their grasp, thanks to the spread of railways. By the 1880s
the European railway network was amazingly extensive with luxurious sleeping and
dining cars and saloons, mostly owned by the Wagons Lits company running over
many main line routes. And all good Victorians firmly believed in the maxim -
"Travel broadens the mind and stretches the imagination"
Sir Henry Lunn acquired several hotels in Switzerland, establishing himself
in the travel business. In 1893 he founded the Co-operative
Educational Tours. His son Arnold Lunn's early contact with Switzerland
developed into a life long love affair with the country that became his second
home. Sir Arnold was on skis at the early age of ten, and climbed his first
mountain with a nurse in 1895. In 1922, he set the first modern slalom on the
practice slopes at Mürren. In addition, he was the founder of the English
Public Schools Alpine Ski Club (1908) and the Kandahar Ski Club (1924) in
Mürren. Lunn himself - played a major role in popularising Switzerland as a
winter sports location, opening up a number of centres such as Klosters, Mürren
and Wengen.