The hospitality industry is made up of four subcomponent industries. The larger segment is travel and toursim, and the other two are lodging and food service operations. Today the authoritive World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced that travel and toursim is the worlds largest industry, surpassing autos, steel, electronics, and agriculture. (Janiskee pg38) Recreation is a diverse industry, representing over $280 billion in expenditures each year. (Milman pg194) Food service is a major contributor to the hospitality industry, in that, it aids the travel and tourism sector. The lodging industry may be looked at as the back -bone to travel and tourism, generating $66.1 billion in sales, and accomodating the needs of

However, the conditions for an expanding travel market are different now from Roman times. Travel will flourish if people are convinced that they will be safe and comfortable. When the Roman Empire declined, travel declined. The wealthy class was reduced, roads deteriorated, and the countryside was plagued by bandits. Today, wars, unrest, and terroism are similarly harmful for travel. Peace, prosperity, and reasonable travel costs remain the essentials needed for travel growth.

Lodging and food services are major essential supply components of the hospitality industry. Providing overnight accomodations for travelers goes back into antiquity-it is the worlds oldest commerical business. Guestrooms were first parts of private dwellings. Then came caravansaries and guest quarters porvided in monastaries. Today, lodging has changed extravagantly, and is of tremendous economic importance. Many lodging places provide meeting rooms, convention rooms, shops, and entertainment.

It is the Romans, however, that began to combine travel, tourism, and recreation. Because of the leisure society created by wealth and slavery, Romans were free to travel to distant places on the Mediterranian for vacations, or to popular destinations for holidy travel for Olympic games and activities, as well as to health spas.

Subsequent inventions of more suitable roads, stage coaches, passenger railroads, passenger ships, automobiles, and airplanes created a speedier and more gratifying means of travel in the 20th century. During the early stages of travel inventions such as the sandglass to measure time, the " log" line to measure distance, and the compass to gauge direction made possible succesful sea exploration. By comparing travel now to travel thousands of years ago, one can see the obvious variance.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Roman Empire, Southeast Asia, Council WTTC, , food service, hospitality industry, East Mediterranean, lodging industry, travel tourism, recreational activities, travel toursim, industry food service, travel food service, centuries ago, monastaries lodging, food industry, food services, food service industry,
Approximate Word count = 1220
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)