Studying the rise of tourism in colonial Algeria, Colette Zytnicki shows that hotels, seaside resorts and national parks materially and psychologically reinforced the French presence. The patrimonialization of the territory is another way of appropriating it.
“It may seem surprising to be interested in tourism in colonial Algeria” (p. 7). It is from this astonishment that Colette Zytnicki embarked on her new work. Based on a significant amount of archival work, analysis of guides and travel accounts by personalities but also by anonymous travelers, Algeria, land of tourism invites you to dive into the colonial psyche.
The history of tourism in Algeria is understood here as one of the mechanisms of colonial domination, an approach that constitutes the originality and strength of this work. In addition to the fact that military buildings are gradually transformed into hotels, that soldiers ensure the security of vacationers, tourism is in fact one means among others to pacify certain regions and establish relations between the territories of North Africa.
Maritime and railway lines
The development of tourism immediately accompanied the colonial conquest. Algeria constituted, in the first period of the French presence, a land of exploration for businessmen and “intrepid” travelers, whose travel was made possible by the control of the country guaranteed by the presence of the army.
From 1835 onwards, to travel to Algiers, travellers boarded boats chartered by the State to transport troops, government employees and the postal service. There was no shortage of private companies, led by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, which won the postal service market in 1879 and would become the major player in the development of tourism in North Africa. The distance between the metropolis and the Maghreb was shrinking: “In the 1860s, Algiers was therefore just a few days from Paris” (p. 14).
Gradually, infrastructures were created to meet the increasingly sophisticated and diversified needs of customers. Those who arrived before 1850 had to find their own means of transport. The situation changed in the 1850s, with the first stagecoaches connecting the main cities and, in the 1860s, with the construction of the first railway line linking Algiers and Blida. From 1882, agencies and shipping companies offered circular tickets. Later, tourists could also book organized trips and the use of the automobile would revolutionize the exploration of increasingly remote territories, particularly the Sahara, with the car rallies launched by André Citroën.
Hotels are multiplying and becoming more comfortable, but some tourists prefer to stay in more precarious accommodation, or even go camping. The majority are businessmen and politicians who choose to stay in comfortable establishments. It is certain that
The boundary between leisure travel and utilitarian travel is porous, as if the traveler were a potential colonist.” (p. 21)
In his exploration of the territory, he is supported by tourist guides (the first dating from 1844) and nourished by prior readings, as well as by the oriental imagination, diffused in Europe since the XVIIIe century through painting and literature. It is a question of touching this “motionless Orient, as if stopped in a long fixed shot” (p. 33).
From the 1870s-1880s, the development of tourism made Algeria one of the wintering centers for international elites. Seaside resorts and winter sports resorts multiplied, supported by tourist information centers. At the end of the XIXe century, beaches became fashionable in summer and seaside activity developed.
The Belle Époque was a period during which the middle classes of the big cities visited Algeria, and more collective forms of tourism appeared. The colonial appropriation of the territory therefore involved the development of a network of hotels, the development of roads and tracks. These efforts developed in connection with national and local policies: a commission, created in 1916, laid the foundations for a tourism policy, implemented after the First World War.
The “California of France”
The period that opened with the end of the war saw an increase in efforts to make Algeria the land of tourism par excellence. The general government of Algeria integrated tourism into its economic development plans. This new direction was underpinned by political arguments:
Tourism, first of all, allowed the Arab and European minds to be confronted “in order to better blend them together”. It was then hoped to transform the tourist into a colonist, while the weakness of the French presence was constantly deplored. Finally, the imperial function of tourism was evoked. (p. 119)
But, in the context of the global crisis of the 1930s, the celebration of the conquest of Algeria did not always translate into benefits in terms of tourism. The actors involved in the development of tourism targeted a new, more popular clientele, this objective being reinforced by the granting of paid holidays in 1936 or by the popularization of the car among the middle and even working classes. Holiday camps and seaside activities (sunbathing, nautical clubs, yachting) were then promoted, which would contribute to a real beach culture, especially among young people.
During the Second World War, domestic tourism by Europeans in the colony ensured the continuation of activities, while tourism organizations adopted Pétain’s policies.
Tourism, like the heritage to which it is closely linked, asserts itself as a movement of appropriation of the territory, its landscapes, its monuments and its history. It can be argued that it has contributed to rooting the French population in Algerian soil. (p. 229)
After the war, the Algerian Tourism Committee and the Algerian Office of Economic and Tourist Action of the General Government of Algeria (OFALAC) draw up plans for the future. In promotional films, Algeria becomes the “California of France”. A tourist fever develops, with the promotion of camping. It is accompanied by the creation of cycling or mountaineering clubs, such as the French Alpine Club, established in Algeria in 1880. This taking charge of the territory corresponds to a heritage of Algerian sites: a Department of Civil Buildings and Roads, created in 1843, takes care of the “preservation of ancient monuments in Algeria”; a General Inspection of Historic Monuments and Archaeological Museums is created in 1853.
The colonizer’s attention is focused, as in other contexts, on ancient sites, such as Lambèse or Tipasa, to establish the political project. The ancient past of these regions is then interpreted as “a kind of prologue to their own colonization” (p. 30). Traditional architecture, as well as the Arab, Muslim and Berber past, is taken care of by learned societies, journals and associations – a process that reaches its peak at the beginning of the XXe century with the Jonnard style (named after the governor general), inspired by the Moorish style.
Colonial landscapes and journeys
This heritage affects the landscape through the foundation of the first French national parks in Algeria (1921), the activity of associations and learned societies which participate, on their scale, in the emergence of this movement. The creation of these national parks is supposed to improve the impact of the “colonial environment” on the health (both physical and moral) of the French.
The discovery of the country is accompanied by the discovery of its inhabitants, the only ones, apart from the military, to provide guide services outside of large cities. The tourist notices the prevalence of poverty, this socio-economic effect of colonization on the natives, which is constructed as a fault of colonization. But he does not question colonial domination and continues to classify the natives according to the racist grid of colonization: “The indolent Arab, the proud Kabyle, the greedy and corrupt Jew” (p. 33).
It is clear that Muslims do not share the joys of travel and tourist stays, the natives appearing only as service personnel. Some organizations claim a more fraternal colonial society, they aim to go beyond the framework of community affiliations. But these ideals rarely translate into reality. It was not until the creation of Muslim organizations, such as the Muslim Scouts (1935), that vacation stays for the benefit of Muslim children were promoted.
The development of tourism in Algeria follows the global trend and is not specific to the French colony, as evidenced by numerous studies. Benedict Anderson working on heritage in Southeast Asia, Eric Jennings on thermalism in a colonial context, Sylvain Venayre studying travel and tourism in general have largely contributed to shedding light on this social practice. Colette Zytnicki’s contribution is part of this body of work which, through the analysis of peripheral objects of the political field, highlights the mechanisms of colonial domination.