As Travel + Leisure is celebrating its golden anniversary, we as editors spent months digging through the archives. We found nostalgic ads, incredible covers, iconic contributors (Slim Aarons, Authur Miller, Joan Didion, Julia Child, and many more), but also noticed how much the travel industry has changed since 1971. Read on to see the 25 events that have affected the way we travel forever.
1971: Travel + Leisure was established
1971: Southwest airlines took to the skies
1971: Walt Disney World opened
1972: Rolling luggage patent awarded
1973: Launch of Concorde
1974: The first hotel minibar was installed at the Hong Kong Hilton
1974: Invention of the electronic hotel key
1974: GPS patent awarded
1975: The first digital camera was invented
![]Mesa Verde National Park (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1978). Dwellings of The Anasazi Indians](https://intripgo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210830_612d1c08eb7e7.jpg)
1978: The first 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites were announced
1988: Royal Caribbean International launched the first “megaship”
1989: Berlin Wall falls
1991: The closure of Pan Am
1992: Opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal — a catalyst for river cruising
1996: Launch of Expedia
1998: The Federal Aviation Administration banned smoking on all U.S. planes
2001: 9/11
2003: Concorde’s last flight
2005: Google Maps were established
2008: American Airlines became the first major airline to begin charging for luggage
2008: Airbnb hit the web
2008: Terminal 5 launched at Heathrow
2014: The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
2019: Longest non-stop flight: JFK to Singapore (18 hours and 40 minutes)
2020: Coronavirus lockdowns
