Were hospitallers some of the earliest tour operators?

Despite the increasing research interest in tourism, there are often misunderstandings and assumptions about tourism that are at odds with historical facts; one example being misleading impressions held about the role and function of Hospitallers of the Middle Ages. This study aims to clarify the situation in that specific case by comparing the recorded actions of the Hospitallers with the accepted functions of travel agents, using a systematic literature review. First, the functions of tour operators are identified and described using a functionalist approach. Then the tasks of Hospitallers are compared with these to ascertain if Hospitallers met those functions of tour operators. The result confirms that Hospitallers were indeed tour operators during their initial period of operation, leading to the conclusion that tour operation is not a product of the modern world but is very much older. It can be said that there is no need to oversimplify the tour operation activities in recent times due to mass tourism.