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Dark tourism: the attraction of death and disaster.

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Tourism Geographies

Dejan Iliev

A review of recent relevant literature related to dark tourism indicates that there is a growing academic interest in ‘dark tourism consumption’, ‘dark tourism motivation’ and ‘dark tourism experience’. Therefore, the objectives of the present research are threefold: to examine the progress of research on these three concepts; to give a critical analysis of recent research; and to identify research gaps and questions that require fuller examination. In order to adopt new research orientations, the use of a broader post-disciplinary research framework is in need. The findings reveal that the three concepts are evolving and advancing, and new researches push the boundaries of exploration into new directions. From the analysis of recent literature, it can be concluded that thanatopsis is a rare characteristic of tourist visits. This is in contrast to the early conceptual studies, which claim that death is the primary motive for visiting dark sites. The findings reveal that many visitors are motivated by the desire and an interest in cultural heritage, learning, education, understanding about what happened at the dark site etc. It is important to emphasise that these motivations are affected by internal conflicts that the experience generates. Tourist experience is more in line with that of a mainstream heritage sites. In general, if tourists do not experience a site as dark, then they cannot be called dark tourists. Hence, the present research appeals to a clearer distinction of the ‘dark tourists’ based on experience. Except for the ‘mortality mediation model’, ‘dystopian dark tourism’ and ‘Terror Management Theory’, there are limit efforts to understand tourists at dark sites. Therefore, scientists must propose new approaches and additional empirical researches to prove that interest in death is a key motive for visiting dark sites. Lastly, from the literature review, new directions for further research have emerged.

Maximiliano E. Korstanje

The current bloody conflict between Israelis and Palestine in Middle East has widely approached by social scientists and humanists as a moral campaign to impose the human dignity. Although in some respect, literature would play a leading role in narrowing both sides, the fact is that in digital times Holocaust is far from being a closed issue. As a platform towards victimization or political oppression, Holocaust still remains in the heart of West as well as the negative effects of depersonalizing subject identities. The nature of any genocide is associated to the power of Gods to select who lives or not, in the same way, Noah abode the decision of God to destroy a world which unfits with his desires. This chapter explores not only the ebbs and flows of Holocaust as a site of tourism and mediatized consumption, but as an allegory which reinforces the exclusionary logic of capitalism.

Helwan university

Hosam Refai , Shaimaa Nagib

This study focuses on how to apply the dark tourism in Baron Empain palace uniquely and distinctively, especially with the availability of all elements that are necessary for this kind of tourism inside the palace: A rare design, huge space, unique history related to Heliopolis and many rumors and dark stories around the Baron and his family. The aim is to attract attention, to revive buildings of historical and archaeological value that have been neglected for a reason or another. The study involves comparison and analysis of the cases that apply dark tourism worldwide and a survey of the tools used to market their sites. Dark tourism has become an important part of the tourism map worldwide. It is a unique experience since it combines tangible and intangible influences such as mysterious stories and rumors. Keywords: Dark tourism, Niche tourism, Horror tourism, Virtual reality, Memorial, Rumors, Baron Palace, Edward Empain, Heliopolis, and Adaptive reuse.

Andjela Popovic

Journal of Conflict Archaeology 7(2), 71-105

Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls

Dr. Teresa "Lilly" White

This paper critically examines the burgeoning discourse of 'dark tourism' as it pertains to re-enforcing a national, collective identity. Much of the research on the topic explores atrocities as shared national and cultural experiences, social and governmental influences on constructing common narratives, and a bigger debate on the motivation of visitors, often survivors, to the dark site. Notoriety from tragic events often transfers to the city where it occurred, frequently to the dismay of the community and its residents. Local governments can assume critical roles in the commodification, re-interpretation, public safety, management and stewardship of the dark tourism site; whereby, transforming tragedy into triumph. Who got it right, and who got it wrong?

Drazen Zivic , Nataša Drvenkar

The purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning of dark and memorial tourism better, as well as to create basic preconditions for relatively new concept of tourism in Croatia, as dark and memorial tourism is well defined subject internationally. Design – The theoretical background of the topic is been presented, and further institutional support for the development of memorial tourism. The special focus is given to analysis of the factors that influence the implementation of memorial tourism in area of regional economic development strategy according to the principles of triple helix but also quintuple helix cooperation – this type of tourism rely on support from the institutions, official tourism associations and local communities. Methodology/approach – Recent scientific literature analyzed in the paper (memorial tourism, dark tourism, thanatourism, phoenix tourism) present new advances and research results in the field of memorial tourism as theoretical reflection of good (best) international practice. It determines the views of the authors referring to the new trends of modern tourism consumers. Vukovar-Srijem County as a space of political and cultural importance allows, through its touristic production and consumption, for a ritual space that exists outside of time (“heritage that hurts”, “life-changing points of shock”, Stone, 2014). After identifying and analysing both the existing resources of the region and institutional requirements for potential development of memorial tourism a management proposal will be made for the development of a new concept of tourism in Croatia. Findings – According to the data of the Ministry of War Veterans of the Republic of Croatia (2013), up to May 18, 2011, 143 mass graves have been found in the Republic of Croatia, most of them in Vukovar-Srijem County. Inadequate cooperation between the tourism stakeholders and university sector, at regional i.e. national level and veterans’ associations as the main drivers of development of memorial centres resulted in inadequately developed tourism product. Originality of the research – In the paper marketing is used as a mechanism to achieve strategic objectives of destination regions and thus, should be guided by the policies for regional development. The triple helix and quintuple helix innovation paradigm is based on the integration of commercialization, empirical knowledge, public good and civil society. To facilitate the development of memorial tourism, it is recommended to strengthen the cooperation with scientific institutions both in regional and national level in order to establish the facts and prevent further dissemination of occasionally false information about war time events and as a return measure suggest an acceptable marketing mix of memorial tourism product. Furthermore, tourism businesses, especially tourist agencies, have to become involved in receptive tourist programmes as soon as possible. Namely, the majority of tourist agencies are oriented towards emissive business operations. It is evident, though, that nothing can be done without a source of financing and coordination that can be provided by regional administration.

Dr Matthew Jackson

This course examines how memory has been constructed, used and reshaped in myriad ways and for a multitude of reasons amid a half century of cataclysmic cultural and political upheaval in the United States, beginning with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and ending with the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City in September 2001.

Olga Procevska

An essential part of the political strategy of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was the extermination of social groups that he regarded as the enemies of the people: owners of the capital and land, counterrevolutionaries, and opponents of Soviet ideology and collectivisation. Thus on June 14th 1941 and March 25th 1949 the population of Latvia diminished by 60 thousand people overnight. Soviet authorities labelled them as dangerous for socialism and deported them to various destinations in Siberia with no hope of return. Memories of them were unspeakable in the public sphere until perestroika, but since then it has become as principal a source of cultural trauma for Latvians as September 11th is for Americans and the Holocaust is for Jews. During the decline of the Soviet Union, the commemoration of Soviet crimes became an important social practice in Latvia and elsewhere in post-communist societies. A crucial role in this process was played by Latvian mass media: since perestroika the media have been forming the public discourse of the commemoration and thereby also of the trauma of the deportations. By analysing the content of the most read national and local newspapers Latvia issued in the last 23 years, this extensive study offers an overview of the creation and transformation of mediated trauma.

Paul Lynch Professor of Critical Hospitality and Tourism

This paper explores the processes affecting tourism development following a major political conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The adopted critical theory analytical approach resulted in the identification of phoenix tourism, conceptualised as a distinctive period in post-conflict tourism development. Instead of locating tourism in the context of economic enhancement, tourism is located in the context of social renewal of the destination and its people. Although post-conflict tourism is usually conceptualised under dark tourism scholarship, phoenix tourism is not proposed as a type of tourism, but as a role given to tourism in a process through which conflict issues develop into a new heritage.

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Dark tourism

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Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster

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Research output : Book/Report › Book

• dark tourism
• heritage sites
• concentration camps
• visitor experiences

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• https://www.bookdepository.com/Dark-Tourism-Malcolm-Foley/9780826450647

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• Disaster Arts & Humanities 100%
• Tourism Arts & Humanities 99%
• Attraction Arts & Humanities 98%
• Residents Arts & Humanities 91%
• Inhumanity Arts & Humanities 73%
• Heritage Sites Arts & Humanities 69%
• Berlin Wall Arts & Humanities 64%
• Concentration Camps Arts & Humanities 60%

T1 - Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster

AU - Lennon, J. John

AU - Foley, Malcolm

PY - 2001/3

Y1 - 2001/3

N2 - This book sets out to explore ‘dark tourism’; that is, the representation of inhuman acts, and how these are interpreted for visitors at a number of places throughout the world, for example the sites of concentration camps in both Western and Eastern Europe. Many people wish to experience the reality behind the media images, or are prompted to find out more by a personal association with places or events. The phenomenon raises ethical issues over the status and nature of objects, the extent of their interpretation, the appropriate political and managerial response and the nature of the experience as perceived by the visitor, their residents and local residents. Events, sites, types of visit and ‘host’ reactions are considered in order to construct the parameters of the concept of ‘dark tourism’. Many acts of inhumanity are celebrated as heritage sites in Britain (for example, the Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle), and the Berlin Wall has become a significant attraction despite claiming many victims.

AB - This book sets out to explore ‘dark tourism’; that is, the representation of inhuman acts, and how these are interpreted for visitors at a number of places throughout the world, for example the sites of concentration camps in both Western and Eastern Europe. Many people wish to experience the reality behind the media images, or are prompted to find out more by a personal association with places or events. The phenomenon raises ethical issues over the status and nature of objects, the extent of their interpretation, the appropriate political and managerial response and the nature of the experience as perceived by the visitor, their residents and local residents. Events, sites, types of visit and ‘host’ reactions are considered in order to construct the parameters of the concept of ‘dark tourism’. Many acts of inhumanity are celebrated as heritage sites in Britain (for example, the Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle), and the Berlin Wall has become a significant attraction despite claiming many victims.

KW - dark tourism

KW - heritage sites

KW - concentration camps

KW - visitor experiences

SN - 9780826450647

BT - Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster

PB - Cengage

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Beaches? Cruises? ‘Dark’ Tourists Prefer the Gloomy and Macabre

Travelers who use their off time to visit places like the Chernobyl nuclear plant or current conflict zones say they no longer want a sanitized version of a troubled world.

By Maria Cramer

North Korea. East Timor. Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave that for decades has been a tinderbox for ethnic conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

They’re not your typical top tourist destinations.

But don’t tell that to Erik Faarlund, the editor of a photography website from Norway, who has visited all three. His next “dream” trip is to tour San Fernando in the Philippines around Easter , when people volunteer to be nailed to a cross to commemorate the suffering of Jesus Christ, a practice discouraged by the Catholic Church.

Mr. Faarlund, whose wife prefers sunning on Mediterranean beaches, said he often travels alone.

“She wonders why on earth I want to go to these places, and I wonder why on earth she goes to the places she goes to,” he said.

Mr. Faarlund, 52, has visited places that fall under a category of travel known as dark tourism , an all-encompassing term that boils down to visiting places associated with death, tragedy and the macabre.

As travel opens up, most people are using their vacation time for the typical goals: to escape reality, relax and recharge. Not so dark tourists, who use their vacation time to plunge deeper into the bleak, even violent corners of the world.

They say going to abandoned nuclear plants or countries where genocides took place is a way to understand the harsh realities of current political turmoil, climate calamities, war and the growing threat of authoritarianism.

“When the whole world is on fire and flooded and no one can afford their energy bills, lying on a beach at a five-star resort feels embarrassing,” said Jodie Joyce, who handles contracts for a genome sequencing company in England and has visited Chernobyl and North Korea .

Mr. Faarlund, who does not see his travels as dark tourism, said he wants to visit places “that function totally differently from the way things are run at home.”

Whatever their motivations, Mr. Faarlund and Ms. Joyce are hardly alone.

Eighty-two percent of American travelers said they have visited at least one dark tourism destination in their lifetime, according to a study published in September by Passport-photo.online, which surveyed more than 900 people. More than half of those surveyed said they preferred visiting “active” or former war zones. About 30 percent said that once the war in Ukraine ends, they wanted to visit the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers resisted Russian forces for months .

The growing popularity of dark tourism suggests more and more people are resisting vacations that promise escapism, choosing instead to witness firsthand the sites of suffering they have only read about, said Gareth Johnson, a founder of Young Pioneer Tours , which organized trips for Ms. Joyce and Mr. Faarlund.

Tourists, he said, are tired of “getting a sanitized version of the world.”

A pastime that goes back to Gladiator Days

The term “dark tourism” was coined in 1996, by two academics from Scotland, J. John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, who wrote “Dark Tourism: The Attraction to Death and Disaster.”

But people have used their leisure time to witness horror for hundreds of years, said Craig Wight, associate professor of tourism management at Edinburgh Napier University.

“It goes back to the gladiator battles” of ancient Rome, he said. “People coming to watch public hangings. You had tourists sitting comfortably in carriages watching the Battle of Waterloo.”

Professor Wight said the modern dark tourist usually goes to a site defined by tragedy to make a connection to the place, a feeling that is difficult to achieve by just reading about it.

By that definition, anyone can be a dark tourist. A tourist who takes a weekend trip to New York City may visit Ground Zero. Visitors to Boston may drive north to Salem to learn more about the persecution of people accused of witchcraft in the 17th century. Travelers to Germany or Poland might visit a concentration camp. They might have any number of motivations, from honoring victims of genocide to getting a better understanding of history. But in general, a dark tourist is someone who makes a habit of seeking out places that are either tragic, morbid or even dangerous, whether the destinations are local or as far away as Chernobyl.

In recent years, as tour operators have sprung up worldwide promising deep dives into places known for recent tragedy, media attention has followed and so have questions about the intentions of visitors, said Dorina-Maria Buda, a professor of tourism studies at Nottingham Trent University .

Stories of people gawking at neighborhoods in New Orleans destroyed by Hurricane Katrina or posing for selfies at Dachau led to disgust and outrage .

Were people driven to visit these sites out of a “sense of voyeurism or is it a sense of sharing in the pain and showing support?” Professor Buda said.

Most dark tourists are not voyeurs who pose for photos at Auschwitz, said Sian Staudinger, who runs the Austria-based Dark Tourist Trips , which organizes itineraries in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe and instructs travelers to follow rules like “NO SELFIES!”

“Dark tourists in general ask meaningful questions,” Ms. Staudinger said. “They don’t talk too loud. They don’t laugh. They’re not taking photos at a concentration camp.”

‘Ethically murky territory’

David Farrier , a journalist from New Zealand, spent a year documenting travels to places like Aokigahara , the so-called suicide forest in Japan, the luxury prison Pablo Escobar built for himself in Colombia and McKamey Manor in Tennessee, a notorious haunted house tour where people sign up to be buried alive, submerged in cold water until they feel like they will drown and beaten.

The journey was turned into a show, “Dark Tourist,” that streamed on Netflix in 2018 and was derided by some critics as ghoulish and “sordid.”

Mr. Farrier, 39, said he often questioned the moral implications of his trips.

“It’s very ethically murky territory,” Mr. Farrier said.

But it felt worthwhile to “roll the cameras” on places and rituals that most people want to know about but will never experience, he said.

Visiting places where terrible events unfolded was humbling and helped him confront his fear of death.

He said he felt privileged to have visited most of the places he saw, except McKamey Manor.

“That was deranged,” Mr. Farrier said.

Professor Buda said dark tourists she has interviewed have described feelings of shock and fear at seeing armed soldiers on streets of countries where there is ongoing conflict or that are run by dictatorships.

“When you’re part of a society that is by and large stable and you’ve gotten into an established routine, travel to these places leads you to sort of feel alive,” she said.

But that travel can present real danger.

In 2015, Otto Warmbier , a 21-year-old student from Ohio who traveled with Young Pioneer Tours, was arrested in North Korea after he was accused of stealing a poster off a hotel wall. He was detained for 17 months and was comatose when he was released. He died in 2017, six days after he was brought back to the United States.

The North Korean government said Mr. Warmbier died of botulism but his family said his brain was damaged after he was tortured.

Americans can no longer travel to North Korea unless their passports are validated by the State Department.

A chance to reflect

Even ghost tours — the lighter side of dark tourism — can present dilemmas for tour operators, said Andrea Janes, the owner and founder of Boroughs of the Dead: Macabre New York City Walking Tours.

In 2021, she and her staff questioned whether to restart tours so soon after the pandemic in a city where refrigerated trucks serving as makeshift morgues sat in a marine terminal for months.

They reopened and were surprised when tours booked up fast. People were particularly eager to hear the ghost stories of Roosevelt Island, the site of a shuttered 19th-century hospital where smallpox patients were treated .

“We should have seen as historians that people would want to talk about death in a time of plague,” Ms. Janes said.

Kathy Biehl, who lives in Jefferson Township, N.J., and has gone on a dozen ghost tours with Ms. Janes’s company, recalled taking the tour “Ghosts of the Titanic” along the Hudson River. It was around 2017, when headlines were dominated by President Trump’s tough stance on refugees and immigrants coming into the United States.

Those stories seemed to dovetail with the 100-year-old tales of immigrants trying to make it to New York on a doomed ship, Ms. Biehl said.

It led to “a catharsis” for many on the tour, she said. “People were on the verge of tears over immigration.”

Part of the appeal of dark tourism is its ability to help people process what is happening “as the world gets darker and gloomier,” said Jeffrey S. Podoshen , a professor of marketing at Franklin and Marshall College, who specializes in dark tourism.

“People are trying to understand dark things, trying to understand things like the realities of death, dying and violence,” he said. “They look at this type of tourism as a way to prepare themselves.”

Mr. Faarlund, the photo editor, recalled one trip with his wife and twin sons: a private tour of Cambodia that included a visit to the Killing Fields , where between 1975 and 1979 more than 2 million Cambodians were killed or died of starvation and disease under the Khmer Rouge regime.

His boys, then 14, listened intently to unsparing and brutal stories of the torture center run by the Khmer Rouge. At one point, the boys had to go outside, where they sat quietly for a long time.

“They needed a break,” Mr. Faarlund said. “It was quite mature of them.”

Afterward, they met two of the survivors of the Khmer Rouge, fragile men in their 80s and 90s. The teenagers asked if they could hug them and the men obliged, Mr. Faarlund said.

It was a moving trip that also included visits to temples, among them Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, and meals of frog, oysters and squid at a roadside restaurant.

“They loved it,” Mr. Faarlund said of his family.

Still, he can’t see them coming with him to see people re-enact the crucifixion in the Philippines.

“I don’t think they want to go with me on that one,” Mr. Faarlund said.

52 Places for a Changed World

The 2022 list highlights places around the globe where travelers can be part of the solution.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

Maria Cramer is a reporter on the Travel desk. Please send her tips, questions and complaints about traveling, especially on cruises. More about Maria Cramer

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Mumbai:  Spend 36 hours in this fast-changing Indian city  by exploring ancient caves, catching a concert in a former textile mill and feasting on mangoes.

Kyoto:  The Japanese city’s dry gardens offer spots for quiet contemplation  in an increasingly overtouristed destination.

Iceland:  The country markets itself as a destination to see the northern lights. But they can be elusive, as one writer recently found .

Texas:  Canoeing the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park can be magical. But as the river dries, it’s getting harder to find where a boat will actually float .