dark tourism essay

What is dark tourism and why is it so popular?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Dark tourism is a type of tourism that has received increasing attention in recent years. TV shows, such as Chernobyl and The Dark Tourist, have introduced the concept of dark tourism to the minds of motives of many tourists around the world. But what is dark tourism? Is dark tourism ethical? How can you be a ‘good’ dark tourist?

In this post I will define the concept of dark tourism, explain why dark tourism is so popular and provide a few examples of dark tourism sites. I will also discuss the ethics of dark tourism, which are somewhat controversial.

What is dark tourism?

Dark tourism definitions

The dark tourism spectrum, why is dark tourism so popular, dark tourism documentary, dark fun factories , dark exhibitions , dark dungeons , dark resting places, dark shrines , dark conflict sites , dark camps of genocide, dark disasters, the ethics of dark tourism, dark tourism at auschwitz, dark tourism at chernobyl, dark tourism at hiroshima, dark tourism at the 9/11 memorial, dark tourism at the killing fields, dark tourism at bikini atoll, dark tourism in berlin, dark tourism at robben island, dark tourism in rwanda, dark tourism at oradur sur glane, dark tourism in pompeii, dark tourism at sedlec ossuary, dark tourism at the island of the dolls, dark tourism: key takeaways, dark tourism: faqs, dark tourism: a conclusion.

Dark tourism, also known as black tourism, thanatourism or grief tourism, is tourism that is associated with death or tragedy.

The act of dark tourism is somewhat controversial, with some viewing it as an act of respect and others as unethical practice.

Popular dark tourism attractions include Auschwitz, Chernobyl and Ground Zero. Lesser known dark tourism attractions might include cemeteries, zombie-themed events or historical museums.

Dark Tourism started to gain academic attention in the early 90s, but it is only recently that it has sparked the interest of the media and the general public.

An early definition defined by John Lennon and Malcolm Foley , define dark tourism as “the representation of inhuman acts, and how these are interpreted for visitors”.

In a more recent publication, Kevin Fox Gotham defines dark tourism as “the circulation of people to places characterized by distress, atrocity, or sadness and pain. As a more specific component of dark tourism, “disaster tourism” denotes situations where the tourism product is generated within, and from, the aftermath of a major disaster or traumatic event”.

Dark tourism has become the subject of academic debate more and more in recent years, most notably for its critiques and assessment of associated impacts.

Dark tourism encompasses many different ‘dark’ activities. These can range from visiting an attraction such as the London Dungeons, where people are seen laughing and joking (did you know it finishes with a height-restricted ride that imitates people being hung!?), to tourists racing to the scenes of a disaster to provide help and relief. Naturally these are two very different ends of the dark tourism spectrum.

To help us understand the dark tourism sector better, we can organise activities according to the dark tourism spectrum.

On one end of the spectrum (the darkest end) we have extreme or serious dark tourism activities. These are activities which often involve an educational element, such as learning about a Nuclear disaster or a ship wreck. Activities on this end of the scale are associated with an authentic experience, whereby the tourist visits an actual historical site or speaks with people who were involved. Examples might include visiting the Berlin Wall or Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

On the other end of the spectrum, activities tend to be of a more commercial nature. A Jack the Ripper themed funfair ride or a comical play based around the Black Plague are effectively romanticised versions of dark events or times in history. The intention is for the tourist to have fun and enjoy themselves, rather than to be educated about said historical reference.

The question is, why is dark tourism so popular? Why do we choose to visit places of death and tragedy? What is it that attracts us to such sorrow?

For many, it is purely the possibility of being able to emotionally absorb oneself in a place of tragedy. It is important for people to engage and immerse themselves in past history and culture . By visiting dark tourism sites, we are able to give ourselves time to reflect on history.

Dark tourism has close ties with educational tourism. Particularly in cases of darkest/darker tourism. For many people, this is a dominant, if not their main, motivation for being a dark tourist. Whilst dark tourism may not be a happy leisure experience, many people enjoy the educational aspect that comes with it. I know that I have certainly enjoyed visiting famous cemeteries and learning more about WW2 during my travels to Berlin and Poland .

Visitors of dark tourism sites are from a wide socio-demographic group. Motivations stem from educational purposes, the desire to understand past affairs, etc. Whilst other motivations stem from the desire to experience something different or new.

I recently watched a series on Netflix called The Dark Tourist. In this show, journalist David Farrier focuses on dark tourism and tourist behaviour towards popular dark tourism sites that are historically associated with death and/or tragedy.

In each episode, David travels to a different dark tourism destination. Some of these sites I have visited before and others I have now added to my bucket list. If you’re interested in learning more about dark tourism attractions around the world then this is a great show to watch!

If reading is more your thing, there are also a couple of really great books on dark tourism. Two of my favourites are Don’t Go There: From Chernobyl to North Korea—one man’s quest to lose himself and find everyone else in the world’s strangest places and The Dark Tourist: Sightseeing in the world’s most unlikely holiday destinations. Both books are comical repertoires of the authors’ adventures and mishaps when visiting dark tourism attractions around the world. This makes for some great like, leisurely reading over a glass of wine or a cup of tea!

Types of dark tourism

According to Stone (2006), there are seven main types of dark tourism sites.

Fun factories are essentially play centres. Whilst these are usually associated with children, they can also be aimed at adults. There are, for example, escape rooms which evolve around a dark theme, zombie chases or theatrical activities that all take place in dark fun factories.

There are many different dark exhibitions throughout the world. I visited several during my travels to Berlin that were focussed on the Holocaust. I visited exhibitions on the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia. I have been to exhibitions about the Vietnam War and many more.

Dark exhibitions are a good opportunity for tourists to learn about the dark histories or events of a destination in a respectful way.

Many destinations open their historical dungeons for public viewing. These may be in their original state or they may have been altered for tours. The London Dungeons, for example, have become rather ‘Disneyfied’, in the way that they encompass live actors, sensory activities and rides.

There are some really interesting cemeteries that I have visited throughout the world. Whilst visiting a graveyard might not be at the top of every tourists list, you might be surprised at just how busy these places can be! Some famous cemeteries that I have visited include the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the Recoleta Cemetery in Argentina and Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow. Did you know the Taj Mahal is also a dark resting place? Yep, I’ve been there too.  

There are many shrines throughout the world which are popular tourist attractions, perhaps the most famous being the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Shrines are especially popular in Asian countries.

Sites of conflict often become dark tourism sites once peace has been restored and a reasonable period of time has passed. One of the most interesting conflict sites that I have visited was Vietnam, where I learned all about the Vietnam War. The D-Day Beaches in France were also very interesting.

There are several areas of genocide which are popular with tourists. Whilst this is obviously a sad history, many people choose to visit sites such as Auschwitz or Karaganda, Kazakhstan to learn more about the history.

I think that Stone has missed out a key type of dark tourism in his list- disaster sites- so I will add this in below.

Disaster sites, whether in the immediate aftermath or after some time has passed, are popular with dark tourists. A subset of dark tourism, disaster tourism has increased in popularity in recent years. The recent documentary on Chernobyl, which was ranked the most highly user rated TV series ever, has helped raise awareness of disaster tourism amongst the public and tourism to this area has since increased significantly. I have written a detailed post on this topic, you can click here to read it: Disaster tourism: What, why and where .

There are a variety of types of disaster tourism that falls under the pillar of dark tourism, which include:

• Holocaust tourism
• Disaster tourism
• Grave tourism
• Cold war tourism
• Nuclear tourism
• Prison and persecution site tourism

Whilst each of these concepts are a type of tourism in their own right, they do share many similarities and are therefore classified together under the umbrella term of dark tourism.

So, is it really ethical to visit sites of death and tragedy? Or to photograph those who continue to sorrow for all that is lost? Or to take a selfie in a site of sadness? Many people do indeed question the ethics of taking part in dark tourism.

Take the response to the recent influx of Instagram photos taken in Chernobyl, for instance. There has been outrage, as shown in this newspaper article , at so-called ‘influencers’ and their inappropriate photographs taken at the historical nuclear site, where people have dressed up as scientists or posed in their underwear.

Whilst I think that most of us would agree that this is not sustainable tourist behaviour , there are a range of views as to what is appropriate and what is not when taking part in dark tourism.

As a general guide, however, here is a list of some of the behaviours demonstrated by dark tourists, which have been deemed offensive or inappropriate:

• Photographing people in moments of sorrow
• Smiling and laughing around those experiencing hardship
• Treating people as if they are museum exhibits
• Making inappropriate remarks
• Wearing disrespectful clothes
• Using inappropriate language
• Committing to disaster tourism for personal gain (e.g. personal satisfaction, to enhance CV etc)
• Making money from others’ hardships
• Talking loudly about unrelated issues
• Showing general signs of disrespect

Dark tourism destinations

There are a wide range of disaster tourism destinations (more than one would have imagined!), many of which would be overlooked as a dark tourism destination.

Below I have listed a few examples of dark tourism destinations, all of which demonstrate the different types of dark tourism as listed above.

Following the largest and most deadly Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz was turned into a memorial after the end of WWII. Auschwitz has been deemed the very epitome of all dark tourism.

Today, the memorial site is estimated to have welcomed almost 50 million tourists over its time. The tourist numbers have, in fact, become so high in recent years that the government have limited how many tickets to the area can be sold to tourists each day. I was caught out by this on my trip there a couple of years ago so my tip is to book ahead!

Chernobyl has been regarded as one of the worst nuclear disasters in History and I learnt a lot about this when I watched the recent documentary that was shown on TV.

Chernobyl is a very popular destination for dark tourism, however unlike Auschwitz, this destination remains a hazard and is to date a dangerous site to visit due to the radiation levels still pertinent.

It is interesting to read in a recent article published this month that booking numbers have increased by 30% in the last 3 months following the recent tv series on the disaster.

Hiroshima preserves the memory of the worlds first nuclear attack. An atomic bomb at Hiroshima killed more people in one instant than any other killing in history.

Hiroshima continues to promote itself as a symbol of peace rather than that of a devastated city.

In 2016, the number of visitors reached over 12 million. Over 11 million were domestic tourists , 323,000 were students on school trips, and 1,176,000 were international visitors.

Following one of the worlds worst terrorist attacks, the 9/11 memorial site is one of the world’s top dark tourism attractions and is one of the most visited sites of any kind.

Within the first 2 years of the memorial opening, over 10 million visitors arrived and a couple years later the total figure rose to over 23 million.

The Killing Fields are a collection of (more than 300) sites in Cambodia where over a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime.

This is a popular tourism attractions and often considered a ‘right of passage’ when backpacking around South East Asia. It is an educational and sorrowful site, highlighting an important time in Cambodia’s history.

One recent article has expressed the issues faced with the high volume of tourists visiting the Killing Fields. This is due to the number of tourists ‘leaving their mark’ and graffiting on prison walls.

Bikini Atoll is associated mainly with the nuclear testing programme that the United States of America conducted.

Unlike natural disasters, tourists could not flock to Bikini Atoll immediately after, and even to this day, Bikini Atoll remains an extremely hazardous place to visit despite the US granting its safety in 1997.

It is argued that disaster tourists are putting themselves at risk by travelling to Bikini Atoll. There is still a significant level of radiation in the area and the extent of the damage caused below sea level has not been determined.

This particular disaster is categorised as nuclear tourism under the umbrella of dark tourism.

Berlin was the capital of the socialist single party regime of the former GDR. Now it is referred to the as ‘fall of the Berlin Wall’.

Berlin is home to a number of Holocaust and WW2 exhibitions and is popular with educational tourists. I took a student group there a few years ago and I would definitely recommend it for anybody studying tourism or history.

There are other countries that similar experiences too, including dark tourism in Vienna .

Robben Island can be observed as a form of Prison and persecution site tourism. In fact the prison has been recognised and preserved as a UNWTO World Heritage Site.

Prior to its conservation, the Island was a standing prison during the colonial wars, particularly dominante by successive colonial powers (Dutch and British).

Nowadays, the prison is a tourist site welcoming thousands of tourists each year. The tour guides are mostly ex-inmates, providing the tourist with an authentic account of what the prison was like when it was in operation as well as a much needed source of employment for the staff member.

We visited during our trip to South Africa and found it very interesting and educational. I learnt a lot about Nelson Mandela and the history of Apartheid.

Rwanda is a small country in Central Africa and the place where one of the most tragic and largest genocides took place in 1994.

This is now a dark tourism site which is visited by many tourists each year.

One of the most interesting and unusual dark tourism sites that I have visited is Oradur Sur Glane .

In 1944, 642 villagers were massacred in Oradur Sur Glane. Shortly after the war, General Charles de Gaulle declared Oradour should never be rebuilt and instead it should remain a stark memorial to Nazi cruelty. It is fascinating (and eerie) because everything remains untouched to this day.

Have you ever watched the film Pompeii’?, If so then you will know exactly the history behind the city and what happened.

Pompeii has received an enormous amount of visitors and this may be the result of its publicity following its recent film. Before the film was released, Pompeii was attracted on average 2 million visitors annually, a number that remained very steady from 2002 onwards. However, following the release of the film, tourist numbers staggered upwards reaching over 3.5 million.

Another place that I have visited that was particularly memorable was the bone church known as Sedlec Ossuary.

We took a day trip from Prague to visit this unusual attraction, which was eerie and fascinating at the same time!

You can find out a bit more about the bone church in this video.

South of Mexico City, Don Julian Santana begun to hang dolls from treess and buildings as a protection against evil spirits. Today, the Island is known as ‘Island of the Dolls’. Dubbed as the ‘scariest place in Mexico’, it has now become a popular attraction with thrill-seeking dark tourists.

However, it has come to recent attention that the Island has been duplicated to fool tourists into believing they are visiting the original Island.

Now that we know a bit more about the concept of dark tourism, lets summarise the key points:

• Dark tourism involves visiting places associated with death, tragedy, and suffering.
• Dark tourism is a controversial form of tourism that raises ethical concerns.

Dark tourism has been around for centuries, but the term “dark tourism” was only coined in the 1990s.

• Some of the most popular dark tourism destinations include Auschwitz, Ground Zero, and the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
• Dark tourism can be educational and help people understand and appreciate history.
• Dark tourism can also be seen as exploitative and disrespectful to the victims and their families.
• Responsible tourism practices should be followed when engaging in dark tourism.
• The motivations for engaging in dark tourism vary, including curiosity, historical interest, and a desire to pay respects to the victims.
• Dark tourism can have positive economic impacts on local communities.
• Overall, dark tourism is a complex and nuanced form of tourism that requires careful consideration and reflection.

Lastly, lets finish off this article by answering some of the most commonly asked questions on this topic.

Dark tourism refers to travel to places that are associated with death, tragedy, and suffering.

What are some examples of dark tourism destinations?

Examples of dark tourism destinations include Auschwitz, Ground Zero, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Is dark tourism ethical?

The ethics of dark tourism are debated. Some people argue that it can be educational and help preserve historical memory, while others believe that it can be exploitative and disrespectful to the victims and their families.

What are some of the motivations for engaging in dark tourism?

Some people are motivated by curiosity, historical interest, a desire to pay respects to the victims, or a desire to challenge their own perceptions and beliefs.

Are there any risks associated with dark tourism?

Some dark tourism destinations may have physical or psychological risks, such as exposure to radiation or disturbing images.

How can I engage in responsible dark tourism?

Responsible dark tourism involves being respectful of the victims and their families, supporting local communities, and being aware of the impact of your visit.

Is dark tourism a new phenomenon?

Can dark tourism be beneficial for local economies?

Yes, dark tourism can bring economic benefits to local communities through increased tourism and job opportunities.

Can dark tourism be educational?

Yes, dark tourism can be educational and help people understand and appreciate history and its impact on society.

Should children be allowed to engage in dark tourism?

Whether children should be allowed to engage in dark tourism depends on the age of the child and the destination being visited. Parents should carefully consider the potential risks and impact on the child’s emotional well-being.

Dark tourism is an interesting concept that has reaped increased attention from both academics and the public in recent years. Whether you are visiting a cemetery, taking part in a zombie race or providing relief after a natural disaster, the opportunities to take part in dark tourism activities are far ranging.

It is fairly clear that there are a number of different types of tourism that all fall under the umbrella of dark tourism. And with the different types of dark tourism, comes a variety of different tourist motivations to visit.

However, despite the different motivations, there are still unresolved ethical concerns that need addressing. From inappropriate selfies to taking photos of people who are grieving, there are differing opinions on whether dark tourism is right or wrong.

If you enjoyed this article, I am sure you will love these too:

• What Sustainable Tourism Is + Why It Is The Most Important Consideration Right Now
• The Shocking Truth About Sex tourism
• What is sports tourism and why it is so big?
• What is responsible tourism and why does it matter?
• What is ethical tourism and why is it important?

Liked this article? Click to share!

Dark Tourist

Hasanthika sirisena.

184 pp. 5.5 x 8.5 6 b&w illus. Pub Date: December, 2021

Subjects: Creative Nonfiction

Series: 21st Century Essays

Imprint: Mad Creek

• Book Description
• About the Author
• Table of Contents

Finalist for the 2022 LAMBDA literary award in bisexual nonfiction

Winner of the 2021 Gournay Prize .

“Sirisena’s searching spirit leaves readers with plenty to dig into.” — Publishers Weekly

Read an excerpt from the book on Lit Hub .

“Hasanthika Sirisena does what I love most as a reader of nonfiction—she challenges, disrupts, and reinvents the form. This astute book knits seemingly disparate events of the personal, political, and cultural persuasion into a cohesive quilt. An insightful storyteller who examines disability, queerness, her Sinhalese roots, as well as ‘great love under duress,’ Sirisena is also a critic at heart who scrupulously dissects political upheaval.” —Anjali Enjeti,  The Millions

“Intuitively arranged. …The complexity and breadth of  Dark Tourist  complements Sirisena’s own take on meaning-making and art. … [It] works as a collection not because of its tight cohesion but because of its moments of rupture and surprise.” —Ilana Masad,  BOMB

“Shimmers with honesty, vulnerability, and circumspection.”— Kirkus

“The essays of  Dark Tourist  ring with depth and unexpected associations, and Hasanthika Sirisena writes them as if her life depended on it. With an insistent and probing style, she examines art and illness, exclusion and familial bonds, violence and pride, teasing out the many ways these subjects ricochet off one another over the course of a well-observed life.” —Elena Passarello, author of  Animals Strike Curious Poses  

“ Amidst the contexts of immigration, war, illness, and the comforts to be found in art, Sirisena invites us to pay closer attention to what we see and admire. These brilliant pieces offer portraits of courage for those whose ambitions have been sobered by grief. With lyricism and wit, Sirisena’s voice resounds with piercing beauty.” —Wendy S. Walters, author of  Multiply/Divide: On the American Real and Surreal

Dark tourism—visiting sites of war, violence, and other traumas experienced by others— takes different forms in Hasanthika Sirisena’s stunning excavation of the unexpected places (and ways) in which personal identity and the riptides of history meet. The 1961 plane crash that left a nuclear warhead buried near her North Carolina hometown, juxtaposed with reflections on her father’s stroke. A visit to Jaffna in Sri Lanka—the country of her birth, yet where she is unmistakably a foreigner—to view sites from the recent civil war, already layered over with the narratives of the victors. A fraught memory of her time as a young art student in Chicago that is uneasily foundational to her bisexual, queer identity today. The ways that life-changing impairments following a severe eye injury have shaped her thinking about disability and self-worth.

Deftly blending reportage, cultural criticism, and memoir, Sirisena pieces together facets of her own sometimes-fractured self to find wider resonances with the human universals of love, sex, family, and art—and with language’s ability to both fail and save us.  Dark Tourist  becomes then about finding a home, if not in the world, at least within the limitless expanse of the page.

Hasanthika Sirisena (she/they) is a writer and cartoonist and a faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of the short story collection The Other One .

Acknowledgments

Part I   Loss . . .

Broken Arrow

In the Presence of God I Make This Vow

Pretty Girl Murdered

Confessions of a Dark Tourist

Abecedarian for the Abeyance of Loss

Amblyopia: A Medical History

Part II  . . . and Recovery

Soft Target

The Answer Key

Six Drawing Lessons

Punctum, Studium, and The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”

Related Titles:

How to Make a Slave and Other Essays

Jerald Walker

On Our Way Home from the Revolution

Reflections on Ukraine

Sonya Bilocerkowycz

Apocalypse, Darling

Barrie Jean Borich

Dark tourism: motivations and visit intentions of tourists

International Hospitality Review

ISSN : 2516-8142

Article publication date: 8 July 2021

Issue publication date: 14 June 2022

The overall purpose of this study is to utilize the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in combination with four dark tourism constructs (dark experience, engaging entertainment, unique learning experience, and casual interest) to gain a better understanding of behaviors and intentions of tourists who have visited or plan to visit a dark tourism location.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1,068 useable questionnaires was collected via Qualtrics Panels for analysis purposes. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to verify satisfactory reliability and validity regarding the measurement of model fit. With adequate model fit, structural equation modeling was employed to determine positive and negative relationships between TPB and dark tourism constructs. In all, 11 hypotheses statements were tested within this study.

Results of this study indicate that tourists are curious, interested, and intrigued by dark experiences with paranormal activity, resulting in travel choices made for themselves based on personal beliefs and preferences, with minimal outside influence from others. It was determined that dark experience was the most influential of the dark tourism constructs tested in relationship to attitudes and subjective norm.

Research limitations/implications

The data collected for this study were collected using Qualtrics Panels with self-reporting participants. The actual destination visited by survey participants was also not factored into the results of this research study.

Originality/value

This study provides a new theoretical research model that merges TPB and dark tourism constructs and established that there is a relationship between TPB constructs and dark tourism.

Dark tourism

• Thanatourism
• Motivations
• Theory of planned behaviour

Lewis, H. , Schrier, T. and Xu, S. (2022), "Dark tourism: motivations and visit intentions of tourists", International Hospitality Review , Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 107-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/IHR-01-2021-0004

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Heather Lewis, Thomas Schrier and Shuangyu Xu

Published in International Hospitality Review . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Dark tourism is defined as the act of tourists traveling to sites of death, tragedy, and suffering ( Foley and Lennon, 1996 ). This past decade marks a significant growth of dark tourism with increasing number of dark tourists ( Lennon and Foley, 2000 ; Martini and Buda, 2018 ). More than 2.1 million tourists visited Auschwitz Memorial in 2018 (visitor numbers, 2019), and 3.2 million tourists visited the Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial annually (a year in review, 2017). Despite of the increasing popularity, there is still limited understanding of dark tourism as a multi-faceted phenomenon ( Biran et al. , 2011 ) . Some research has looked into the motivations and experience of dark tourists ( Poria et al. , 2004 ; Poria et al. , 2006 ). However, most were based on conceptual frameworks and arguments with little empirical data, even less have examined tourist visit intentions to dark tourism sites ( Zhang et al. , 2016 ), let alone the association between dark tourists' motivations and visit intentions. Many scholars suggested the pressing needs for empirical research into dark tourism from tourist perspectives to understand their motivations and experiences ( Seaton and Lennon, 2004 ; Sharpley and Stone, 2009 ; Zhang et al. , 2016 ). Of the limited empirical dark tourism studies, most were case studies with historical battlefields and concentration camps being the hot spots ( Le and Pearce, 2011 ; Lennon and Foley, 1999 ; Miles, 2002 ). Still, a comprehensive understanding of dark tourists' motivations and their intentions to visit is lacking.

As such, this study was conducted to understand both the motivations and visit intentions of tourists to dark tourism destinations. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs ( attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control) and the four dark tourism dimensions (i.e. dark experience, engaging entertainment, unique learning experience, and casual interest ) were utilized to address the following objectives: (1) examine the motivations of dark tourists; (2) investigate the intentions of the dark tourists to visit a dark tourism destination in the next 12 months; and (3) explore the association between the motivations and visit intentions of dark tourists. The dark tourism dimensions utilized for this study were adapted supported by previous dark tourism studies ( Biran et al. , 2014 ; Bissell, 2009 ; Lam and Hsu, 2006 ; Molle and Bader, 2014 ). While many studies have utilized TPB in the past, this study will utilize the TPB to focus attention on why travelers are motivated to visit dark tourism locations specifically.

Literature review

Travels associated with death dates back for centuries ( Dale and Robinson, 2011 ). Early examples of dark tourism include Roman gladiator games, guided tours to watch hangings in England, and pilgrimages to medieval executions ( Stone, 2006 ). Even today, many tourists are fascinated with and thus visited sites of death and tragedy such as the John F. Kennedy's death site in Dallas, Texas, and the Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial in New York ( Foley and Lennon, 1996 ; Strange and Kempa, 2003 ). Abandoned prisons and sites of punishment and incarcerations are also popular attractions among dark tourists (e.g., Pentridge in Melbourne, Australia; Foley and Lennon, 1996 ). However, the term dark tourism did not get introduced to the research community until 1996 which ignited many later research efforts on this topic ( Light, 2017 ).

Dark tourism is defined as the act of tourists traveling to sites of death, tragedy, and suffering ( Foley and Lennon, 1996 ). Many scholars also came up with other terms and labels to describe such phenomenon including thanatourism ( Seaton, 1996 ), disaster tourism ( Rojek, 1993 ), black spot tourism ( Rojek, 1993 ), morbid tourism ( Blom, 2000 ) and even phoenix tourism ( Powell et al. , 2018 ). Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) suggested that despite of different names, at the heart of the concept is travel to places of death that are often linked to violence ( Robb, 2009 ). Many researchers use the term dark tourism and thanatourism interchangeably, while more tend to use dark tourism as an umbrella term for any form of tourism that is somehow related to death, suffering, atrocity, tragedy or crime ( Light, 2017 ). Given the standard use of the term dark tourism in the practice and scholarship of tourism, such a term will be used throughout this manuscript.

Dark tourism research in this past two decades mainly covers six themes including the discussion on definition, concepts, and typologies; the associated ethical issues; the political and ideological dimensions; the nature of demand for dark tourism locations; site management; and the methods used for research ( Light, 2017 ). The area of terminology and definitions undoubtedly dominates in the dark tourism literature ( Zhang et al. , 2016 ). While in the area of exploring the nature of demand for dark tourism locations, the relatively limited research concentrated in four aspects – both the motivations and experiences of dark tourists, the relationship between visiting and sense of identity, and new approaches to theorizing the consumption of dark tourism ( Light, 2017 ).

Research addressing dark tourists' motivations were relatively slow. Many early studies simply postulate and propose tourists' motivations to visit dark tourism sites, with a lack of empirical research to support ( Light, 2017 ). As such, many studies in the past decade examined dark tourists' motivations through different case studies, with concentration camps or historical battlefields being the hot spots ( Lennon and Foley, 1999 ; Miles, 2002 ). Research reveals that tourists visit dark tourism destinations for a wide variety of reasons, such as curiosity ( Biran et al. , 2014 ; Isaac and Cakmak, 2014 ), desire for education and learning about what happened at the site ( Kamber et al. , 2016 ; Yan et al. , 2016 ), interest in history or death ( Yankholmes and McKercher, 2015 ; Raine, 2013 ), connecting with one's personal or family heritage ( Mowatt and Chancellor, 2011 ; Le and Pearce, 2011 ). Drawing from literature, four common themes (i.e. dark experience, engaging entertainment, unique learning experience, casual interest) emerged, served as the foundational pillars for this study, and were discussed below.

The motivation construct

Dark experience.

Raine's (2013) dark tourist spectrum study of tourists visiting burial grounds and graveyards concluded that mourners and pilgrims had personal and spiritual connections to the different sites being studied. Mourners visited specific gravesites and usually would perform meditations for the dead. Pilgrims had a personal connection to specific burial sites in some way, whether it is a religious connection to the individual or they served as a personal hero ( Raine, 2013 ). Death rites are often performed as a ritual not necessarily to mark the passing of the deceased but rather to heal the wounds of families, communities, societies, and/or nations by the deceased's passing ( Bowman and Pezzullo, 2009 ).

Additionally, Raine's (2013) study discovered another subset of tourists—the morbidly curious and thrill seekers. Those classified as morbidly curious or thrill seekers were visiting burial sites to confront and experience death. Whether a mourner or pilgrim or the morbidly curious thrill seeker, the tourists had a strong connection to the dead they were there to visit which could categorize them as seeking a dark experience.

To take dark tourism to the extreme, Miller and Gonzalez (2013) completed a study on death tourism. Death tourism occurs when individuals travel to a location to end their lives, often through a means of assisted medical suicide. It was determined that this is still a taboo topic for some countries where it is not legalized, however it is gaining more publicity. It was determined that death tourism is typically the result of one of four reasons; the primary reason death tourism is planned is because of assisted suicide being illegal in the traveler's home country ( Miller and Gonzalez, 2013 ). While death tourism does not directly apply to this particular study, it is an offspring of dark tourism and is a tourist activity that is related to dark experience.

Dark Experience will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Dark Experience will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

Engaging Entertainment

Engaging Entertainment will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Engaging Entertainment will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

Unique learning experience

Unique Learning Experience will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Unique Learning Experience will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

Casual interest

Casual Interest will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Casual Interest will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

Behavioral intention, defined as an individual's anticipated or planned future behavior ( Swan, 1981 ), has been suggested as a central factor that correlates strongly with observed behavior ( Baloglu, 2000 ). Many believed that intentions serve as an immediate antecedent to actual behavior ( Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975 ; Konu and Laukkanen, 2010 ). Fishbein and Ajzen developed the Theory of planned behavior (TPB) base on three constructs: attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been widely used in tourism research ( Ajzen and Driver, 1992 ; Han et al. , 2010 ; Han and Kim, 2010 ; Lam and Hsu, 2004 , 2006 ). TPB suggests that individuals are more likely to engage in behaviors that are believed to be achievable ( Armitage and Conner, 2001 ). Ajzen (1991) suggested that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are important to predict intention. Perceived behavioral control is what influences the tourists' intentions and their perception of their ability to perform a specific behavior.

Lam and Hsu (2004) utilized the TPB to examine motivations of travelers from mainland China to Hong Kong and found that attitude, perceived behavioral control, and past behaviors were directly related to travel intentions. In another study examining the visit intentions of Taiwanese travelers to Hong Kong, Lam and Hsu (2006) found that a positive association between visit frequency and re-visit intention.

Cheng et al. (2006) used the TPB to examine the negative word-of-mouth communication on visit intentions of Chinese consumers to high-class Chinese restaurants. It was determined from their study that the TPB constructs were positively impacted by negative word-of-mouth indicating that the TPB effectively measured consumer communication intention. Similarly, Han and Kim (2010) modified the TPB in the investigation of customers' intention to revisit environmentally friendly hotels and found that past behavior was a significant predictor of intention–the more customers stay at a green hotel, the more likely they intend to revisit. It can be concluded from previous research efforts that the TPB can be utilized to effectively measure behavioral intentions of tourists successfully.

Motivation and intentions

Attitudes will have a positive relationship with Intention

Subjective Norm will have a negative relationship with Intention

Perceived Behavioral Control will have a positive relationship with Intention

Methodology

Survey instrument.

A survey questionnaire was developed to collect information on the socio-demographic background, motivation construct, and planned behavior construct from tourists. Socio-demographic data queried were age in years (continuous), gender (3 categories, male, female and prefer not to answer), level of education (9 categories, from less than high school degree to doctoral degree), marital status (5 categories, from single to widow/widower), personal annual income (12 categories, from less than $20,000 to more than $200,000). Tourists' home residence state and country were also collected.

A dark tourism motivation construct was developed based on previous studies ( Biran et al. , 2014 ; Bissell, 2009 ; Lam and Hsu, 2006 ; Molle and Bader, 2014 ), and used to query previous visit and potential visit separately using a five-point Likert scale (“1 = extremely unimportant”; “5 = extremely important”). This motivation construct consists of 33 item statements from four dimensions ( Table 1 ) which include engaging entertainment, dark experience , unique learning experience , and casual interest . Dark experience consisted of nine statements, related to death, fascination with abnormal and/or bizarre events and destinations, and emotional experiences with a connection to death (e.g., “to travel”, “to have some entertainment”). Engaging entertainment was measured using ten statements that inquire about the personal or emotional connection to the destination they have visited or wish to visit in the future (e.g., “to witness the act of death and dying”, “to experience paranormal activity”). Unique learning experience focused on learning about the history of the destination being visited or trying something that is different and out of the ordinary (eight items, e.g., “to try something new”, “to increase knowledge”). Casual interest focuses on individuals who want to visit a dark tourism destination for the entertainment value but want to have a relaxing time while doing so (six items, “special tour promotions”, “natural scenery”).

The planned behavior construct queried on four dimensions (i.e., attitudes , subjective norms , perceived behavioral control , and behavioral intentions ) associated with visiting dark tourism destinations, with a total of 16 item statements ( Table 2 ). Five item statements were used to measure dark tourists' attitudes (e.g., “visiting a dark tourism destination is enjoyable”, “visiting a dark tourism destination is pleasant”) and behavioral intentions (e.g., “I will visit a dark tourism destination in the next 12 months”, “I would revisit the most recent dark tourism destination I visited again in the future”) respectively, using a five-point Likert scale (“1 = Strongly disagree”; “5 = Strongly agree”). Dark tourists' perceived behavioral control was measured by three item statements (e.g., “I am in control of whether or not I visit a dark tourism destination”, “If wanted, I could easily afford to visit a dark tourism destination”), using the same five-point Likert scale (“1 = Strongly disagree”; “5 = Strongly agree”). For subjective norms dimension, each of the three item statements was measured by a different five-point Likert scale. The statement that “most people I know would choose a dark tourism destination for vacation purposes” uses the scale in which “1 = strongly disagree”, “5 = strongly agree”. One item statement asks individuals to rate on whether “people who are important to me think I ____ choose a dark tourism destination to visit” “1 = definitely should not”, “5 = definitely should”). Another statement asks individuals to rate whether “people who are important to me would ___ of my visit to a dark tourism destination” “1 = definitely disapprove”, “5 = definitely approve”).

Sampling and procedure

To increase the reliability and validity of the survey, a pilot study was conducted. A small group of industry professionals from all over the country currently working at dark tourism destinations and other academic researchers were invited to critique the initial draft of the survey. Forty-one individuals took the survey instrument and provided feedback (e.g., some wording issues). After revisions from the pilot study were completed, the survey was launched, and data was collected.

Qualtrics, a web-based survey software company with access to an electronic database of survey candidates, was used to administer this questionnaire to participants. A total of 44,270 invitations were randomly sent to Qualtrics panel participants requesting participation in this study. Qualification of participants was completed by requesting all survey recipients answer the following questions: (1) Have you visited a dark tourism location within the past 24 months? and (2) Do you plan to visit a dark tourism location within the next 12 months? A statement was provided to all participants explaining what consisted of a dark tourism location to ensure participants were not taking the survey based on experiences of activities like haunted houses or haunted hayrides. Only 3,907 individuals were eligible to complete the survey, and a total of 1,068 participants did complete the survey, which yields a response rate of 27.3%. Altogether 651 out of 1,068 individuals had previously visited a dark tourism destination within the last 24 months while the remaining 417 individuals plan to visit a dark tourism destination within the next 12 months.

Data analysis included descriptive statistics, reliability tests, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). Descriptive statistics were used to outline respondents' characteristics (e.g., demographic composition). CFA was utilized to evaluate the measurement model, demonstrate adequate model fit, and ensure satisfactory levels of reliability and validity of underlying variables and their respective factors. Factor loadings greater than 0.70 indicated that the constructs are appropriately represented and considered acceptable ( Hair et al. , 2010 ). Cronbach's alphas were computed to test the internal reliability of items comprising each dimension of the dark tourism motivation construct ( dark experience , engaging entertainment , unique learning experience , casual interest ) and the planned behavior construct ( attitudes , subjective norm , perceived behavioral control ), respectively. A cutoff value of 0.7 was utilized to determine “good” reliability ( Peterson, 1994 , p. 381).

To confirm measurement model validity, the chi-squared ( x 2 ) statistic, Root-Mean-Square-Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) values were reviewed. Cutoff criteria used to determine “good fit” were RMSEA score < 0.08 ( Byrne, 1998 ), CFI scores > 0.90 ( Kline, 2005 ), SRMR < 0.08 to indicate a good fit ( Hu and Bentler, 1999 ).

Overwhelmingly, many tourists who had either visited a dark tourism location or plan to visit a dark tourism destination were female (65.4%). Additionally, the majority of participants were 25–34 years of age (44.2%) with the next largest age groups being 35–44 years (21%) and 18–24 years (20.9%). Most had either a 4-years Bachelor's degree from college (30.5%) or at least some college education but did not finish their degree (25.3%). 54.5% of the survey participants were married and 37.6% were single. As for income, the largest percentage (19.5%) had an individual annual income ranging from $20,001-$40,000. A full table of demographic characteristics of the participants can be seen in Table 3 .

Partial disaggregation of measurement model

SEM was utilized to investigate the relationships among dark tourism construct, the planned behavior construct and behavioral intentions. Like the CFA testing, the SEM also uses the chi-squared ( x 2 ) , RMSEA, SRMR, and CFI to determine overall model fit and relationships for this study. After further testing for convergent and discriminant validity, it was determined that all constructs met the composite reliability 0.70 or greater standard regarding the 3-parcel hypothesized model ( Table 4 ) ( Hair et al. , 2010 ).

There are several ways to parcel variables into groupings. For purposes of this study, the variables were parceled using the item-to-construct method since the SEM model was large in size and the goal was to have parcels balanced in terms of difficulty and discrimination ( Little et al. , 2002 ). To develop the parcels, standardized regression weights were evaluated, and the three highest scores served as anchors to each of the three parcels with the highest values associated to parcel 1, next highest to parcel 2, and then the next highest to parcel 3. The remainder of variables were placed into the parcels continuing with the 4th highest value placed into the 3rd parcel and repeating the process in inverted order until all variables were assigned into parcels. Once the variables for each construct were placed into appropriate parcel groupings, averages of the questions associated to the new parceled variables were calculated prior to the CFA and SEM analysis. The attitude and behavioral intention constructs had five variable questions, while subjective norm and perceived behavioral control only had three questions. In those situations, one individual variable question served as the parcel item. Table 2 shows the variables and the parcels in which they were grouped.

Additionally, the average variance extracted was calculated and proved to be less than the composite reliability for each construct indicating convergent reliability of the constructs. The average variance extracted was greater than the 0.50 standard for Dark Experience, Engaging Entertainment, Unique Learning Experience, Attitude, and Subjective Norm constructs. Behavioral Intention (0.49) and Casual Interest (0.48) had values that were borderline acceptable regarding convergent validity. The only construct that did not meet the standards of convergent validity testing was Perceived Behavioral Control (0.23). When testing for divergent validity, all square-root of average variance extracted calculations were greater than the inter-construct correlations indicating divergent validity was present in this study. Partial disaggregation of the variables resulted in a much stronger overall model fit. The RMSEA value was 0.08 indicating a strong model fit and the CFI (0.891) value was acceptable indicating a good model fit. The SRMR value (0.06, Table 4 ) also showed a strong model fit.

Hypothesis testing

Overall, most of the relationships between the dark tourism construct and the TPB constructs were significant. Results show that dark experience has a positive significant relationship with both attitudes (0.434) regarding tourists visiting a dark tourism destination and subjective norms (0.242, Table 5 ). Casual interest has a positive significant relationship with both attitudes (0.404) and subjective norm (0.330). Both engaging entertainment (−0.080; −0.217) and unique learning experience (0.152; −0.247) are not significantly associated with neither attitudes nor subjective norms . Results show that both attitudes (0.396) and perceived behavioral control (0.716) have a significant positive relationship with behavioral intention .

SEM testing was completed on the data. In addition to the significant and insignificant relationships indicated by the SEM testing, to answer some of the specific research questions asked by this study one must review the distinct question factor loadings to get those answers. A full set of the factor loadings of survey questions asked regarding dark tourism and TPB constructs are in Table 1 . A visualization of all hypothesis testing results is in Table 5 as well as on Figure 1 .

It can be concluded from the findings of this research that dark experience has a positive relationship with attitudes regarding tourists visiting a dark tourism location, indicating that Hypothesis 1 was fully supported. Tourists seek specific characteristics when choosing to visit a dark tourism destination. Akin to findings from Bissell (2009) , the reasons for visiting: I want to try something new and out of the ordinary as well as I am fascinated with abnormal and bizarre events were strong. Alone these two variables do not constitute wanting to experience dark tourism but suggest a curiosity about dark tourism and a desire for new experiences ( Seaton and Lennon, 2004 ). Individuals answered favorably to all questions related to interest in experiencing paranormal activity. Although Sharpley (2005) suggested “fascination with death” as a potential motive for tourists to visit dark tourism destinations, questions specifically related to death (i.e., to witness the act of death and dying , to satisfy personal curiosity about how the victims died ) , reveal that fascination with death and dying was not a strong motivating factor for the tourists' who participated in this research study. The positive relationships of dark experience with attitudes ( H1 ) and subjective norm ( H2 ) , respectively, implies that tourists are seeking experiences that satisfy curiosity or they are seeking interaction with the paranormal. Tourists seek a fun and enjoyable tourist experience by visiting dark tourism destinations, and do not feel pressured by societal norms of their friends and family, which may prevent them from visiting dark tourism destinations.

The engaging entertainment dimension regarding both attitude ( H3 ) and subjective ( H4 ) was not supported in this study, which is interesting considering the questions in this dimension were developed to determine the importance of the tourists connecting with the information presented at the destination while still having an enjoyable experience.

Like Raine (2013) , this study considered the unique learning experience dimension to include individuals who are hobbyists and are typically visiting these destinations solely for educational purposes and to not engage with the destination as a dark tourism site. To present an alternative consideration to the construct of unique learning experience, Seaton (1996) determined that the more attached a person was to a destination, the less likely they would be fascinated with death, resulting in the tourists not viewing the dark tourism destination as being “dark”. This thought process may be a possibility of explanation for why the relationships were negative between unique learning experience and the TPB constructs, resulting in both Hypothesis 5 and 6 not being supported. Farmaki (2013) strengthens this argument by determining that many tourists visit museums for the purpose of education, but museums will incorporate the concept of death to enhance the tourist experience.

Results from this study also indicate that participants of this study were not traveling to dark tourism destinations for educational purposes. Additionally, results indicate that individuals who were perhaps traveling for the purposes of unique learning experience had negative feelings or experiences with subjective norms, lending to the belief that their family and friends were not supportive of their choice to visit a dark tourism destination.

Raine (2013) discovered a group of tourists she classified as sightseers and passive recreationalists. These tourists can be themed as “incidental” as they were likely not seeking a dark tourism destination related to death and burials, but instead were looking for a destination to escape from everyday life. These statements can easily be supported by this research study as Hypotheses 7 and 8 were both positively supported in relationship to casual interest and attitudes ( H7 ) and subjective norm ( H8 ). The questions asked in this study specifically relate to value of tours, special promotions, and enjoying time with friends and family.

Individuals were seeking attitudinal experiences through their visits to dark tourism destinations, supporting Hypothesis 9 . Unlike the results from Lam and Hsu (2004) , subjective norms do play a role in behavioral intentions. This study found that the influence of societal norms and pressures do influence tourists' intention to visit dark tourism destinations, lending to Hypothesis 10 not being supported as expected. Regarding perceived behavioral control, when tourists feel capable and in control of their tourism choices, it will positively impact their behavioral intention or likelihood of visiting a dark tourism destination, supporting Hypothesis 11 .

Practical implications

Practitioners working in tourism industries and communities of dark tourism destinations can greatly benefit from the results of this study. Managers of dark tourism destinations must realize that visitors are attracted to these locations for many different reasons ( Bissell, 2009 ) and not just for fascination of death or paranormal activity. While this research does not focus specifically on individual motivating factors that influence behavior to visit, overarching attributes were determined to influence behavioral intentions more than others. The significant positive relationships found in this study between dark experience, unique learning experience, and casual interest suggest dark tourism destination managers offer a variety of tours and services to visitors and should be sensitive in how they display or present information so it does not come across as being offensive to tourists in the event they have strong emotional ties to the destination or individual(s) who may have been a victim at the destination.

Due to the broad nature of this study and its data collection efforts, the dark tourism locations visited by participants varied greatly. It can be concluded from the data that the use of television and contemporary media featuring dark tourism locations does positively influence tourists' behavioral intention to visit. Variables related to dark tourism destinations featured on television shows were more strongly favored in relationship to the dark experience construct than engaging entertainment. This indicates that tourists are curious about what they have seen on television or mass media and want to experience similar. Managers of dark tourism destinations featured on television shows should effectively market their locations as such to increase interest and tourism traffic to their destination. If paranormal tours are not currently being offered this would be a recommendation (if applicable) to generate more tourism interest.

Additionally, due to the increased popularity and reliance on websites and social media platforms for information, practitioners should register their location on dark tourism websites and registries so more curious travelers can easily locate them. Utilizing TripAdvisor.com and other similar travel websites is another option for practitioners to generate tourism interest to their destination. Making information readily available and easy to locate for tourists will continue to strengthen the relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention. Additionally, considering societal norms had a positive relationship with dark tourism constructs within this study, practitioners could market their destination as being taboo to tourists wanting to satisfy their rebellious curiosity.

Limitations and future research

This study has several limitations. Since the data was collected using Qualtrics Panels, potential participants are asked to self-report and assess whether they are eligible dark tourists for this study, based on given definition of dark tourism. Such self-assessment may not always be precise. If adopting this survey method, future research may consider asking participations to provide the specific dark tourism destination type that they have visited in the past 24 months, to help further confirm their eligibility for study participation. It is also recommended that if time and resources permit, future research consider collecting data on-site at dark tourism destinations. Also, this research study did not take into consideration the type of dark tourism destination visited by the respondents. Dark tourism destinations vary in the levels of violence and death that are associated with them ( Seaton, 1996 ; Stone, 2006 ). Future research can investigate additional motivational factors of tourists to visit dark tourism destinations with varying levels of darkness associated to them.

Most of the previous studies are case studies with historical battlefields and concentration camps being the hot spot for tourist activity. It is important and yet lacking to explore the general pattern of the association between motivations and visit intentions to dark tourism sites in general. Ryan and Kohli (2006) suggested there are differences between dark tourism destinations created by natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes in Sichuan, China; Biran et al. , 2014 ) and those that were sites of death at the hand of man (e.g., Auschwitz concentration camp). Moreover, Zhang et al. (2016) were among the few that explored the associated between motivation and association, but only on college students at one specific site. Although this study is inclusive of different dark tourist groups and dark tourism sites, future research may consider factoring in such difference in dark tourism destinations while exploring dark tourist motivations and visit intensions.

Conclusions

This study serves as exploratory research examining the association between tourist motivations and visit intentions and paves the way for future research in dark tourism. This study contributes to the dark tourism literature by proposing a new theoretical framework linking and extending dark tourism motivation construct with the Planned Behavior Construct. Study results can also benefit practitioners in dark tourism sector.

Graphic representation of theoretical framework and hypothesis testing results

Factor loadings for dark tourism variables

Partial disaggregation parcel groupings of TPB variables

Demographic characteristics of survey participants

CFAs of nested models

Full-data set hypothesis testing results

Ajzen , I. ( 1991 ), “ The theory of planned behavior ”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , Vol. 50 , pp. 179 - 211 .

Ajzen , I. and Driver , B.L. ( 1992 ), “ Application of the theory of planned behavior to leisure choice ”, Journal of Leisure Research , Vol. 24 No. 3 , pp. 207 - 224 .

Alegre , J. and Cladera , M. ( 2009 ), “ Analysing the effect of satisfaction and previous visits on tourist intentions to return ”, European Journal of Marketing , Vol. 43 Nos 5-6 , pp. 670 - 685 , doi: 10.1108/03090560910946990 .

Armitage , C.J. and Conner , M. ( 2001 ), “ Efficacy of the theory of planned behaviour: a meta-analytic review ”, British Journal of Social Psychology , Vol. 40 , pp. 471 - 499 .

Baloglu , S. ( 2000 ), “ A path analytic model of visitation intention involving information sources, socio-psychological motivations, and destination image ”, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing , Vol. 8 No. 3 , pp. 81 - 90 , doi: 10.1300/j073v08n03_05 .

Biran , A. , Poria , Y. and Oren , G. ( 2011 ), “ Sought experiences at dark heritage sites ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 38 , pp. 820 - 841 , doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2010.12.001 .

Biran , A. , Liu , W. , Li , G. and Eichhorn , V. ( 2014 ), “ Consuming post-disaster destinations: the case of Sichuan, China ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 47 , pp. 1 - 17 .

Bissell , L.J. ( 2009 ), Understanding Motivation and Perception at Two Dark Tourism Attractions in Winnipeg, MB , Thesis , University of Manitoba , Print .

Blom , T. ( 2000 ), “ Morbid tourism: a postmodern market niche with an example from Althorp ”, Norsk-Geografisk Tidsskrift--Norwegian Journal of Geography , Vol. 54 No. 1 , pp. 29 - 36 .

Bowman , M. and Pezzullo , P. ( 2009 ), “ What's so ‘dark’ about dark tourism?: death, tours, and performance ”, Tourist Studies , Vol. 9 No. 3 , pp. 187 - 202 .

Byrne , B.M. ( 1998 ), Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming , Lawrence Erlbaum , Mahwah, NJ .

Cheng , S. , Lam , T. and Hsu , C. ( 2006 ), “ Negative word-of-mouth communication intention: an application of the theory of planned behavior ”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research , Vol. 30 No. 1 , pp. 95 - 116 .

Conner , M. and Abraham , C. ( 2001 ), “ Conscientiousness and the theory of planned behavior: toward a more complete model of the antecedents of intentions and behavior ”, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , Vol. 27 No. 11 , pp. 1547 - 1561 , doi: 10.1177/01461672012711014 .

Crompton , J.L. ( 1979 ), “ Motivations for pleasure vacation ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 6 No. 4 , pp. 408 - 424 .

Dale , C. and Robinson , N. ( 2011 ), “ Research themes for tourism ”, Dark Tourism , CABI , pp. 205 - 2017 .

Farmaki , A. ( 2013 ), “ Dark tourism revisited: a supply/demand conceptualisation ”, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research , Vol. 7 No. 3 , pp. 281 - 292 .

Fishbein , M. and Ajzen , I. ( 1975 ), Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , Addison-Wesley , Reading, MA .

Foley , M. and Lennon , J. ( 1996 ), “ JFK and dark tourism: a fascination with assassination ”, International Journal of Heritage Studies , Vol. 2 No. 4 , pp. 198 - 211 .

Hair , J.F. , Black , W.C. , Babin , B.J. and Anderson , R.E. ( 2010 ), Multivariate Data Analysis , 7th ed. , Prentice Hall , Upper Saddle River, NJ .

Han , H. and Kim , Y. ( 2010 ), “ An investigation of green hotel customers' decision formation: developing an extended model of the theory of planned behavior ”, International Journal of Hospitality Management , Vol. 29 , pp. 659 - 668 .

Han , H. , Hsu , L. and Sheu , C. ( 2010 ), “ Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to green hotel choice: testing the effect of environmental friendly activities ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 31 , pp. 325 - 334 .

Hu , L. and Bentler , P.M. ( 1999 ), “ Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis conventional criteria versus new alternatives ”, Structural Equation Modeling , Vol. 6 , pp. 1 - 55 .

Isaac , R.K. and Çakmak , E. ( 2014 ), “ Understanding visitor's motivation at sites of death and disaster: the case of former transit camp Westerbork, The Netherlands ”, Current Issues in Tourism , Vol. 17 No. 2 , pp. 164 - 179 , doi: 10.1080/13683500.2013.776021 .

Kamber , M. , Karafotias , T. and Tsitoura , T. ( 2016 ), “ Dark heritage tourism and the Sarajevo siege ”, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change , Vol. 14 No. 3 , pp. 255 - 269 , doi: 10.1080/14766825.2016.1169346 .

Kline , R.B. ( 2005 ), Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 2nd ed. , Guilford Publications .

Kim , Y.H. , Kim , M. and Goh , B.K. ( 2011 ), “ An examination of food tourist’s behavior: using the modified theory of reasoned action ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 32 , pp. 1159 - 1165 .

Konu , H. and Laukkanen , T. ( 2010 ), “ Predictors of tourists’ wellbeing holiday intentions in Finland ”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management , Vol. 17 No. 1 , pp. 144 - 149 , doi: 10.1375/JHTM.17.1.144 .

Lam , T. and Hsu , C. ( 2004 ), “ Theory of planned behavior: potential travelers from China ”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research , Vol. 28 No. 4 , pp. 463 - 482 .

Lam , T. and Hsu , C. ( 2006 ), “ Predicting behavioral intention of choosing a travel destination ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 27 , pp. 589 - 599 .

Le , D.T. and Pearce , D.G. ( 2011 ), “ Segmenting visitors to battlefield sites: international visitors to the former demilitarized zone in Vietnam ”, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing , Vol. 28 No. 4 , pp. 451 - 463 , doi: 10.1080/10548408.2011.571583 .

Lennon , J. and Foley , M. ( 1999 ), “ Interpretation of the unimaginable: the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. and ‘dark tourism’ ”, Journal of Travel Research , Vol. 38 , pp. 46 - 50 .

Lennon , J. and Foley , M. ( 2000 ), Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster , Cengage Learning EMEA , Andover, Hampshire .

Light , D. ( 2017 ), “ Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: an uneasy relationship with heritage tourism ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 61 , pp. 275 - 301 , doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2017.01.011 .

Little , T.D. , Cunningham , W.A. and Shahar , G. ( 2002 ), “ To parcel or not to parcel: exploring the question, weighing the merits ”, Structural Equation Modeling , Vol. 9 No. 2 , pp. 151 - 173 .

Martini , A. and Buda , D.M. ( 2018 ), “ Dark tourism and affect: framing places of death and disaster ”, Current Issues in Tourism , Vol. 23 No. 6 , pp. 679 - 692 , doi: 10.1080/13683500.2018.1518972 .

Miles , W. ( 2002 ), “ Auschwitz: museum interpretation and darker tourism ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 29 No. 4 , pp. 1175 - 1178 .

Miller , D. and Gonzalez , C. ( 2013 ), “ When death is the destination: the business of death-tourism--despite legal and social implications ”, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research , Vol. 7 No. 3 , pp. 293 - 306 .

Molle , A. and Bader , C. ( 2014 ), “ Paranormal science from America to Italy: a case of cultural homogenisation ”, The Ashgate Research Companion to Paranormal Cultures , Ashgate , London , pp. 121 - 138 .

Mowatt , R.A. and Chancellor , C.H. ( 2011 ), “ Visiting death and life ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 38 No. 4 , pp. 1410 - 1434 , doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2011.03.012 .

Peterson , R.A. ( 1994 ), “ A meta-analysis of Cronbach's coefficient alpha ”, Journal of Consumer Research , Vol. 21 No. 2 , pp. 381 - 391 .

Poria , Y. , Butler , R. and Airey , D. ( 2004 ), “ Links between tourists, heritage, and reasons for visiting heritage sites ”, Journal of Travel Research , Vol. 43 , pp. 19 - 28 .

Poria , Y. , Reichel , A. and Biran , A. ( 2006 ), “ Heritage site perceptions and motivations to visit ”, Journal of Travel Research , Vol. 44 , pp. 318 - 326 .

Powell , R. , Kennell , J. and Barton , C. ( 2018 ), “ Dark cities: a dark tourism index for Europe's tourism cities, based on the analysis of DMO websites ”, International Journal of Tourism Cities , Vol. 4 No. 1 , pp. 4 - 21 , doi: 10.1108/ijtc-09-2017-0046 .

Raine , R. ( 2013 ), “ A dark tourist spectrum ”, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research , Vol. 7 No. 3 , pp. 242 - 256 .

Robb , E.M. ( 2009 ), “ Violence and recreation: vacationing in the realm of dark tourism ”, Anthropology and Humanism , Vol. 34 No. 1 , pp. 51 - 60 .

Rojek , C. ( 1993 ), Ways of Escape: Modern Transformations in Leisure and Travel , Palgrave Macmillan .

Ryan , C. and Kohli , R. ( 2006 ), “ The Buried Village, New Zealand: an example of dark tourism? ”, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research , Vol. 11 No. 3 , pp. 211 - 226 .

Seaton , A. ( 1996 ), “ Guided by the dark: from thanatopsis to thanatourism ”, International Journal of Heritage Studies , Vol. 2 No. 4 , pp. 234 - 244 .

Seaton , A. and Lennon , J.J. ( 2004 ), “ Thanatourism in the early 21st century: moral panics, ulterior motives and ulterior desires ”, in Singh , T. (Ed.), New Horizons in Tourism: Strange Experiences and Stranger Practices , CABI Publishing , Cambridge, MA , pp. 63 - 82 .

Sharpley , R. ( 2005 ), “ Travels to the edge of darkness: towards a typology of ‘dark tourism’ ”, in Aicken , M. , Page , S. and Ryan , C. (Eds), Taking Tourism to the Limits: Issues, Concepts, and Managerial Perspectives , Elsevier , pp. 215 - 226 .

Sharpley , R. and Stone , P. ( 2009 ), The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism , Channel View Publications , Bristol .

Stone , P.R. ( 2006 ), “ A Dark Tourism Spectrum: towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions ”, Tourism: An Interdisciplinary International Journal , Vol. 54 No. 2 , pp. 145 - 160 .

Strange , C. and Kempa , M. ( 2003 ), “ Shades of dark tourism: alcatraz and robben island ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 30 No. 2 , pp. 386 - 405 .

Swan , J. ( 1981 ), “ Disconfirmation of expectations and satisfaction with a retail service ”, Journal of Retailing , Vol. 57 No. 3 , pp. 49 - 66 .

Vazquez , D. and Xu , X. ( 2009 ), “ Investigating linkages between online purchase behaviour variables ”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management , Vol. 37 No. 5 , pp. 408 - 419 , doi: 10.1108/09590550910954900 .

Yan , B. , Zhang , J. , Zhang , H. , Lu , S. and Guo , Y. ( 2016 ), “ Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: a case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 53 , pp. 108 - 121 , doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 .

Yankholmes , A. and McKercher , B. ( 2015 ), “ Understanding visitors to slavery heritage sites in Ghana ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 51 , pp. 22 - 32 , doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2015.04.003 .

Yoon , Y. and Uysal , M. ( 2005 ), “ An examination of the effects of motivation and satisfaction on destination loyalty: a structural model ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 26 No. 1 , pp. 45 - 56 , doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2003.08.016 .

Zhang , H. , Yang , Y. , Zheng , C. and Zhang , J. ( 2016 ), “ Too dark to revisit? The role of past experiences and intrapersonal constraints ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 54 , pp. 452 - 464 , doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2016.01.002 .

Further reading

Krisjanous , J. ( 2016 ), “ An exploratory multimodal discourse analysis of dark tourism websites: communicating issues around contested sites ”, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management , Vol. 5 No. 4 , pp. 341 - 350 , doi: 10.1016/j.jdmm.2016.07.005 .

Lennon , J. ( 2005 ), “ Journeys in understanding what is dark tourism? ”, The Sunday Observer , Vol. 23 October , available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/oct/23/darktourism.observerscapesection .

Corresponding author

Related articles, we’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

What you should know about the rise of dark tourism

(Hint: It’s not all bad)

From the Roman Colosseum, where death was a spectator sport, to Halloween’s ancient origins in a Celtic festival of the dead, people have been drawn to death and tragedy for centuries.

But it wasn’t until the 1990s that a group of academics who were studying sites associated with the assassination of JFK gave this fascination with the macabre a name: dark tourism.

In more recent years, so-called dark tourism sites such as the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City and Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi death camp in southern Poland, have noticed an increase in visitors. And since HBO aired its popular miniseries about the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, tour operators have reported an uptick in the number of visitors to the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

So what exactly is dark tourism?

According to IUPUI associate professor of tourism Suosheng Wang, the term dark tourism describes the phenomenon of people traveling to sites of death and disaster, whether man-made or natural. It is also known as “milking the macabre,” the “dark side of tourism,” “thanatourism” and “tragedy tourism.”

Though dark tourism can seem like a particularly irksome form of voyeurism, it’s not that straightforward, Wang said.

“We cannot simply say dark tourism is a good or bad thing, which wholly depends on how dark tourism is organized and how the local communities think of developing dark tourism at dark sites,” Wang said. “On one hand, the original purpose of dark tourism sites is for visitors to memorialize the victims and receive education to ensure the ‘never again’ hope. This is why most of these sites are presented as sites of remembrance for heritage, education or history.”

On the other hand, after a disaster, dark tourism can put local people in a painful or uncomfortable situation, he said. When one’s hometown is turned into a site of tragic disaster, it serves as a constant reminder of the tragedy and can prevent one from moving beyond the disaster.

“In the transition from a place of past disaster to a place as a dark tourism destination, death is presented as entertainment,” Wang said. “Such dissonance is an integral and unavoidable characteristic of dark tourism, and the stigma of death and tragedy may be distasteful to the local residents.”

One reason Wang said we’ve seen a rise in dark tourism is because the number of disasters in the world is increasing too.

This means that developing a better understanding of dark tourism has become increasingly important as well, because it can play a crucial role in disaster recovery efforts – particularly in developing countries, where dark tourism can stimulate and empower a community in mourning, he said.

It’s complicated, however, because although dark tourism can be a much-needed driver of economic recovery for sites of past disasters, there’s a fine line to walk between memorializing the dead and exploiting human suffering for financial gain.

Wang said there are typically two kinds of dark tourism sites – commercialized and noncommercialized – and two kinds of dark tourists: schadenfreude tourists, who glean a secret pleasure from seeing others’ misfortune, and thanatopsis tourists, who are interested in contemplating the meaning of the loss of life. The schadenfreude tourists tend to be criticized for snapping selfies, staying in luxurious hotels and eating fine food near the places of past suffering, while the thanatopsis tourists tend to care more about preserving the dark tourism site as sacred and reject attempts to develop commercial activities on the site.

It is this convergence of the opposing motivations of dark tourists, mixed with the needs and cultures of the communities where the dark sites reside, that creates such an interesting backdrop for the moral quandaries raised by dark tourism.

“Critics argue that dark tourism is commodifying the sufferings of the past for the financial gains of the present,” Wang said. “The onsite interpretation of a dark site can be overshadowed by commercialized representations, and the past tragedy becomes a site of commodity consumption.”

For example, the dark attraction Auschwitz has swelled with tourist numbers and catalyzed economic activity in the region. But the souvenirs sold around the 9/11 Memorial in New York risk the kitschification of dark tourism, he said.

“Dark tourism provides a significant tourism experience while at the same time raising new anxieties and ethical dilemmas,” Wang said. “Doubtlessly, it is a challenging issue for tourism management organizations or local communities to develop dark tourism at dark sites.”

Andrea Zeek

Filed under:, more stories.

Tips from IU Public Safety for safe, fun Halloween

Library of Congress awards IU grant funds

Social media.

• Facebook for IU
• Linkedin for IU
• Twitter for IU
• Instagram for IU
• Youtube for IU

Additional resources

Indiana university.

• About Email at IU
• People Directory
• Non-discrimination Notice
• Email Newsletters & Press Releases

The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies pp 173–187 Cite as

Dark Tourism in an Increasingly Violent World

• Jeffrey S. Podoshen 6  
• First Online: 21 February 2018

4097 Accesses

7 Citations

8 Altmetric

This chapter theoretically examines dark tourism in an increasingly violent world. While early conceptualizations of dark tourism guide us in examining the phenomena of exposure to death-related tourism, a more violent age in a post-9/11, post-Charlie Hebdo world forces us to come to terms with a more violent existence. Violent death and orchestrated mass murder, once largely sequestered for many in the West, are now ever more evident in our own personal spaces and communities. Indeed, ISIS and violent extremism, not necessarily a stranger to those in the perpetually war-torn Middle East, is now in the forefront of the minds of those in the UK, Continental Europe and North America. Moreover, entertainment and the media incorporate increasingly violent narratives, including an emphasis on gruesome experiences in dystopian worlds whereby there is an embracing focus on moral decay, personal responsibility, and atrocity images (Podoshen et al. 2014b; Sparrow 2014; Calia 2015). Resultantly, the study of death and its intersection with consumption has gained significant momentum in the literature (Dobscha et al., 2012; Dobscha, 2016; Levy, 2015; Podoshen 2016; Stone and Sharpley, 2013; Venkatesh et al., 2014).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution .

Buying options

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Acocella, J. (2014, May 12). Selfie: How big a problem is Narcissism. The New Yorker . http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/12/selfie

Arnould, E., & Thompson, C. (2005). Consumer culture theory (CCT): Twenty years of research. Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (4), 868–882.

Article   Google Scholar  

Arnould, E., & Thompson, C. (2015). Consumer culture theory: Ten years gone (and beyond). In A. Thyroff et al. (Eds.), Research in consumer behavior vol. 17: Consumer culture theory (pp. 1–24). Bingley: Emerald Group.

Google Scholar  

Ashworth, G. (1996). Holocaust tourism and Jewish culture: The lessons of Krakow Kazimierz. In M. Robinson et al. (Eds.), Tourism and cultural change (pp. 1–12). Sunderland: Business Education Publishers.

Ashworth, G., & Hartmann, R. (2005). Horror and human tragedy revisited: The management of sites of atrocities for tourism . NY: Cognizant Communication Corporation.

Askegaard, S., & Linnet, J. T. (2011). Towards an epistemology of consumer culture theory: Phenomenology and the context of context. Marketing Theory, 11 (4), 381–404.

Atwal, G., & Williams, A. (2009). Luxury brand marketing – the experience is everything! Journal of Brand Management, 16 (5), 338–346.

Beech, J. (2009). Genocide tourism. In R. Sharpley et al. (Eds.), The darker side of travel: The theory and practice of dark tourism (pp. 207–223). Clevedon: Channel View.

Belk, R. W. (1988). Third world consumer culture marketing and development: Toward broader dimensions. Research in Marketing, Supplement, 4 , 103–127. Greenwich: JAI Press.

Biran, A., & Poria, Y. (2012). Re-conceptualizing dark tourism. In R. Sharpley et al. (Eds.), Contemporary tourist experience: Concepts and consequences (pp. 57–70). London: Routledge.

Biran, A., Liu, W., Li, G., & Eichhorn, V. (2014). Consuming post-disaster destinations: The case of Sichuan, China. Annals of Tourism Research, 47 , 1–17.

Buda, D. M., d’Hauteserre, A. M., & Johnston, L. (2014). Feeling and tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 46 , 102–114.

Carr, N. (2005). Poverty, debt, and conspicuous consumption: University students’ tourism experiences. Tourism Management, 26 (5), 797–806.

Carr, D. (2015). Selfies on a stick, and the social-content challenge for the media. New York Times , 4 January 2016. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/business/media/selfieson-a-stick-and-the-social-content-challenge-for-the-media.html?_r=0

Chatterjee, A., Hunt, J. M., & Kernan, J. B. (2000). Social character of materialism. Psychological Reports, 86 , 1147–1148.

Childs, M., & Jin, B. (2016, in press). Do status symbols in marketing increase product evaluations? An experimental analysis of group differences on product evaluations for scarce and brand-presence products. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 28(3) , 154–168.

Coldwell, W. (2013, October 31). Dark tourism: Why murder sites and disaster zones are proving popular. The Guardian . Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/oct/31/dark-tourism-murder-sites-disaster-zones . Accessed 12 Jul 2015.

Correia, A., Kozak, M., & Reis, H. (2014). Conspicuous consumption of the elite social and self-congruity in tourism choices. Journal of Travel Research 55(6), 738–750.

Cova, B., Kozinets, R., & Shankar, A. (2007). Tribes, Inc.: The new world of tribalism. In B. Cova et al. (Eds.), Consumer tribes (pp. 1–7). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Crouch, G. I. (2013). Homo sapiens on vacation: What can we learn from Darwin? Journal of Travel Research, 52 (5), 575–590.

Daily Mail. (2014). I wouldn’t do anything differently , Daily Mail online. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2702161/I-wouldnt-differently-Teenager-took-selfie-Auschwitz-unrepentant-trend-posing-memorials-including-Ground-Zero-grows.html . Accessed 27 Aug 2015.

Dalton, D. (2014). Dark tourism and crime . Oxford: Routledge.

Dobscha, S. (2016). Death in a consumer culture . Oxford: Routledge.

Dobscha, S., Drenten, J., Drummond, K., Gabel, T., Hackley, C., Levy, S., Podoshen, J., Rook, D., Sredl, K., Tiwaskul, R. A., & Veer, E. (2012). Death and all his friends: The role of identity, ritual, and disposition in the consumption of death. In Z. Gurhan-Canli et al. (Eds.), Advances in consumer research volume 40 (pp. 1098–1099). Duluth: Association for Consumer Research.

Drummond, K., & Krszjzaniek, E. (2016). Theatre of the abject: Body worlds and the transformation of the cadaver. In S. Dobscha (Ed.), Death in a consumer culture (pp. 242–254). Oxford: Routledge.

Dunkley, R. A. (2015). Beyond temporal reflections in thanatourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 52 , 177–179.

Foley, M., & Lennon, J. J. (1996). JFK and dark tourism: A fascination with assassination. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2 (4), 198–211.

Gram, S. (2013). The young-girl and the selfie. Textual relations. http://text-relations.blogspot.it/

Healy, N., van Riper, C. J., & Boyd, S. W. (2016). Low versus high intensity approaches to interpretive tourism planning: The case of the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland. Tourism Management, 52 , 574–583.

Heisley, D., & Cours, D. (2007). Connectedness and worthiness for the embedded self: A material culture perspective. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 10 (4), 425–450.

Iqani, M., & Schroeder, J. (2016, in press). #selfie: Digital self-portraits as commodity form and consumption practice. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 19(5), 405–415.

Knudsen, B. T. (2011a). Thanatourism: Witnessing difficult pasts. Tourist Studies, 11 (1), 55–72.

Knudsen, B. T. (2011b). Deportation day: Live history lesson. Museum International, 63 (1–2), 109–118.

Kristeva, J. (1982). The powers of horror: An essay on abjection . New York: Columbia University Press.

Lennon, J. J., & Foley, M. (2000). Dark tourism . Andover: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Levy, S. (2015). Olio and integraphy as method and the consumption of death. Consumption, Markets & Culture, 18 (2), 133–154.

Mackey, R. (2014, July 14). Israelis watch bombs drop on Gaza from front row seats, New York Times . Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/world/middleeast/israelis-watch-bombs-drop-on-gaza-from-front-row-seats.html?_r=0 . Accessed: 6 Jul 2015.

Mellor, P. (1993). Death in high modernity: The contemporary presence and absence of death. In D. Clarke (Ed.), The sociology of death (pp. 11–30). Oxford: Blackwell.

Mellor, P., & Shilling, C. (1993). Modernity, self-identity and the sequestration of death. Sociology, 27 , 411–431.

Miles, S. (2014). Battlefield sites as dark tourism attractions: An analysis of experience. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 9 (2), 134–147.

Murray, D. (2015, in press). Notes to the self: The visual culture of selfies in the age of social media. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 18 (6), 490–516.

Ozcaglar-Toulouse, N., & Cova, B. (2010). A history of French CCT: Pathways and key concepts . Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 25 (2).

Patsiaouras, G., & Fitchett, J. A. (2012). The evolution of conspicuous consumption. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4 (1), 154–176.

Phillips, W. J., & Back, K. J. (2011). Conspicuous consumption applied to tourism destination. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28 (6), 583–597.

Podoshen, J. S. (2013). Dark tourism motivations: Simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison. Tourism Management, 35 (1), 263–271.

Podoshen, J. S. (2014). Reactionary modernism: An essay on the post-postmodern condition. Journal of Research for Consumers, 25 , 1.

Podoshen, J. S. (2015). Examining death and learning about life. In S. Dobscha (Ed.), Death in a consumer culture . Oxford: Routledge.

Podoshen, J. S., & Andrzejewski, S. A. (2012). An examination of the relationships between materialism, conspicuous consumption, impulse buying, and brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 20 (3), 319–334.

Podoshen, J. S., Andrzejewski, S. A., & Hunt, J. M. (2014a). Materialism, conspicuous consumption, and American hip-hop subculture. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 26 (4), 271–283.

Podoshen, J. S., Venkatesh, V., & Jin, Z. (2014b). Theoretical reflections on dystopian consumer culture: Black metal. Marketing Theory, 14 (2), 207–227.

Podoshen, J. S., Venkatesh, V., Wallin, J., Andrzejewski, S., & Jin, Z. (2015a). Dystopian dark tourism: An exploratory examination. Tourism Management, 51 (December), 316–328.

Podoshen, J. S., Andrzejewski, S., Venkatesh, V., & Wallin, J. (2015b). New approaches to dark tourism inquiry: A response to Isaac. Tourism Management, 51 (December), 331–334.

Prasad, A., & Prasad, P. (2002). The coming age of interpretative organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 5 (1), 4–11.

Reijnders, S. (2011). Stalking the count: Dracula, fandom and tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (1), 231–248.

Rindfleisch, A., & Burroughs, J. (2004). Terrifying thoughts, terrible materialism? Contemplations on a terror management account of materialism and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14 (3), 219–224.

Robb, E. M. (2009). Violence and recreation: Vacationing in the realm of dark tourism. Anthropology and Humanism, 34 (1), 51–60.

Sandberg, J. (2005). How do we justify knowledge produced within interpretative approaches? Organizational Research Methods, 8 (1), 41–68.

Schaefers, T. (2014). Standing out from the crowd: Niche product choice as a form of conspicuous consumption. European Journal of Marketing, 48 (9/10), 1805–1827.

Schaller, D. J. (2007). Genocide tourism – Educational value or voyeurism? Journal of Genocide Research, 9 (4), 513–515.

Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 15 (1–3), 53–67.

Seaton, A. V. (1996). From thanatopsis to thanatourism: Guided by the dark. Journal of International Heritage Studies, 2 (4), 234–244.

Seaton, A. (2002). Thanatourism’s final frontiers? Visits to cemeteries, churchyards and funerary sites as sacred and secular pilgrimage. Tourism Recreation Research, 27 (2), 73–82.

Seaton, A. V. (2009). Thanatourism and its discontents: An appraisal of decade’s work with some future issues and directions. In T. Jamal et al. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of tourism studies (pp. 521–542). London: Sage.

Seaton, A. V., & Lennon, J. J. (2004). Thanatourism in the early 21st century: Moral panics, ulterior motives and ulterior desires. In T. Singh (Ed.), New horizons in tourism: Strange experiences and stranger practices (pp. 63–82). Cambridge, MA: CABI Publishing.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Segal, B., & Podoshen, J. S. (2013). An examination of materialism, conspicuous consumption and gender differences. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 37 (2), 189–198.

Sharpley, R. (2009). Shedding light on dark tourism: An introduction. In R. Sharpley et al. (Eds.), The darker side of travel: The theory and practice of dark tourism (pp. 3–22). Bristol: Channel View Publications.

Sharpley, R. (2012). Towards an understanding ‘genocide tourism’: An analysis of visitors’ accounts of their experience of recent genocide sites. In R. Sharpley et al. (Eds.), Contemporary tourist experience: Concepts and consequences (pp. 95–109). Oxford: Routledge.

Sirgy, M. J., & Su, C. (2000). Destination image, self-congruity, and travel behavior: Toward an integrative model. Journal of Travel Research, 38 (4), 340–352.

Stone, P. R. (2009). Making absent death present. In R. Sharpley et al. (Eds.), The darker side of travel: The theory and practice of dark tourism (pp. 23–38). Tonawanda: Channel View.

Stone, P. R. (2012). Dark tourism and significant other death: Towards a model of mortality mediation. Annals of Tourism Research, 39 (3), 1565–1587.

Stone, P. R., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 35 (2), 574–595.

Stone, P., & Sharpley, R. (2013). Deviance, dark tourism and ‘dark leisure’: Towards a (re)configuration of morality and the taboo in secular society. In S. Elkington et al. (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives in leisure: Meanings, motives and lifelong learning . Abington: Routledge.

Trigg, A. (2001). Veblen, Bourdieu, and conspicuous consumption. Journal of Economic Issues, 35 (1), 99–115.

Tunbridge, J., & Ashworth, G. (1996). Dissonant heritage: The management of the past as a resource in conflict . Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Venkatesh, V., Podoshen, J., Urbaniak, K., & Wallin, J. (2014). Eschewing community: Black metal. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 26 (1), 66–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2197 .

Vice Television. (2015). The vice guide to North Korea. Available at: http://www.vice.com/video/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

Williams, A. (2006). Tourism and hospitality marketing: Fantasy, feeling and fun. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18 (6), 482–495.

Willmott, H. (2000). Death. So what? Sociology, sequestration and emancipation. The Sociological Review, 4 , 649–665.

Wong, N. (1997). Supposed you own the world and no one knows? Conspicuous consumption, materialism and self. In M. Brucks et al. (Eds.), Advances in consumer research 24 (pp. 197–203). Ann Arbor: Association for Consumer Research.

Woollaston, V. (2015, June 10). Why are we so fascinated by Auschwitz? ‘Dark tourism’ to ‘death sites’ helps us deal with our mortality, study reveals . Daily Mail . Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3118013/Why-fascinated-Auschwitz-Dark-tourism-death-sites-helps-deal-mortality-study-reveals.html . Accessed 12 Jul 2015.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA

Jeffrey S. Podoshen

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom

Philip R. Stone

University of Colorado Denver, Denver, USA

Rudi Hartmann

University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

Tony Seaton

Richard Sharpley

Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

Leanne White

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter.

Podoshen, J.S. (2018). Dark Tourism in an Increasingly Violent World. In: R. Stone, P., Hartmann, R., Seaton, T., Sharpley, R., White, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47566-4_7

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47566-4_7

Published : 21 February 2018

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, London

Print ISBN : 978-1-137-47565-7

Online ISBN : 978-1-137-47566-4

eBook Packages : Social Sciences Social Sciences (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Dark Tourism Ethics and Criticisms

By: Author Zachary Friedman

Posted on Last updated: January 26, 2024

Categories Travel

Home » Travel » Dark Tourism Ethics and Criticisms

There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding dark tourism. Some find it to be disrespectful, voyeuristic, or even unethical. This guide discusses dark tourism ethics and criticisms. We’ll outline a few of the main arguments for and against dark tourism as well as provide some examples.

The question ‘is dark tourism ethical?’ is really a philosophical question. It’s not black and white. The answer comes down to your personal code of ethics, your culture, your upbringing, your past experience, and a number of other factors.

When deciding whether or not a particular site is ethical to visit, you may want to consider the nature of the site as well as its age, finances, design, and more. Sometimes the behavior of the operators and visitors comes into play as well. The answer will vary from person to person. Hopefully, this guide helps you decide.

What is Dark Tourism?

Dark tourism is a type of tourism that involves travel to a site where death, suffering, tragedy, disaster, or violence took place. This could include sites of natural disasters, genocides, assassinations, man-made disasters, etc. Museums and monuments that memorialize these places and events are also considered dark tourism sites. People visit these sites for historical reasons, educational purposes, to remember those who died, or simply out of morbid curiosity. Dark tourism is also known as black tourism or grief tourism.

A few of the most visited dark tourism sites in the world include Auschwitz concentration camp, the ruins of Pompeii, the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Colosseum, Gettysburg battlefield, the 9/11 memorial, and the Catacombs of Paris.

Ethical Concerns and Criticisms of Dark Tourism

The controversy of dark tourism sites stems from the subject matter. These are sites where fellow human beings suffered or died. Many dark tourism sites have a political element as well. These are touchy subjects.

Some find it unethical to visit these sites for tourism purposes. Some don’t see any issue with it. For others, it depends on the site. In this section, I outline a few of the main arguments for and against dark tourism. I’ll also share some examples of popular dark tourism sites and their common criticism about them.

1. Dark Tourism Exploits Human Suffering

The most common criticism of dark tourism is that it exploits human suffering. Operators can exploit these sites to make money or simply to provide entertainment. This disrespects the victims of the event. This type of behavior may be unethical.

There is an element of truth to this claim. Dark tourism sites are some of the biggest tourist destinations on the planet. They attract millions of visitors per year and generate millions of dollars in revenue per year. For example, Pompeii draws around 2.5 million visitors per year. Entry costs 11 Euros. As you can see, dark tourism is big business there.

In addition, many dark tourism sites have gift shops, restaurants, cafes, guides, and hotels that bring in even more money. Many sites receive donations and government grants. The idea of an individual or business profiting off of other people’s suffering or death does feel a bit problematic.

When deciding whether or not a dark tourism site exploits the victims, it’s important to consider where the money goes. In most cases, the money that dark tourism brings in goes toward maintenance, restoration, preservation, education, and various cultural programs. In this case, there probably isn’t much ethical concern, if any.

Without dark tourism, many sites would fall into disrepair, be demolished, and eventually disappear. If we lose dark tourism sites, we will also lose their history. For example, if it weren’t for tourism, the Anne Frank House may not exist. Tourism to the museum pays for the maintenance of the site.

Of course, some dark tourism sites operate as for-profit businesses. This may be considered exploitation and may be unethical. For example, a business offering slum tours of the favelas of Brazil or Kibera in Nairobi is operating strictly for profit. In this case, the business owners are essentially profiting off of the poverty and suffering of others.

If a person, organization, or government is getting rich off operating a dark tourism business, it may very well be unethical for those operating the business. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unethical for you to visit. Having said that, you may want to re-consider if you don’t support where your money is going.

Another issue is that some dark tourism sites are designed to entertain rather than to educate. This can come off as disrespectful toward the victims and could be considered exploitation. Some consider these types of sites to be unethical as well.

A good example of this is the firing range at the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam. Here, you can fire a live round from a variety of Vietnam War era guns including the AK 47 or M16. This has nothing to do with dark tourism. It is strictly entertainment. Whether or not this is unethical is up to you to decide. Most dark tourism sites educate rather than entertain.

Personally, I don’t see a problem with integrating some fun or entertainment into some types of dark tourism sites. It really depends on the nature of the site. We don’t need to act depressed or somber at every dark tourist site in order to be respectful. Some dark tourism sites are naturally lighter than others due to the nature or age of the event.

2. Dark Tourism Sites Can Spread Misinformation

Another common criticism of dark tourism sites is the spread of misinformation. Some sites are presented with a bias. This is often done for political purposes. Countries present information in a way that makes them look like either the good guys or the victim. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. This type of misinformation is common in war or atrocity related sites.

For example, if you visit the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, you’ll learn about the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective. If you visit the National Vietnam War Museum in Texas, you’ll learn about the Vietnam War from the American perspective. You’ll get different information at each museum. Neither is necessarily right or wrong. That comes down to perspective. The information is just presented with different biases. It’s interesting how two sides can tell the story completely differently without either one really being wrong.

Sometimes sites simply omit information. For example, the museum at Perm-36 Gulag focuses on the labor the prisoners performed and how they helped the Russian economy rather than the way the country treated them in the prison. Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco gets similar criticism. The tour focuses on the security of the prison rather than the prisoners themselves. They leave out the bad part of history.

Some dark tourism sites water down or whitewash part of history. This may be done to make the site more appealing or palatable to the average visitor. In my experience, this is common at war-related sites. They tend to focus more on honoring the soldiers. They may downplay or leave out the horrors of war.

In some cases, the opposite is done. The site operators or tour guides may make up or exaggerate facts for dramatic effect. Some tourists want to hear gory details and that’s what they get.

If you’re visiting a dark tourism site for historical or educational purposes, try to seek some information about the site from an outside source. You may find that some information was altered or left out. At the very least, you’ll learn more about the site and maybe get a different perspective.

3. Some Visitors have the Wrong Intention

For some, whether or not dark tourism is ethical comes down to the visitor’s intention. Why are you visiting? Are you traveling to a particular site to learn about the history of an event or to honor the victims? Or are you visiting out of morbid curiosity or just to say that you’ve been there?

The argument is that it is ethical to visit a dark tourism site for some reasons but unethical to visit for other reasons. Some claim that it is ethical to visit for purposes such as gaining a deeper understanding or to pay respects to the victims. At the same time, it may be unethical to visit a dark tourism site for taking a photo, checking off a box on your bucket list, showing off, or just for entertainment.

Personally, I think the intent is irrelevant and the only thing that matters is the visitor’s behavior. To tell someone that they’re visiting a site for the ‘wrong reasons’ is like accusing them of a thought crime. It is not unethical to have an unethical thought because thinking something unethical does not create any harm. Additionally, a person who is visiting for the ‘wrong reasons’ isn’t affecting anyone else’s experience as long as they are behaving appropriately.

There is nothing wrong with visiting a dark tourism site because you are fascinated by death and suffering or just to check it off of your bucket list. You just need to remain respectful toward the victims and the site itself. Chances are, a dark tourist with ‘bad intent’ will gain a deeper understanding of a site during their visit, even if they were there for the ‘wrong reasons.’

4. Inappropriate Conduct at Dark Tourism Sites

I think most people would agree that behaving inappropriately at a place where others have suffered or died is disrespectful and possibly unethical. Exactly which behaviors are inappropriate depends on a number of factors including the age of the site, the nature of the event that the site commemorates, and the culture of the country where the site is located.

Many dark tourist sites have signs requesting that people behave respectfully. For example, they may ask that you keep your voice down. Operators sometimes prohibit photography. Some dark tourist sites also have a dress code. They may request that you wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt or they may simply ban inappropriate clothing like bathing suits. Some dark tourist sites have signs requesting that you not eat or drink outside of the cafe or restaurant. You wouldn’t want to make a mess. Ofttimes smoking and drinking alcohol are prohibited as well. Of course, you should never cause damage to the site, vandalize, create graffiti, walk where you’re not supposed to, or steal anything either.

Some behaviors aren’t necessarily against the rules but may still be inappropriate. For example, joking around, laughing, and smiling can come off as disrespectful. Talking on your phone would also be rude. Additionally, you shouldn’t talk negatively about the victims of the tragedy or disaster that the site commemorates. To avoid offending anyone or causing any disrespect, it’s best to stay somber and quiet while visiting a dark tourism sites.

5. The Selfie Problem

Selfies have become pretty controversial at dark tourism sites. The argument is that taking a selfie where others have suffered or died is insensitive, disrespectful, and maybe even unethical. This has become such a problem that people get called out or shamed on social media for taking or sharing dark tourism selfies. It’s become a real travel faux pas.

Still, when visiting any dark tourist site, you’re sure to see people walking around with their selfie sticks and smiling for the camera. People take selfies at the gates of Auschwitz, in front of abandoned buildings near the Chernobyl disaster zone, at the killing fields in Cambodia, and every other dark tourism site. After a major disaster, it’s not uncommon to see people taking photos in front of the destruction. For example, after the Grenfell Tower burned down in London, people were showing up to take selfies in front of the burned out building.

Interestingly, selfies are perfectly acceptable at some dark tourism sites. For example, nobody cares if you take a selfie at the Taj Mahal (which is a tomb), the ruins of Pompeii, or the Colosseum.

So when is it okay and when is it not okay to take a selfie? Or is it always okay to take a selfie?

I’m kind of conflicted about this point. Personally, I don’t take selfies at dark tourist sites because I find them a bit tacky and insensitive. There is also a certain stigma to these photos. I wouldn’t want to share them even if I took them. In fact, I take very few photos, if any, when visiting a dark tourism site.

Having said that, I think it’s fine if somebody wants to snap a selfie. As long as they aren’t holding up the tour, getting in everyone’s way, or posing in a disrespectful manner, they aren’t bothering anybody. In my mind, the selfie controversy comes down to personal choice. Telling someone that they can’t take a selfie is just too controlling for my taste. Also, taking selfies isn’t against the rules unless you’re in an area where photos are prohibited. It’s also pretty judgmental to shame someone for something as simple as taking a selfie.

If someone wants to take an insensitive smiling selfie in front of Chernobyl, that’s their decision. After all, it’s their vacation. They probably spent thousands of dollars and a great deal of their time to get there. As long as they don’t break any rules or bother any other visitors, they can do what they want.

Even if someone smiles while taking a photo at a dark tourism site, they’re not necessarily being disrespectful. After all, it is second nature to smile for a photo. It would be weird to frown.

To read another perspective on the selfie problem, check out this article.

A Note About Taking Photos at Dark Tourism Sites

Sometimes, simply taking photos at a dark tourism site is a bit controversial. For example, at sites where there are human remains on display, people like to take pictures of bones. This could come off as disrespectful to the dead. A couple of dark tourism sites where you’ll find human remains on display include the Killing Field of Choeung Ek in Cambodia and the Gisenyi Memorial site in Rwanda. In some cases, it is acceptable to take photos of human remains. For example in the Paris Catacombs and Seldec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, accept photography.

Taking photos while touring a slum is also controversial because it is an invasion of privacy. It’s also simply insensitive of the poverty and suffering of others. Of course, in these situations, it isn’t illegal to take pictures. It is just frowned upon and may be considered disrespectful.

Many visitors also like to have a photo of themselves taken to remember the day and to prove they’ve been to a particular site. This may be controversial for the same reasons as selfies. That’s up to you to decide.

6. Too Soon: Does the Age of the Dark Tourism Site Matter?

Oftentimes, sites where a tragedy or disaster more recently occurred are considered more controversial than ancient sites. Probably because there may still be people living who survived the event that the site commemorates. Some people may have family members who suffered or died in the event.

For example, nobody finds vising Pompeii unethical because the event occurred nearly 2000 years ago. All of the descendants of the dead passed on long ago. The entire Roman civilization has ended. At this point, Pompeii is an ancient historical site. At the same time, Many would consider visiting New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina to be unethical because people were suffering. Many lost their homes or died. They are both natural disaster sites. Yet one fine to visit and the other is controversial. The same is true of war zones. Dark tourism to a Syrian war zone is controversial but visiting the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg is perfectly acceptable.

Is there such thing as too soon in dark tourism? After how much time has passed is it acceptable to visit the site of a tragedy or disaster?

Some argue that it’s only ethical to visit a dark tourism site after all who were involved have passed on. Others see no issue in visiting a site immediately after or even during a dark event. There is no hard rule. If there is tourism infrastructure, you can assume that enough time has passed that it is okay to visit.

In my mind, the sooner tourists start visiting a new dark tourism site, the better. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, tourists bring in money. This greatly helps communities and countries rebuild.

For example, after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, affected countries welcomed tourists back surprisingly back soon after. Tourism money greatly helped countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India to rebuild after the catastrophic event. Tourism money also helps with research and preservation. Without tourists, many dark tourist sites would slowly decay and fade away.

Additionally, the sooner we start visiting a site after a dark event, the more we can learn about it. If we wait for decades after an event to start visiting, we may lose information surrounding the event to time. People also forget and the event loses significance.

For example, Auschwitz opened for remembrance as early as 1947, just 2 years after the war ended. Tourists started visiting the site in larger numbers in the 50s. In the decades since, millions of people have learned about the horrors of the holocaust. If the site wasn’t opened until today, a great deal of information, as well as many learning opportunities, would have been lost.

7. Dark Tourism Can Support the Wrong People

When you visit a dark tourist site, you spend money. You might pay an entrance fee, hire a guide, stay in a hotel, eat in restaurants, etc. Over the course of your trip, you could inject thousands of dollars into a country’s economy. You may want to consider where that money goes and what causes it supports before visiting a dark tourism site.

Some argue that it is unethical to visit countries that are ruled by totalitarian regimes like China, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, etc. When you spend money in these places, you are funding a repressive government that may not have the best interest of its citizens or the rest of the world in mind.

In some cases, you could indirectly fund an evil government that violates human rights. Do you want your tourism dollars funding genocide, torture, slavery, political imprisonment, forced labor, war, or any number of other evil actions?

The most common example of this in dark tourism is North Korea. Pretty much every dark tourist has this strange place on their bucket list. The country has a dark history of war, famine, and communism. North Korea essentially cut itself off from the rest of the world. A mysterious dynasty ruled the country since its birth in 1948. The country also has the unique political ideology of juche. All of this appeals to dark tourists.

In this example, it probably doesn’t matter because tourism in North Korea makes up such an insignificant part of the economy that it doesn’t really make a difference. Still, it’s worth considering what you’re supporting when planning a trip.

The problem is that a visit to North Korea helps to fund a dangerous nuclear program, massive military, and repressive leaders who live lavish lifestyles while regular citizens live in poverty. The tours offered are simply propaganda. Is it ethical to visit such a place? It’s hard to say.

Of course, this example is a matter of perspective. It depends on your political beliefs. If you are a communist, you may not want to support capitalist countries with your tourism money.

Dark tourism can also support good causes. When you visit a dark tourism site, most of the money you spend goes toward maintenance, renovation, and various educational projects. These places aren’t swimming in money. For example, the Anne Frank house depends on revenue from tourism to keep the museum open. They do not receive federal funding. Without tourists, we could lose this historic sight.

Some poor regions can also benefit greatly from dark tourism. For example, Cambodia and Rwanda both experienced devastating genocides in the not so recent past. Tourists visit these places, stay in hotels, eat in local restaurants, and spend their money in the local economy. This helps regular citizens who may still be suffering from the effects of past events. Tourism in both of these poor countries makes up a significant part of the economy.

8. Desecration of the Site

Some dark tourism critics argue that welcoming millions of visitors and building tourism infrastructure like gift shops, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, restrooms, etc. desecrates the sites of human suffering and death. This disrespects the victims of disaster or tragedy.

There is probably some truth to this. Building tourism infrastructure certainly changes the site. Whether or not this is really desecration is up for debate. In many cases, it comes down to the way the site was designed and preserved.

When designing a dark tourism site, expert historians, engineers, and scientists try to preserve these sites the best they can to keep them as original as possible. The most important artifacts are often moved into museums where they can be carefully preserved.

For example, the Anne Frank House was completely renovated when the museum was built. They kept the secret annex mostly original. Artifacts were preserved in the attached museum. This doesn’t feel like desecration to me.

Besides, it would be unrealistic to expect that everything be kept original. Some changes are needed to make dark tourism sites accessible to tourists.

Welcoming millions of visitors to a dark tourism site definitely does cause wear and tear. There will be some badly behaved visitors. Some people may steal artifacts, visit areas they are not supposed to, write graffiti, and vandalize the site. For example, Justin Bieber caused some controversy when he wrote an inappropriate message in the guest book of the Anne Frank House.

This is unethical behavior on the part of the badly behaved visitors. There are rules in place to prevent visitors from causing damage or disrespecting the sites. Personally, I don’t think a few bad apples should ruin dark tourism for everyone.

9. Voyeurism

Some dark tourism critics claim that visiting a place where a disaster or traumatic event occurred is voyeuristic. This makes it morally questionable. The argument is that it is wrong to visit a site to view suffering or destruction.

Whether or not dark tourism is perceived as voyeuristic depends on a number of factors. For example, some consider viewing natural disasters less problematic than viewing a man-made disaster. The amount of time that has passed since the incident is also important. Many find it unethical to visit an area where a disaster is still ongoing while visiting the site of a past disaster that the country has moved beyond is acceptable.

Perhaps the best and most controversial example of voyeuristic dark tourism is slum tourism. This involves visiting slums or impoverished neighborhoods to see how poor people live. The dark aspect is that these people may not have access to clean water, enough food, electricity, healthcare, education, etc. Oftentimes companies offer guided tours through these slums. Local guides show tourists around the neighborhoods and explain how the locals live. A few popular slum tourism destinations include Dharavi in Mumbai, Kibera in Nairobi, the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and Skid Row in Los Angeles.

One of the most controversial examples of voyeuristic dark tourism is visiting the Suicide Forest (Aokigahara) in Japan. Dark tourists sometimes travel here to see if they can spot a body. For example, Youtuber Logan Paul filmed a video of a recently deceased man in the forest. As you can imagine, this resulted in a major controversy.

Another example of voyeuristic dark tourism is visiting the site of a major man-made or natural disaster. For example, people traveled to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit to view the destruction first hand. This created some outrage at the time. Other examples of voyeuristic disaster tourism include visiting towns near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone, ground zero after 9/11, the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Mount St. Helens after the volcanic eruption, etc.

Yet another example of voyeuristic dark tourism is visiting the holy city of Varanasi, India to view the cremation ceremonies that take place on the banks of the Ganges River. Dark tourists hire guides to walk them through the cremation sites and explain the process. This is controversial because it basically turns someone’s funeral into a tourist attraction.

Is viewing destroyed, impoverished, or tragic places for tourism purposes unethical?

Personally, I feel conflicted about this point. On the one hand, I see how some might find it distasteful or problematic to watch others suffer. On the other hand, I’m not convinced that visiting these destinations is unethical. Simply viewing a site doesn’t cause any harm or change the situation. Visiting these places doesn’t break any laws. After all, all of the sites are public places in cities or neighborhoods. No one’s privacy is being invaded.

Also, it is human nature to be curious. After all, we all rubberneck when driving by an auto accident. There is nothing unethical about it. It is a natural reaction.

I think visiting these potentially voyeuristic sites comes down to behavior. Walking through a slum or disaster site and pointing a camera at poor or suffering people is clearly problematic. Pretending to help by volunteering may also be harmful. Taking a tour and educating yourself about the situation is different. There is nothing wrong with observing a site to learn more about it.

There are also benefits to visiting these voyeuristic dark tourism destinations. First, tourism brings in money that can greatly help a community recover from a disaster. For example, tourists stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, purchase souvenirs, go on tours, and more. This money goes directly into the local economy and helps people who may be suffering.

In the case of slum tourism, many slum tourism companies employ people who live or lived in the slum. They may also operate as non-profits that give money back to the community. Of course, this depends on the agency. Some are just in it to make money. Regardless, tourists purchase food, drinks, and souvenirs from the local shops. This helps the residents directly. Some tourists also make charitable contributions or volunteer.

Dark tourism also educates. By visiting a poor or disaster stricken region, tourists can learn about the causes of the issue and its effects on the people living there. One of the greatest lessons this can teach is empathy. Watching a disaster unfold on the news doesn’t have the impact of seeing it with your own eyes. Meeting a survivor gives an entirely different perspective. In many ways, voyeuristic forms of dark tourism do more good than bad.

One interesting argument against tourism to these voyeuristic disaster sites is that it removes the incentive to rebuild areas that have been destroyed. After rebuilding an area, tourism dries up. Tour operators have no incentive to help improve the situation. I haven’t been able to find any evidence of this happening so I’m not sure that I buy this argument.

10. Dark Tourism Can Be Dangerous

Another common criticism of dark tourism is that it can be dangerous. You could cause problems for yourself down the road. You could get injured or killed when visiting some dark tourism sites that are located in dangerous countries.

In some cases, this is true. For example, when visiting the site of a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl or Fukushima, you may expose yourself to harmful radiation. If the dark tourism destination is located in a country with a high rate of violent crime, you risk becoming a victim. Dark tourism to a war zone like much of Syria is dangerous for obvious reasons. Some countries have bad air quality that could affect your respiratory health. There is political risk of visiting some countries. For example, North Korea has imprisoned visitors for seemingly no reason. When visiting the site of a recent disaster like an earthquake or volcanic eruption, you could expose yourself to contaminants or harmful chemicals or particulates that were have been stirred up during the disaster. There are certainly risks to visiting some dark tourism destinations.

Everyone has a different tolerance for risk. Some people don’t feel safe leaving their neighborhood while others will literally travel to a war zone for tourism purposes. You’ll have to consider what risks you’re willing to accept when planning to visit a dark tourism destination that is considered dangerous.

To reduce any risk of injury while visiting a dangerous dark tourism destination, you can hire a local guide. They can keep you safe and help you navigate any dangerous areas. You could also visit on a group tour. There is safety in numbers. Simply planning your trip out and preparing well also greatly reduces any risks. In particularly dangerous destinations, you can hire private security.

Of course, the majority of dark tourism destinations are perfectly safe. Museums, monuments, and memorials are designed for tourism purposes. Many dark tourism sites see millions of visitors per year. Some sites that could be dangerous require a guide. Overall, dark tourism is a perfectly safe form of tourism.

Final Thoughts about the Ethics of Dark Tourism

The question “is dark tourism ethical?” is pretty philosophical. There isn’t a black and white answer. Whether or not you consider dark tourism ethical depends on a number of factors including your culture, morals, past experience, upbringing, and more.

Some travelers find dark tourism to be disrespectful, voyeuristic, exploiting, or simply inappropriate. Others don’t see any issue with it at all or simply don’t care. For some, the nature of the site, its age, its finances, and the intention and behavior of the visitors all come into play. Hopefully, this guide has helped you make an educated decision of your own as to whether or not dark tourism is right for your next trip.

One important thing to remember is that visiting places where death or suffering occurred has been popular for as long as tourism has existed. Dark tourism is not a new phenomenon. For example, tourists visited the battlefield of Gettysburg shortly after the battle ended in 1863. Tourists have been visiting Pompeii since the 1800s as well. Gladiator battles started in the Colosseum in 80 AD. Some consider this an early form of dark tourism.

It is only natural for humans to be interested in these dark types of places. Most of us have a natural fascination with morbid things. There is nothing wrong with satisfying that morbid curiosity as long as we do it in a respectful manner without causing unnecessary destruction or harm. At the same time, we can learn about history, culture, and ourselves.

For more info and a list of some of the most popular sites, check out my complete guide to dark tourism.

How do you feel about the ethics of dark tourism? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

More from Where The Road Forks

• 35 Types of Tourism
• How to Plan a Trip Around the World
• 30 Free Things to do While Traveling
• The Best Solo Travel Destinations
• Solo Travel Vs Group Travel: Pros and Cons
• 22 Benefits of Traveling

Zachary Friedman is an accomplished travel writer and professional blogger. Since 2011, he has traveled to 66 countries and 6 continents. He founded ‘Where The Road Forks’ in 2017 to provide readers with information and insights based on his travel and outdoor recreation experience and expertise. Zachary is also an avid cyclist and hiker. Living as a digital nomad, Zachary balances his professional life with his passions for hiking, camping, cycling, and worldwide exploration. For a deeper dive into his journey and background, visit the About page. For inquiries and collaborations, please reach out through the Contact page. You can also follow him on Facebook.

Sharing is caring!

Sign me up for the newsletter!

Course Sites

Welcome to CNDLS Course Sites

Welcome to Course Sites from the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS)!

If you are looking for a Commons Blogs site, please email us at [email protected] .

CNDLS Course Sites use WordPress to allow for the easy creation of a course-specific site where students may publish or even create their own sites. There are two approaches, when requesting a course site: 

• Use one course site for you and all your students to contribute to;
• Use a hub-and-spoke model where you as faculty manage one central course site, while each student owns their own site as well. Students can use their sites as a blog or ePortfolio. 

These sites can be made public or private to only students and teachers in the course. Additionally, non-Georgetown users can be added to the sites.

We have created a Resources page to help get you and your students started in WordPress. You can also email [email protected] to request a consultation or schedule a class visit.

Looking for a more flexible website for your course or research? Visit Georgetown.domains .

Dark Tourism Essays

World of dark tourism, evan j. jordan and girish prayag study’s critical analysis, popular essay topics.

• American Dream
• Artificial Intelligence
• Black Lives Matter
• Bullying Essay
• Career Goals Essay
• Causes of the Civil War
• Child Abusing
• Civil Rights Movement
• Community Service
• Cultural Identity
• Cyber Bullying
• Death Penalty
• Depression Essay
• Domestic Violence
• Freedom of Speech
• Global Warming
• Gun Control
• Human Trafficking
• I Believe Essay
• Immigration
• Importance of Education
• Israel and Palestine Conflict
• Leadership Essay
• Legalizing Marijuanas
• Mental Health
• National Honor Society
• Police Brutality
• Pollution Essay
• Racism Essay
• Romeo and Juliet
• Same Sex Marriages
• Social Media
• The Great Gatsby
• The Yellow Wallpaper
• Time Management
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Violent Video Games
• What Makes You Unique
• Why I Want to Be a Nurse
• Send us an e-mail

Jump to navigation

Exploring the Murky Depths: A Conference on Dark Tourism in Modern Societies Where Historical Narratives Encounter Geographical Landscapes

Call for abstract

International Conference on Dark Tourism (ICDT)

Hybrid Mode

Exploring the Murky Depths: A Conference on Dark Tourism in Modern Societies Where Historical Narratives Encounter Geographical Landscapes.

Date-14-16 September, 2024

Organized by: Department of  Tourism and Aviation Management, Midnapore College (Autonomous), West Bengal, India- 721101

Mode of presentation: Hybrid

Call for Abstracts:

Pioneering Conference on Dark Tourism in India

Be a part of shaping the discourse on a complex and growing interdisciplinary phenomenon. Submit your abstract for the first-ever international conference in India focused exclusively on dark tourism .

 Concept note:

This conference aims to explore the burgeoning phenomenon of dark tourism, where individuals visit sites associated with tragedy, death, and even macabre attractions. It will delve into the social, cultural, psychological, and ethical implications of this trend, analyzing its impact on local communities, the media, and global travel patterns.

The sub-themes for the conference include, but are not limited to:

• Concepts and dimensions
• Interdisciplinary nature 
• Thana tourism and performance
• Religion, ritual, ruin, and remembrance
• Slum and poverty
• Landscape mapping
• Agribusiness, ecotourism, and black farmlands
• Natural disasters and social hazards
• Disruption and rehabilitation
• Economy revitalization
• Heritage and commodification
• Cross-cultural dark tourism
• Empowering marginalized voices
• Memory, dystopia, and manipulation.
• Colonial legacies, controversy, and politics
• From battlefield to theme park
• Beliefs beyond death
• Curiosity, empathy, and motivations
• Spirituality, shadows, pilgrimage and healing
• From ghosts to gods.
• War, terrorism, and resilience
• Communities and impacts
• Ethics, policy preservation, and regulations
• Morality, injustice, and security
• Digital dark tourism
• Media hype and sensation
• Respect, sustainability, and responsibility
• Environment management and balance
• Education and Governance
• Opportunities and challenges

Target Audience:  Academics and researchers from diverse disciplines like anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, geography, tourism studies, media studies, ethics, Policymakers and tourism industry professionals, Community leaders, and representatives, Journalists and media professionals, Students and the general public associated and interested in dark tourism.

Guidelines:  Submit an abstract of original work in a Word document not exceeding 200 words (excluding title) with a maximum of 5 keywords, Times New Roman font style, 12 font size, and 1.5 spacing with a very brief background, objective, methodology, findings, and key implications. Submit this information with the authors’ name, designation, affiliation, phone number, Mail ID, and ORCID ID for at least one author in the submission platform.

Submission Platform:  Submit abstracts via email: [email protected]

/ https://forms.gle/u1RnyiMuEinettiM6

Important Dates:

Submission of abstract

Acceptance of abstract

Submission of full paper

Acceptance of full paper

Final pre- print version

Registration

Early Bird until July 30th, 2024

Registration (INR)

Accompanying Person (INR)

Accommodation

INR 1500 or 20 USD /night /room

Academician

Corporate/Industry

SAARC & African Countries

Other Countries

After 30 th July, 2024

INR 1800 or 23 USD /night /room

Academicians

Payment Details:

Bank name: State Bank of India

Branch name: Midnapore

IFSC Code: SBIN0000132

Account number: 11161737551

Swift code: SBININBB339 (for foreigners only)

Link: https://www.onlinesbi.sbi/sbicollect/icollecthome.htm?corpID=465246 (for Indians only)

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

A Remote Island Draws Thousands of Turtles Each Year. Could It Attract Tourists?

Green sea turtles swim hundreds of miles to nest on a spectacular West African archipelago. Getting there is quite a journey for humans, too.

By Ricci Shryock

Ricci Shryock is a writer and photographer based in Dakar, Senegal.

Each year, thousands of baby green sea turtles clamber across a beautiful, white-sand paradise that is one of the largest hatching sites of this species in the Atlantic, adorably making their way to the sea. There’s one noticeable absence: people.

The spectacular hatching events take place between August and December on Poilão Island, a tiny, uninhabited speck off the coast of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. It is the southernmost island of the 88 that make up the Bijagós archipelago, a UNESCO biosphere reserve . Last year, turtles laid more than 44,000 nests on its 1.4 mile-long beach.

While the masses of turtles seem to have little trouble finding the spot to lay their eggs — some swim more than 600 miles across the North Atlantic — it’s hard to imagine somewhere more challenging for human turtle-lovers to reach.

The country’s tourism minister, Alberto Demba Touré, said that access is a main challenge. “We want to increase the tourists who go to the Bijagós,” he said. Last year, UNESCO declared its support for the Bijagós Islands to seek World Heritage List status , which, if successful, would increase its visibility and strengthen its environmental protections.

Turtle conservation programs have become a staple of resorts in many popular destinations, including in Hawaii, Mexico and throughout the Caribbean. Guinea-Bissau may like to capture a meager sliver of that pie, but it would be with steep challenges.

Politically fragile Guinea-Bissau has very little infrastructure and is one of the world’s poorest and least touristed nations. Most flights to Bissau, the country’s sleepy capital on the mainland, require a connection in Lisbon or Dakar, Senegal. Then, from Bissau, it’s a bumpy one-hour drive to the coast, and five to seven hours in a speedboat (depending on the route) to Poilão Island.

A limited number of tourists, usually no more than a dozen at a time, are allowed to visit the Poilão Island, which is part of the João Vieira and Poilão Marine National Park. The island is considered sacred by the archipelago’s residents and no construction is allowed on it.

A plane, to a truck, to a speedboat

Last fall I traveled to Poilão at the height of hatching season to witness the baby turtles make their way from nest to sea, and to see how the local workers monitor and ensure the survival of the tens of thousands of hatchlings each year.

I started in Bissau, a riverside city of half a million, after flying there from my home in Dakar. A few blocks from the presidential palace, people sat at plastic tables under mango trees, listening to music and eating grilled oysters plucked from the roots of the nearby mangroves. Women walked by selling cashew fruit, which has a sour, fermented aroma.

Visitors to Bissau might visit the war museum, in an 18th-century fort and an active military base, to see the mainly Soviet-sponsored weapons used by Bissau-Guinean fighters during the independence war against their Portuguese rulers that ended in 1974.

The next morning, another visitor and I climbed into a truck that took us to the coast. I had booked my Poilão trip with a hotel on one of the islands, Orango Parque Hotel, which arranged boat transport, park fees, meals, a guide and simple accommodations for three nights. The whole arrangement cost about $1,470.

We left the capital’s main paved avenue for potholed small lanes. An hour later, we reached the dock, near an abandoned hotel among the mangroves, where I climbed into a white speedboat.

For three hours, we sped through the open ocean, passing small, mostly uninhabited islands of the Bijagós. We occasionally passed fishermen — half a dozen men in brightly painted, long wooden boats — who waved as we buzzed by.

A stop to meet the priestesses

Eventually, we landed on a beach at the hotel on Orango Island, the largest in the archipelago, where we would spend two nights before continuing the journey. We were shown to our small round houses that contained a single comfortable room, and given a lunch of fresh fish and rice.

Eduardo da Silva, a boat captain and guide at the hotel who grew up on the island, said tourists can learn a lot from the way Bijagós residents interact with nature.

“On Orango, we have always been conservationists,” he said.

One day during my stay, Mr. Da Silva took me to meet the local priestesses . Orango is a matriarchal society; today the priestesses still make decisions about when certain harvests take place and what is allowed to happen on sacred grounds. I offered the women two unlabeled, neon-green bottles of cana, alcohol made from sugar cane, which I had bought for this purpose from a roadside stand when leaving Bissau. After a short ceremony with the cana, the priestesses spoke about how they base their community decisions on what will ensure a continued balance with the environment.

“Conservation can protect what is ours, so that we don’t lose it and so that our children who are born tomorrow can know it,” said Nene Ecane, one of the priestesses, in the Bijagós language via a translator.

Landing on Poilão

When it was time to leave Orango, another speedboat — smaller than the one the day before — drove us through clear waters for two hours. We spotted dolphins and Mr. Da Silva banged his hand on the side of the boat. The dolphins came closer and jumped alongside us.

While most of the speedboat journey from Bissau had been smooth, near Poilão the boat hit rougher waves. It was just before sunset when we landed. Occasional patches of volcanic black rocks, vital for green sea turtles, dotted the small beach.

As we unloaded the boat, a half-dozen workers from the João Vieira and Poilão Marine National Park greeted us, including Tumbulo Garcia Bamba, the park’s adjunct director.

“It’s good for tourists to come and learn and see how we work here for the turtles,” he said. He said he hopes that more attention to the turtles of Poilão will lead people outside of the region to respect the environment.

Mr. Bamba said he had noticed more trash washing up on the island’s shores; the Orango hotel scheduled a clean-up crew for the following week, which is not normally needed. Workers on the islands said many of the products seen among the trash — including bottled water and cosmetics — were not available in Guinea-Bissau and may have come from other parts of West Africa.

“The ocean knows no borders,” said Mr. Bamba.

A mad dash to the sea

Other than our individual tents, which were set up a few dozen feet from the beach, there were few other signs of human life. There is no cell reception.

But we were not alone. All along the beach lay thousands of buried turtle eggs. Every few steps there was another underground sea turtle hatchling family, the park workers told us. Many nests had markers, but not all. We walked gingerly.

The workers, many of whom are from the Bijagós Islands, not only count and monitor the hatchlings, but also help them make their way safely to the sea.

Even though the nests are just 20 or so feet from the ocean, the two-inch-long hatchlings are susceptible to many threats during their brief journey to the water — specifically birds, which wait in the nearby trees ready to snatch them.

We followed the workers throughout the early evening as they dug up nests — sometimes they were chest-deep in sand. They gathered dozens of just-hatched turtles into buckets and held them at the campsite until nightfall and high tide, when it was safer to release them.

A few hours later, in the darkness, the workers took the buckets of turtles back to the beach and let them go. All at once, a few hundred small hatchlings made their mad dash for the safety of the sea. Under the starlight, they used their small front flippers to quickly — and adorably — push their way through the sand to the water.

After the sea turtle release, we sat down for a fresh fish dinner, grilled over an open fire by the hotel staff. The park workers ate next to us, all of us using headlamps and flashlights in the dark.

A laptop, powered by solar panels, blasted a playlist of ’90s and early 2000s love ballads as our dinner soundtrack, giving the evening a surreal feel. It was just us, Usher, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and, beneath a few feet of sand, thousands of baby turtles waiting for their first swim through the waves.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get 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 to Go in 2024 .

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 .