Ethnotourism
dark tourism
Lennon and Foley (1996:198) defined dark tourism as “the phenomenon which encompasses the presentation and consumption (by visitors) of real and commodified death and disaster sites”.
Dark tourism is a niche in the tourism industry where tourists visit ‘places where tragedies or historically noteworthy death has occurred and that continue to impact people’s lives’ (Tarlow, 2004). Stone (2009) stated that dark tourism has become “seemingly more popular” and Foley and Lennon (1996) wrote that ‘tourism associated with sites of death is registering a rapid growth’. Dark tourism appears therefore to be an important component of the tourist industry which is slightly surprising given the unhappiness and misfortune associated with these sites around the globe. War and memorabilia of warfare is the most common category of dark tourist attractions as found by Smith (1996) in her research on this form of tourism.
Visiting locations of mortality and disaster is now an event that everyone wants to experience. Whether it is the tomb of Tutunkhamun, the Titanic museum or even the London Dungeons, the demand for dark tourism is higher than ever. It was interesting to read that despite New York City having some of the world’s most famous attractions and monuments, ‘the city’s number one attraction is the site of the World Trade Centre terrorist attacks’ (Tarlow, 2004).
Dark tourism sites provide a wealth of information to visitors on terrible events that have occurred throughout history. ‘Visitors are expected to learn from the past and to carry the message forward in order to avoid historical events reoccurring. (Tarlow 2005)’ (Niemelä, 2010). There is a very narrow boundary between entertainment and education as demonstrated by the London Dungeons. Although it is an example of a ‘Fun factory’ in Stone’s (2006) theory, it still educates millions of visitors a year on the topic of torture throughout history in a very graphic way. It is almost a ‘fun’ way
Lennon and Foley (1996:198) defined dark tourism as “the phenomenon which encompasses the presentation and consumption (by visitors) of real and commodified death and disaster sites”.
Dark tourism is a niche in the tourism industry where tourists visit ‘places where tragedies or historically noteworthy death has occurred and that continue to impact people’s lives’ (Tarlow, 2004). Stone (2009) stated that dark tourism has become “seemingly more popular” and Foley and Lennon (1996) wrote that ‘tourism associated with sites of death is registering a rapid growth’. Dark tourism appears therefore to be an important component of the tourist industry which is slightly surprising given the unhappiness and misfortune associated with these sites around the globe. War and memorabilia of warfare is the most common category of dark tourist attractions as found by Smith (1996) in her research on this form of tourism.
Visiting locations of mortality and disaster is now an event that everyone wants to experience. Whether it is the tomb of Tutunkhamun, the Titanic museum or even the London Dungeons, the demand for dark tourism is higher than ever. It was interesting to read that despite New York City having some of the world’s most famous attractions and monuments, ‘the city’s number one attraction is the site of the World Trade Centre terrorist attacks’ (Tarlow, 2004).
Dark tourism sites provide a wealth of information to visitors on terrible events that have occurred throughout history. ‘Visitors are expected to learn from the past and to carry the message forward in order to avoid historical events reoccurring. (Tarlow 2005)’ (Niemelä, 2010). There is a very narrow boundary between entertainment and education as demonstrated by the London Dungeons. Although it is an example of a ‘Fun factory’ in Stone’s (2006) theory, it still educates millions of visitors a year on the topic of torture throughout history in a very graphic way. It is almost a ‘fun’ way