dark tourism

2014
A critical investigation into the interests and attitudes that young adults have towards dark attractions.

Alexandra Constantinescu Albert
Robert Gordon University
4/18/2014

THE ROBERT GORDON UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT
Aberdeen Business School

Department of Communication, Marketing and Media

A critical investigation into the interests and attitudes that young adults have towards dark attractions.

by
Alexandra Constantinescu Albert (1002430)

Word count: 13,109

A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
BA (HONS) International Tourism Management.
2014

Abstract

This study tries to fill in the existent gap in the research of people 's interest, attitudes and motivators for visiting dark and disaster sites and it also contributes to obtaining a better understanding of dark consumption within Stone 's (2006) Dark spectrum of supply. The research aims to examine the attitudes and interest of young adults in their undergraduate study towards visiting dark attractions. The research process involved three semi-structured focus groups where twenty-three undergraduate students participated after a careful purposive and snowball sampling selection. Data is analysed by means of content and thematic analysis to decide upon the relevant motivators that influence the interest and attitudes of young adults in regards to dark attractions within Stone 's (2006) Dark Spectrum. The results show that young adults are more interested in the darker and darkest attractions mainly due to factors such as 'curiosity ', 'gaining knowledge ' and 'ego-enhancement '. The study also reveals the concerns young adults have for the over-commodification of dark attractions as well as their interest in preserving these sites for future generations. The conclusion emphasises the main themes that emerged from the findings after which recommendations for the industry and future research
are

References: death and disaster sites has increased considerably (Seaton and Sharpley 2009, Biran et al., 2011). (Rojek, 1993) or ‘thanatourism’ (Seaton, 1996). not a new trend (Lennon and Foley, 2000). Stone (2005) acknowledged that people have always been drawn to sites related to death (purposely or not) in events such as the Roman Gladiatorial Games, pilgrimages or public executions. Likewise, MacCannell (1989) suggested that visits to morgue sites were regular in the nineteenth century tours in Paris. gladiatorial games, morgues), whereas today the contemporary society is entering a deathderiding age where death is mocked at, commercialised and sold for entertainment purposes (Pagliari, 2004) Stone (2006). In his research, Stone analysed the dark tourism spectrum and came up with the 'lightest-darkest ' framework of product-supply. After extensive research into the topic, it has been determined that even if the concept of dark tourism has been approached by several researchers (Seaton, 1996, Stone and Sharpley, 2008; Lennon and Foley, 1996a, b), there remain large uncovered areas to explore in this field (i.e. consumer orientated research, motivators and empirical research). Wight acknowledged this (2005) and therefore, admitted that a theoretical approach is dominant to the research of this phenomenon, while empirical research of visits to sites that present death is lacking. Stone and Sharpley (2008) also agreed and added that the understanding of this phenomenon ‘remains spectrum presented by Stone 's (2006) model. In terms of consumer orientated research, Biran, Poria and Oren (2011) were amongst the few scholars to highlight the importance of motivators for visiting and the sought benefits of on-site and Lennon (2004) articulated that this type of research “has hardly even begun” (p.81); therefore, it is essential to further explore it motivators for visiting dark attractions as perceived by visitors with a median age of 31-40 years (Isaac and Cakmak, 2013) and above, (Bigley et al., 2010) Stone 's (2006) Dark Tourism Spectrum and in which way is their interest/lack of interest connected to general motivators, the push-pull