Dark Tourism, as well as other terms such as Thanatourism and Grief Tourism, has been much discussed in the past two decades. This volume provides a comprehensive exploration of the subject from the point of view of both practice - how Dark Tourism is performed, what practical and physical considerations exist on site - and interpretation - how Dark Tourism is understood, including issues pertaining to ethics, community involvement and motivation. It showcases a wide range of examples, drawing on the expertise of academics with management and consultancy experience, as well as those from within the social sciences and humanities. Contributors discuss the historical development of Dark Tourism, including its earlier incarnations across Europe, but they also consider its future as a strand within academic discourse, as well as its role within tourism development. Case studies include holocaust sites in Germany, as well as analysis of the legacy of war in places such as the Channel Islands and Malta. Ethical and myriad marketing considerations are also discussed in relation to Ireland, Brazil, Rwanda, Romania, U.K., Nepal and Bosnia-Herzegovina. This book covers issues that are of interest to students and staff across a spectrum of disciplines, from management to the arts and humanities, including conservation and heritage, site management, marketing and community participation.
In recent years there has been a growth in both the practice and research of dark tourism; the phenomenon of visiting sites of tragedy or disaster. Expanding on this trend, this book examines dark tourism through the new lens of pilgrimage. It focuses on dark tourism sites as pilgrimage destinations, dark tourists as pilgrims, and pilgrimage as a form of dark tourism. Taking a broad definition of pilgrimage so as to consider aspects of both religious and non-religious travel that might be considered pilgrimage-like, it covers theories and histories of dark tourism and pilgrimage, pilgrimage to dark tourism sites, and experience design. A key resource for researchers and students of heritage, tourism and pilgrimage, this book will also be of great interest to those studying anthropology, religious studies and related social science subjects.
This book provides original, innovative, and international tourism research that is embedded in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary theoretical and methodological thought in the study of dark tourism. It is almost 25 years since the idea of dark tourism was introduced and presented into the field of tourism studies. The impact of this idea was greater, which attracted a great deal of attention from different researchers and practitioners with a good range of disciplines and farther tourism studies. This edited volume aims to capture a glimpse of the types of cutting-edge thinking and academic research in the domain of dark tourism studies as well as encourage and advance theoretical, conceptual, and empirical research on dark tourism. The book also addresses several future research directions focusing on the experience and emotions of visitors at ‘dark tourism’ sites. This book will be valuable reading for students, researchers and academics interested in dark tourism. Other interested stakeholders including those in the tourism industry, government bodies and community groups will also find this volume relevant. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Heritage Tourism.
This handbook is the definitive reference text for the study of ‘dark tourism’, the contemporary commodification of death within international visitor economies. Shining a light on dark tourism and visitor sites of death or disaster allows us to better understand issues of global tourism mobilities, tourist experiences, the co-creation of touristic meaning, and ‘difficult heritage’ processes and practices. Adopting multidisciplinary perspectives from authors representing every continent, the book combines ‘real-world’ viewpoints from both industry and the media with conceptual underpinning, and offers comprehensive and grounded perspectives of ‘heritage that hurts’. The handbook adopts a progressive and thematic approach, including critical accounts of dark tourism history, dark tourism philosophy and theory, dark tourism in society and culture, dark tourism and heritage landscapes, the ‘dark tourist’ experience, and the business of dark tourism. The Palgrave Handbook of Dark Tourism Studies will appeal to students and scholars with an interest in aspects of memorialisation and morality in sociology, death studies, history, geography, cultural studies, philosophy, psychology, business management, museology and heritage tourism studies, politics, religious studies, and anthropology.
This book takes the concept of “dark tourism”—journeys to sites of death, suffering, and calamity—in an innovative yet essential direction by applying it to the virtual realms of literature, film and television, the Internet, and gaming. Essays focus both on the creative construction of imaginary journeys and the historiographic and civic consequences of such memorializations. From World War II time-travel novels to Game of Thrones, and from Internet reproductions of Rwandan genocide locations to invented tragedies in futuristic domains, authors from various fields examine the purpose and influence of simulated travels to morbid sites. Designed for a wide audience of scholars and travelers virtual and real, this volume raises awareness about the many pathways through which we encounter death experiences in contemporary society. What we know about the past—or, what we think we know about it—is shaped daily by such imagined journeys as these.
This timely book is the first to explore the physical and intangible legacies of historic and contemporary dark tourism sites, and the contribution such sites make to place identity. It achieves this by critically reviewing the marketing, management and interpretation of contemporary and historic sites associated with death, disaster, atrocity and related events from a wide range of geographical locations. In doing so the book proposes a compose model for discussing place identity and dark tourism which will provide further understanding about these increasingly popular destinations.
This study tries to assess the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda. The study was guided by three objectives: To find dark tourism products in Rwanda; to investigate the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda and to establish measures that could be adopted to promote it. To achieve the set objectives, the study used a sample of 43 respondents randomly selected from staff of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), museum/memorial site managers and tour operators. Data was collected by use of questionnaire instrument and summarized in tables and graphs following the objectives of the study. Furthermore frequencies and percentages were calculated based on the data available. The findings indicates that there are various dark tourism products in Rwanda which included Kigali memorial center, Bisesero, Gatwaro Stadium and Gitesi memorial site. Less effective information dissemination, High cost charged to tourists and Lack of skilled staff are the challenges affecting the promotion of dark tourism. Measures that could be adopted to promote dark tourism in Rwanda are Improving marketing strategies, training of staff and service providers and improving the variety and accessibility of dark tourism attractions. The study concludes by noting that identifying the successful practices in management, branding, marketing, and pricing strategies of dark tourism attractions around the world can aid in applying these ideas towards improving the dark tourism industry in Rwanda. The study recommends that since we are living in a global world, using the mass media advertisements, specifically TV, Newspapers or other tourism information brochures is significantly important in attracting more dark tourists.
Mankind has been fascinated with and drawn to the macabre for many years. This is particularly evident in the growing popularity of dark tourism, which centers on locations known for death and suffering. Virtual Traumascapes and Exploring the Roots of Dark Tourism is a pivotal reference source featuring the latest scholarly research in which the rise of new technology platforms is not only changing tourism worldwide, but also facilitating the access to areas of war, mourning, and disaster. Including coverage on a number of topics such as sexual tourism, disaster recovery, and capitalism, this publication is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on concepts and methodologies of the dark tourism industry.
Tourism studies at Masters level are often divided into subsets of tourism such as environmental tourism, rural tourism and sports tourism. This book provides an overview of types of tourism, and common themes studied in courses to allow undergraduate students to become familiar with a wide range of tourism topics at a foundation level, allowing them to make an informed decision about their future studies and career. It will also be a useful text for providing a broad brush introduction to the major topics that are covered in undergraduate courses. Popular subjects like urban tourism, festival.
How is it possible that despite the destruction of its infrastructure during the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, Bosnian cinema rapidly rose to claim many of the most prestigious awards in world cinema during the 2000s? Were Bosnian films simply ‘better’ than those from neighbouring post-Yugoslav countries? Perhaps not. This work proposes that the international success of Bosnian films since the turn of the millennium has been due to how they enact Western prejudices concerning the war and its consequences. Delivering films with national narratives which associate the country with primitiveness and victimhood, Western audiences have engaged in dark tourism of the Bosnian screen.
Works of theatre that depict grievous histories derive their force from making audible voices of the past. Such performances, theatrical or tourist, require the attentive belief of spectators. This engaging new study explores how theatricality works in each instance and how 'playing the part' of the listener can be understood in ethical terms.
This book is the first its kind to offer an innovative examination of the intersecting influences, contexts, and challenges within the field of children’s dark tourism. It also outlines novel conceptualizations and methods for scholarship in this overlooked field. Presently, tourism research, and in dark tourism specifically, relies primarily on adult-centered theories and data collection methods. However, these approaches are inadequate for understanding and developing children’s experiences and perspectives. This book seeks to inform and inspire research on children’s experiences of dark tourism. Designed to appeal to students and scholars, it brings together insights from leading experts. The book focuses on five themes, to explore the conceptual and historic origins of children’s dark tourism, developmental contexts, child perspectives, specific contexts relevant to children’s encounters, and methodological approaches. This book is aimed at an international array of scholars and students with inherent research interests in the contemporary commodification of death and ‘difficult heritage’ within the visitor economy. Thus, the book will provide a multi-disciplinary scope within the fields of history, heritage studies, childhood studies, psychology, education, sociology, human geography, and tourism studies. The volume is primarily intended for undergraduate and postgraduate study, as well as scholars and tourism professionals.
