Believe it or not, there are some people who like to visit ghoulish museums or the oldest cemeteries in cities instead of spending the day on a lounger by the pool. This way of knowing destinations is called dark tourism: travelers who choose to spend their vacations visiting sites related to death or tragedy.
What is dark tourism?
Dark tourism is the act of traveling and visiting places, attractions and exhibitions that have real or recreated death, suffering or the apparently macabre as their main theme. This is not a new phenomenon. For many years, dark tourism has been part of our fascination, dating back to pilgrims. Now however we seek it for very different reasons. The “ground zero” in New York , which marks the fall of the Twin Towers, has become an essential part of the dark tourism sector, a practice in constant expansion.
Types of dark tourism
There are many ways in which dark tourism can be practiced, the most prominent are the following.
Duel tourism
It is a type of tourism that many of us have been doing naturally for years. Basically, it can be defined as when you travel somewhere to visit a scene of some tragic event .
Disaster tourism
It refers to the flood of visitors who go sightseeing after some kind of natural disaster , such as those who visited Southeast Asia after the 2004 tsunami crisis, or people who traveled to New Orleans to see the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Poverty tourism
This type of tourism generally includes visits to slums and cities affected by poverty.
Suicide tourism
Suicide tourism takes two forms:
- The former includes people who travel to a particular destination with the intention of committing suicide , often by jumping from a famous location. Statistics show that a significant proportion of suicide cases at known tourist attractions are tourists, although it is unclear whether their trip was planned to commit suicide.
- A second form of suicide tourism takes into account the various laws related to euthanasia in different countries. For example, in several European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, active euthanasia is not illegal, and terminally ill people sometimes travel to these destinations to legally end their lives.
Doomsday tourism
This type of tourism has to do with the belief that the end of the world is near, or at least the end of certain tourist attractions. Doomsday tourism refers to the idea of rushing to visit particular places that are under threat , usually as a result of global warming and other environmental problems.
Is there any controversy surrounding dark tourism?
Some elements of dark tourism have been criticized, in particular for the behavior of tourists in these destinations . Many of the people who visit shady places maintain a contradictory attitude to those that correspond to the environment, for example, smiling photos are taken in enclaves where thousands of people were murdered.
Why is dark tourism practiced?
Throughout history, people have always traveled to places where death has been present. Tourists who visit sites related to death, disasters and macabre situations are disturbed or have a very strong curiosity about these sinister enclaves. It is impossible to classify the dark tourist because the motivations for visiting particular places are very varied and the experiences of tourists are loaded with different levels of emotional intensity, so analyzing parameters to classify a person as a dark tourist are almost useless.
