There are genuine reasons to visit dark tourism sights, but acknowledging the tragedy, being self-aware and behaving responsibly are key to being respectful when we visit.
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They also offer stories of hope and solidarity from the bleakest chapters of world history. Although dark tourism is often motivated by a desire to learn or pay respects, it can still be controversial. Some visitors can cause offense by taking ill-conceived photos, or by treating a site of tragedy like a theme park.
The Dark Tourism market is estimated to reach US$ 30 Billion in 2022. As per the report, sales are forecast to increase at a robust 2% CAGR, with the market valuation reaching US$ 36.5 Billion by 2032.
Dark Tourism could create a distorted image of the history or event that happened at a location, and it could commercialize what to many is a tragic event (Stone, 2006).
Dark tourism (also Thana tourism (as in Thanatos), black tourism, morbid tourism, or grief tourism) has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy.
According to research published in Digital Journal, the global value of the dark tourism market is set to reach $43.5bn by 2031. A significant demographic contributing to its rise in popularity is Gen Z. 91% of Gen Z surveyed in Travel News in 2022 had engaged in some form of dark tourism.
Although there are many ways to travel responsibly, tourism will never be completely sustainable. Every industry creates its own impact, and tourism is no different.
It raises concerns about the moral boundaries of dark tourism and the marketing of places of tragedy and death, while offering them for consumption (Stone, 2009). Selling souvenirs from sites of death effectively commercializes death.
Tourism offers great opportunities for emerging economies and developing countries. It creates jobs, strengthens the local economy, contributes to local infrastructure development and can help to conserve the natural environment and cultural assets and traditions, and to reduce poverty and inequality.
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.
It is a modern tendency where visitors travel to sites of mass destruction, death, or extended suffering. Though the study of dark tourism has been widely expanded over the recent years, less attention was given to the Southeast Asian destinations.
The consensus between the literature researchers is that dark tourism has a typology depending on the visitors' motivations and sites, namely War/Battlefield Tourism, Disaster Tourism, Prison Tourism, Cemetery Tourism, Ghost Tourism, and Holocaust Tourism.
All tourists to Auschwitz are usually seen as dark tourists [26], an approach that overlooks the possibility that the reasons for visiting and the experiences sought might be completely devoid of interest in death. In a study of visitors to Auschwitz, Biran et al.
Overtourism is the opposite of Responsible Tourism which is about using tourism to make better places to live in and better places to visit. Often both visitors and guests experience the deterioration concurrently.
Dark Tourism could create a distorted image of the history or event that happened at a location, and it could commercialize what to many is a tragic event (Stone, 2006).
Tourism puts enormous stress on local land use, and can lead to soil erosion, increased pollution, natural habitat loss, and more pressure on endangered species.
Ethical tourism and responsible tourism mean thinking about the consequences of your actions as a tourist on the environment, local people and local economy. Some places in the world really benefit from tourism and for some communities the tourist trade is the main source of income and jobs.
Dark Tourism comes from the practice of Thanatourim (Death Tourism) and transitioned over time to follow the guideline of Dark Tourism. The connection to the aspect of the sacred can also be seen in Thanatourism where the sacred was a religious sacred, connected to the pilgrimage locations throughout Europe.