Why is dark tourism controversial? Despite the positives, there can be negative aspects of dark tourism, too. Avoid tourism sites being run purely for profit rather than to educate, or tour operators and museums that are insensitively sharing the view of both the victims and the perpetrators.
Ashworth (2004) and Ashworth and Hartmann [27] suggested three main reasons for visiting dark sites: curiosity about the unusual, attraction to horror, and a desire for empathy or identification with the victims of atrocity.
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.
The term “dark tourism” was coined in 1996, by two academics from Scotland, J.John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, who wrote “Dark Tourism: The Attraction to Death and Disaster.”
While dark tourism is growing in popularity, it has existed for as long as people have had a fascination with death and a penchant for travel. Social media has made dark tourism feel increasingly voyeuristic.
Although an 'official' term did not exist until 1996, dark tourism is not a new practice. People have been visiting sites of death and tragedy for centuries. Early examples include viewing public hangings and decapitations, or spectators at gladiatorial games in the Colosseum.
While the tourist motivations to visit sites of a sensitive nature may be diverse, dark tourism remains a morally relevant issue that involves a questioning of moral judgment (Rojek,1997; Stone, 2009). It has always raised issues of how morality is collectively conveyed and individually constructed.
According to research published in Digital Journal, the global value of the dark tourism market is set to reach $43.5bn by 2031. A significant demographic contributing to its rise in popularity is Gen Z. 91% of Gen Z surveyed in Travel News in 2022 had engaged in some form of dark tourism.
The Dark Tourism market is estimated to reach US$ 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.
There's nothing inherently wrong with visiting Chernobyl's fallout zone or other sites of past tragedy. It's all about intention. These days it seems you can't go more than a few weeks without hearing about some unfortunate selfie faux pas on the Internet.