By Ollie Cooper, Money group
Interest in a phenomenon referred to as “darkish tourism” has been steadily rising in recent years – however what’s it?
To discover out, we have spoken with tourism tutorial Dr Hayley Stainton and famend darkish vacationer and creator Dr Peter Hohenhaus, who runs a darkish tourism web site.
What is it?
In basic, darkish tourism includes travelling to websites linked to dying or catastrophe.
“Dark tourism has been round for so long as we’ve got been travelling to locations related to dying,” Dr Stainton says.
However, the time period wasn’t formally coined till 1996 by John Lennon, a professor of tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University, in Scotland.
“Not everyone seems to be acquainted with the time period,” says Dr Stainton, “[but] many individuals have been a darkish vacationer at a while or one other, whether or not intentional or not.”
Some examples of probably the most well-known websites
- Auschwitz focus camp, Poland
- 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York, US
- Chernobyl, Ukraine
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
- Choeung Ek “killing fields” and the Tuol Sleng genocide museum on the former S-21 jail in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Areas with a level of infamy, like Alcatraz, are extraordinarily well-liked spots that additionally fall underneath the “darkish tourism” umbrella.
How well-liked is it?
Dr Hohenhaus and Dr Stainton say they’ve observed an increase in its recognition.
“Tourists are searching for extra distinctive and weird experiences,” Dr Stainton says.
“This has seen a transfer away from the extra conventional ‘solar, sea and sand’ kind holidays to quite a lot of completely different tourism varieties, which incorporates darkish tourism.”
Dr Hohenhaus provides: “Maybe folks need to connect with extra recent and therefore extra personally related historical past – that’s undoubtedly the case with myself.”
He goes on: “I feel I’ve discovered extra in regards to the world by way of darkish tourism than by way of all of my formal training or my earlier tutorial profession.”
Is it moral?
This is the large query related to darkish tourism.
Dr Stainton says that whereas issues do come up, the stigma across the follow is commonly misguided.
“People do not go to websites just like the killing fields in Cambodia or the location of Chernobyl for ‘enjoyable’ – they go to for the tutorial expertise, as darkish tourism is commonly additionally a type of academic tourism,” she says.
Problems come up when vacationers will not be respectful to those that could have been impacted.
“For occasion, taking inappropriate photographs or laughing and joking when others could also be in a state of mourning.”
Notorious examples embrace folks taking selfies outdoors Grenfell Tower and at Auschwitz.
“It is due to this fact crucial that darkish vacationers are thoughtful of these round them and respectful always,” Dr Stainton says.
“As lengthy as you aren’t simply after an inexpensive sensationalist thrill – take darkish tourism critically and do it proper, and it may be an immensely enriching factor to have interaction in.”
Dr Hohenhaus
Where might you go?
These are Dr Hohenhaus’ suggestions:
- Ijen crater in Indonesia – the place at night time you possibly can see the fabled blue flames of the sulphur mines subsequent to the volcano crater lake;
- The Polygon, the previous Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons check web site of the USSR, now in Kazakhstan;
- The Goli Otok former jail island off the coast of Croatia;
- The Murambi memorial to the Rwandan genocide – which Dr Hohenhaus says is “actually the very darkest place I’ve ever been”;
- Majdanek focus camp memorial close to Lublin, japanese Poland.
What do you consider darkish tourism? Is it misunderstood, academic or abhorrent? Let us know within the feedback part…
