A Study on Historical and Educational Travel Sites using Dark Tourism

Abstract

Dark tourism, the generic term for travel associated with death, disaster and tragedy has witnessed increasing attention from tourism related academic community and media. After the 1990s, dark tourism has become a newly fascinating subject to research, nevertheless, the dark tourism literature being quantitatively limited. The purpose of this paper is to research travel sites for historical and educational impression by using dark tourism. The term ‘dark tourism’ first coined by Foley and Lennon is the act of travel and visitation to sites of death, disaster and the seemingly macabre. The types are classified with tourists’ motivations and behaviors, attractions’ locational Attributes, the differences of tourists’ demand and supply, and pull-push theory-based framework as an motivation factor. This paper examines major subjects related to dark tourism such as Battlerelated fields, Cemetery, Colonization of History, Holocaust, Site of disaster, Ghost spots, and Prisons. Futhermore, this paper is to introduce some cases in Korea and other countries. In order to strengthen the competitiveness of Dark Tourism areas in Korea, some suggestions are presented. Finally, this study was performed as a conceptual research for further exploratory and qualitative studies for Dark Tourism.