Assessing the impact of selfie-taking tourists on local tour guides in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: a netnographic analysis of a dark tourism location

Abstract

ABSTRACT Self-portrayed photographs, more commonly known as selfies, are a modern way of expressing oneself at popular tourist destinations. Selfies enable individuals to be seen by others on the web. There has been fierce debate about whether taking selfies is appropriate from an ethical standpoint at tourist places with darker and more sensitive histories. This study, a first of its kind, is a multi-method analysis of tour guides’ emotions towards selfie-taking tourists in the dark tourism location of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. As a phenomenon that has been introduced fairly recently, extant research has addressed the consequences selfies have on dark touristic sites, but no current study has considered the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The methods used to evaluate the current situation are netnography and one-on-one, in-depth interviews with Chernobyl tour guides. Findings show that there has been a degree of conflict between tour guides and tourists who take selfies. Performance of emotional labor is detected amongst some tour guides. Interestingly, this result emerged more during interviews than from data mining in the online community. Managers of the site of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are advised to look into ways of implementing a more responsible tourist behavior structure.