Dark Tourism Research Articles

A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review of Dark Tourism: Trends, Impact, and Prospects

The main objective of this bibliometric review is to analyse and synthesise the evolution of the field of black tourism through an extensive analysis of the scientific literature. To this end, the article carries out a bibliometric analysis and systematic review that will provide information on the most studied topics, the most influential authors and publications, and the areas that require further research. The findings and conclusions of this study represent a valuable contribution to the literature on dark tourism by providing an intrinsic and comprehensive analysis of the field’s current state. The analysis provides a better understanding of the theoretical and conceptual framework of the articles published to date, which is essential to lay the groundwork for future research and enrich the academic debate on dark tourism.

A social identity perspective on dark tourism impacts

This theoretical paper investigates the potential of social identity theory to promote reconciliation in the context of dark tourism associated with conflicts. While tourism scholars consider an opportunity for leveraging dark tourism in peacebuilding, there must be more evidence of its effectiveness in promoting peace, especially in the reconciliation process. Through a social identity approach, this paper sheds light on the inconsistency of reconciliation in the geopolitics of dark tourism. It develops a conceptual framework of three design dimensions to dissuade animus and promote reconciliation through dark tourism settings of conflicts. The conceptual discussion in this study is of high value for dark tourism stakeholders and governance actors aiming at developing solutions for reconciliation through tourism.

Dark personality traits and dark tourism sites: Analysis of review generation and consumption behaviors

The present study is one of the pioneering research attempts to understand the review generation and consumption behavior of tourists with dark personality traits while visiting dark tourist sites. We analyzed 124,074 reviews related to 12 sites of dark touristic interest in the USA, China, India, Poland, Japan, Thailand, and Germany. To control for the city-specific effect, we selected 12 non-dark sites from the same cities as a reference point of comparison. Our findings show that dark tourist sites significantly moderate the review generation and consumption behavior of tourists with dark personality traits. The findings fill the existing theoretical gaps in the dark tourism scholarship, and provide practical implications for destination marketing organizations related to dark tourism sites.

Greetings from Spinalonga! O wyspie ciszy w fotografii społecznościowej i o kulturze pamięci na Instagramie

In modern narratives, the island of Spinalonga appears an attractive tourist destination with an interesting and enigmatic history. In fact, Spinalonga is a memory space, encumbered with past political decisions and medical negligence. This is the story of the great confinement, the isolation of the sick who were symbolically killed. Meanwhile, the photos shared on Instagram show theisland in a completely different light.The article seeks to answer the following questions: Does the behavior of Instagram users disrupt the culture of memory and how do these photos (digital representations of memory) influence the image of the island? To this end, I outline the history of the island in the context of exclusion mechanisms for those with Hansen's disease. I discuss the issues of dark tourism, social photoand desemantization of communication. I juxtapose the whole thing with the examples of photos from Spinalonga published on Instagram in 2022.

Understanding young Chinese customers’ perceptions of unsafe city image restoration after Covid-19 outbreak

PurposeThis study aims to uncover marketing strategies to restore a positive image in times of pandemic crisis to bring tourists back to a popularly affected tourism city in China, Wuhan in Hubei Province. The paper argues that the process of restoring city image requires understanding the perceptions of Generation Z, a segment of the population who have a high propensity to travel after COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore the perspectives of China’s Generation Z consumers of Wuhan’s future image to restart tourism. The data is collected through semi-structured interview of 29 respondents and analyzed with the initial, focused and theoretical coding process.FindingsStart by narrowing the gap between projected and perceived image, the findings suggest that Generation Z could be pulled to visit Wuhan city through four core products such as dark tourism activities, special-interest leisure, heroism and storytelling.Originality/valueThe destination image restoration framework after health-related crisis is creatively proposed. It combines the analysis of crisis and urban characteristics from the perspective of the target audience (Generation Z) and provides specific strategies to restore the tourism city image from cognitive, affective and conative dimensions. Significantly, two novel characteristics of Generation Z (i.e. lighthearted and patriotic) emerge in addition to the typical features of this generational cohort. This study also found a high preference for a technologically oriented type of attraction that reverses the morbid COVID-19 memories into an entertainment tool.

The Politics of dark tourism in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT Post-war Sri Lanka has witnessed revitalised tourism in the North. Tourism initiatives are now taking shape within a contested terrain still marred by decades of violence. Yet, tourism is reconfigured in the background of divided and often exclusive sovereign claims to territory and life-worlds. It is evident that dark tourism’s consumptive practices are prevalent, instituting careful memorialisation of war; mollifying the sensibilities of the Sinhala majority. These practices valorise the Army and effectuate relations of supremacy and subjection. Moreover, with the Army as pre-eminent rulers this stark reality also entails narratives of displacement, exclusion, and surveillance. The paper argues that transformation of the North as governed by the Army alongside aggressive development constitutes necrocapitalism.

ARTICLE] Systematic Literature Review on Dark Tourism

Dark tourism, a variant of special interest tourism(SIT), has gained prominence as people sought novel experiences and values through travel. Emerging in domestic academic journals in 2008, dark tourism has steadily garnered scholarly attention and publication. Thus, this study considered the importance of dark tourism and the need for a systematic arrangement. Employing a systematic literature review method, the study organizes domestic dark tourism literature, facilitating an objective understanding of research trends — a departure from the conventional descriptive literature review method. Furthermore, the research reveals the sustained exploration of dark tourism in Korea, primarily featured in tourism-related academic journals. Notably, over half of the published papers employ qualitative research methodologies, shedding light on the predominant subjects of investigation. This study holds significance in its ability to unveil the historical evolution of dark tourism and spotlight the areas that currently command attention within this realm.

Understanding tourists’ experiences at war heritage sites in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam: a netnographic analysis of TripAdvisor reviews

ABSTRACT This article examines tourists’ experiences based on a content analysis of 23,640 online TripAdvisor reviews on the Cu Chi tunnels, one of the most well-known dark tourist sites in Vietnam. Using the netnography approach, we found that most online reviews are from inbound tourists. We identified several factors that impact tourists’ perceptions, including tourists’ underground experience, the content of war history, the tour guide’s narrative talents, tourists’ experience shooting weapons on-site, and the relative size of the crowd. Both positive and negative experiences were grouped into a few common categories. Based on our analysis, we observed that the current improvement of service quality, programmes, and presentations is not enough to transform tourists’ experiences at the site. Rather, we discovered that the tourist also needs to be a co-creator of the experience. We draw out the findings to delineate their theoretical value and make inferences for the site management before concluding with a discussion of the study’s limitations and suggestions for future research.

Zoos and aquaria: dark tourism or light fun? A post-humanist perspective

Non-human animals in the field of Dark Tourism (DT) is an area of recent discussion. While DT initially described tourist sites of human suffering and death, this field undoubtedly encompasses nonhuman malaise. Some activities are unmistakably DT experiences, like bullfighting and hunting, whereas zoos and aquaria are considered more ambiguous. Using Fennel's post-humanist prototype, animals in zoos and aquaria are highlighted as examples of dark tourism objects who endure pain, suffering and thwarted flourishing. It is argued that animal-based DT activities arise from anthropocentric domination narratives of human exceptionalism and entitlement. In the captive context, nature and nonhumans are conceptualized as “other”, extending the dominant, progress-driven misapprehensions of human-nature separation, allowing people to deny the true and far-reaching effects of human impacts on nonhumans and the earth. Dark tourists seek the artificial manifestations of the captive utopia of zoos and aquaria and the collusion provided, permitting the dismissal of animal rights, biodiversity loss and climate change. An alternative perspective of deep justice is offered, where the wellbeing, interests and rights of animals are inherently valued. Embracing this perspective would allow the rejection of captive-animal dark tourism sites such as zoos and aquaria and for the flourishing of all beings to be to be upheld.

Dark diaspora tourism: experiences and meanings in liminal spaces

Few tourism sites possess the combined attributes of dark tourism and diaspora tourism, and journeys to these liminal spaces can unearth complex and nuanced emotions. While previous studies have added knowledge to the experiences of diaspora tourists, little is known about the liminal experiences at dark diaspora tourism sites. While most studies attempt to explore the experiences of tourists to destinations, there is neoteric interest in understanding the hermeneutics of these experiences by offering insights into the contextual interpretation of events. To investigate these, we integrate liminality and stimulus organism theories within a framework of interpretive phenomenology methodology. Forty interviews were conducted with dark diaspora tourists. The study revealed minor and major themes including enlightenment, visceral conflicts, identity dilemmas, and renegotiation of diasporic experiences. Ultimately, it is only by probing the interpretations of dark diaspora experiences from visitors’ own narratives that deep concealed meanings to liminal experiences can be uncovered. The research indicates that experiences at dark diaspora sites vary and result in diverse effects on individuals’ experiences and subsequent interpretations.

Reading the Identity of Dark Heritage Sites: A Peircean Semiotic Methodology

Shared symbolism and ideology at dark heritage sites construct the narrative of a collective national destiny. Visitors’ experiences with such sites necessarily involve decoding signs and symbols. The commonality in interpretative practices is rooted in “collateral knowledge” and forms the identity of place. Yet, cultural materiality, collective identities, and semiotics have been overlooked by dark tourism academia. In broader tourism studies, semiotic attempts lack methodological homogeneity and congruence and efforts to transpose Charles Peirce’s semiotic theory into practical experiential methodologies are scarce. This study introduces a practical, systematic, and replicable semiotic methodology for reading the identity of dark heritage sites. This methodology revolves around three interconnected Peircean concepts: the sign, the collateral knowledge, and the sign’s relationship to its dynamical object. It is proposed that reading the indexical, iconical, and symbolical functions of signs through the filter of collateral knowledge can ensure a systematic meaning-making process and reveal subtle influences.

"Memories of a Forgotten War" and Their Contemporary (Dark) Tourism Implications: An Istrian Media Perspective

Employing a sociological discourse analysis of media reports, this study aims to identify and typologise World War I-related memorial events in the cross-border region of Istria, which is traditionally heavily involved in international tourist flows in Slovenia and Croatia. The theory of memory, social amnesia, and dark tourism are thus intertwined. A corpus of 15 anniversary-related (and all accessible) media reports from three leading regional news media outlets was included in the analysis, which negates the complete social amnesia of war; they were typologised as memorial services or dark exhibitions. We found that memorial events are also related to sport/recreation (diving) and meetings of scholars (conferences, round tables, presentation of the book), which resulted in a revised typology of memorial events. The analysed events scattered throughout the peninsula have limited tourist significance and also reflect the Istrian social reality, specifically multiculturalism and transcultural memory. The paper concludes with an overview of the scholarly and practical implications and limitations of the approach used.

Exploring destination image of dark tourism via analyzing user generated photos: A deep learning approach

Tourism destination image (TDI) in the dark tourism context is considered to be a complex and controversial, yet rarely studied issue in the literature. This study selected three types of dark tourism destinations in China to explore TDI through analyzing user generated photos via DeepSentiBank, a method based on deep convolutional neural networks. Based on a content analysis, this study identified 11 categories of cognitive images, and found that memorial space & sculptures, commemorative symbols, and historical events & place functions were the distinctive categories of cognitive images. Based on a sentiment analysis, it revealed 24 emotions of affective images, and found that negative emotions weighed more heavily than positive emotions in dark tourism destinations. Complex network analysis further revealed multiple inter-linked relationships between cognitive and affective attributes. This study contributes to photo-based sentiment analysis in tourism research, and the findings provide insights for TDI development and management for dark tourism destinations.

Bonnie and Clyde’s extrajudicial killing: Gibsland, Louisiana’s dark tourism

ABSTRACT Discussing Gibsland, Louisiana’s Authentic Bonnie and Clyde Festival as dark tourism, this article asks whether the site of two peoples’ extrajudicial killing constitutes a dark tourist destination. Dark tourism is tourism associated with death. Gibsland is where Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed, and extrajudicially killed, by a posse of law enforcement officers on 23 May 1934. Since 1993, there has been a festival in Gibsland commemorating the ambush, culminating in its reenactment. When Bonnie and Clyde’s bodies were displayed after the ambush, this demonstrated Foucault’s concept of punishment as a spectacle demonstrating the sovereign’s power to destroy those breaking the law and was an example of performative violence. When the actors pretending to be the dead Bonnie and Clyde pose after the reenactment, this demonstrates performed violence. When the spectators at the reenactment pose with the actors this demonstrates participation in punishment.

Is Tourism Recovering in the Post-epidemic Era? Evidence from the Chinese Market

This essay surveys and summarizes the causes of these economies' severe losses as well as their recovery plans in the event of a pandemic in China as the pandemic has significantly impacted the tourism economies. It argues that the epidemic has obviously had a valid impact on the tourism economy, as seen by the high unemployment rate and the fact that the sector is struggling to make ends meet through the collection of data from 2017 to 2021 from State Statistics Bureau and Xinhua. Three areas can be observed in the recession of the tourism economies: the tourism industries, the tourism employees, and the tourism customers. Due to these three factors, the recovery plans for China's tourist cities were broken down into four categories: government funding assistance and ticketing regulations; promotion of the nation's international image; new local forms of tourism like cloud, culture, and rural travel; and the expansion of China's "dark tourism.". In general, the study of the tourism economy will enable us to better plan the growth of the domestic tourism industry and adapt it to a more tailored approach to the Chinese setting.

Children picturing suffering in dark tourism: the use of photo-elicitation method

ABSTRACT Dark tourism subject matter can be powerfully visual. This study adopts the photo-elicitation method to examine children’s perspectives of the exhibitions at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Thematic analysis of children’s photographic narratives reveals that children use their photographs to visualize, describe and interpret what and who caused the suffering. Applying the social identity theory framework, the findings suggest that children identify with their ingroup and differentiate themselves from the outgroup in their photographic narratives. In interpreting the experience of suffering, children de-individualize the suffering bodies, creating a singular Vietnamese experience of suffering and collective identity. The use of photo-elicitation with children is valuable for generating new insights into children’s interpretive and emotional experiences, which have important theoretical and methodological implications for future research in dark tourism.

Tsunami Memories in Poetry and the Potential of “Dark Tourism”

Tsunami Memories in Poetry and the Potential of “Dark Tourism”

Mount Kelud in Dark Tourism Ethical Perspective

Dark tourism is a type of tourism that involves traveling to sites where death, suffering, tragedy, disaster, or violence occur. Indonesia can develop illicit tourism, one of which is Mount Kelud. Dark tourism has caused controversy in its development, especially regarding the ethical dimension. The study aims to identify the ethics of exploiting the suffering of victims and the motivation of tourists in Mount Kelud. It uses the systematic literature review method from articles, proceedings, and other scientific works sourced from scientific publications. Based on the analysis results, there was no exploitation element from the Mount Kelud eruption victims. The economic benefits of tourism directly help people recover from trauma. In addition, the community has instilled the value of harmonization to coexist with the volcano. Most tourists' motivation is to satisfy their curiosity about the eruption of Mount Kelud, and there is no deviant motivation

Exploring fundamental motives of tourists visiting dark tourism sites

ABSTRACT Evolutionary psychology offers new potential to understand the motivation of tourists visiting dark sites. This study first identified four fundamental motives (kin care, exploration, affiliation, and status) related to dark tourism contexts, and then examined their relationships with proximal motives and disaster perception. Results found that fundamental motives positively affected corresponding proximate motives and mediated the relationships between disaster perception and proximate motives, and gender and prior experience had moderating effects. This study contributes to better understanding the fundamental psychological mechanisms of tourists visiting dark sites and has some practical implications for these sites' marketing and management.

A palimpsestic analysis of atmospheres at dark tourism

Adopting a documented introspective perspective, this paper explores the nature and meaning of felt atmospheres at a site of darkest tourism - a former concentration camp. It uses the concept of the palimpsest (a metaphorization of memory and a process of historical layering) as an enabling framework. It draws on a hauntological methodology involving a walk through the camp. It illuminates the various atmospheres attached to the multiple spaces within the camp. In so doing it explores such experiences as disorientation, haunted images and objects, ghost graffiti, silence and emptiness, and absence and presence. Our approach and findings align with the growing field of emotional tourism - a politics of feeling, that sits within the lexicon of critical tourism studies.