Understanding the Motives and Morality Behind Dark Tourism
Understanding the Motives and Morality Behind Dark Tourism
Sarah Rinnman Bethel University
It’s the first morning of your spring break vacation, and while most of your peers are either catching up on sleep, heading to the beach, or visiting the nearest zip-lining adventure, you are off to have an educational day at the 9/11 memorial. However, soon you find yourself amongst other tourists who seem to be having a wonderful time, enjoying the site and taking loads of pictures of themselves around the monument and posting those pictures to their favorite social media handle, even though they are standing mere feet away from the place where thousands of people were tragically killed.
Humankind has always had a fascination and curiosity towards death and horror. Whether that looks like watching a gruesome tv show or slowing down by a car crash, we have all experienced this phenomenon. When considering travel, most people decide to spend their time on a beach or enjoy time exploring the city they are staying in, however, some people take part in dark tourism. Unlike most travel experiences, dark tourism occurs at unpleasant places. So why are people drawn to these dark places when they could be spending their time somewhere more pleasurable? With the rates of dark tourism increasing over the past few years, more research has been done on the topic. These studies have shown that there are many factors that influence people who partake in this type of tourism. After studying the main motives behind dark tourism, we are then faced with the task of deciding whether this kind of tourism is morally ok to partake in since it involves such devastating outcomes.
History of Dark Tourism
The term dark tourism has not been around very long. It first appeared in 1996 when John Lennon and Malcolm Foley (two professors at the time), published The Journal of Heritage Studies, and their book Dark Tourism in 2000. According to the two, the idea of dark tourism first emerged around the time that the Titanic sank, and the first movie came out in 1958 (McKinney, 2020). This disaster in US history seemed to cause a fascination with attending exhibitions that revealed more about the death surrounding the event. Another historian, Dr. Philip Stone, says that dark tourism could even possibly date all the way back to the times of the Roman Colosseum. At that time, millions of people would flock from far off lands, to watch death as a sport (Usborne, 2019). This carried on into 18th century London when people would pay to gather at the town square and watch executions. After this, dark tourism took off, and people began to travel for the sake of visiting places that witnessed catastrophic events. (Sheree, 2019).
Motives of Dark Tourism
Before we can answer the question about the morality of this kind of tourism, it is crucial that we understand the motives that bring people to visit these places, since this is how we assess the morality. To begin, Graduate student Heather Allman, from Iowa State University, conducted a study in 2017, that consisted of 1,068 people who had previously visited a dark tourism location. Interestingly, they found that 32% had a Bachelor’s degree and 23% had some college education (Allman, 2017). This may have some relation to the fact that these people had some prior knowledge of the place or wanted to further gain more knowledge of where they were. Another interesting find from this study, was that one of the main motivators for people to visit these sites was a fascination or curiosity towards dark experiences with paranormal activity (Allman, 2017). Along with this was the motivation that people want to try something new and out of the ordinary. After running a statistical analysis of the data, Allman found that this motivator was statistically significant in her study. The study also found that contemporary media and tv that feature dark tourism sites have a statistically positive influence on tourists’ behavioral intentions to visit the site. Meaning if more people saw the piece of media, more people would attend the site. Allman established that the travelers were curious and interested in what they saw on the media and that they wanted to gather similar kinds of experiences (Allman, 2017).
Another similar study was done by a research scientist from Texas A&M University, on the visitors of the Holocaust Museum Houston. This study concluded that the majority of the visitors were in the area for other reasons and decided to add a visit to the dark tourism location as a side trip. Additionally, many replied that in the past six months they had no lectures or other educational events regarding the history of the Holocaust. Likewise, most of the visitors had no prior experience at other Holocaust sites or museums. In the study, it was found that education in coexistence with remembrance was the most statistically significant factor for visiting the Holocaust Museum Houston (Yurill, 2003). When the respondents were questioned about what drew them to the site, a significant 71% said that education was the main reason, because they want prevention through education, so that something like the Holocaust would never happen again (Yurill, 2003). In regards to the remembrance factor (the second strongest pull). Many of the visitors stated that even though they did not have a personal connection or heritage that relates them to the event, that they all felt related through the simple idea that they are humans, just like the victims. The guests felt a strong and deep sadness and even anger that such an event could happen to humans, once again reiterating that people needed to be educated so that this could never happen again (Yurill, 2003).
Analysis of Motives
After carefully analyzing the data, three main motives were apparent; education, remembrance, and curiosity/novelty. To further understand the data, it is imperative to break up each main theme into sub-categories, to see what the main causes for each theme are. After establishing subcategories based on the research and the data, it is possible to group the themes into different patterns and trends.
Within the theme of education, it is clear that most people visit these sites for the sake of educating themselves about the event, and learning what had happened. But diving further into this information shows that many of the people under the subject of education want to educate themselves so that an event like what took place, can never happen again. This correlates to the famous saying of “learn from your past mistakes.” This idea is summed up very well by an unknown author, “If a visit to this memorial leaves visitors with a better understanding of why the attack took place and with the strong feeling that we must not let this happen again, then surely those entombed will not have died in vain.” These findings show that there is a direct correlation and between the main themes of education and remembrance.
Remembrance also has many sub-categories that can help further explain why this is a main reason for visiting. The first is relating to family members or heritage connections to the tragic event and its victims. Memorials or sites dedicated to the victims provide a very tangible way for family members or relatives to pay their respects to their ancestors. Second, these sites can also supply a place for relatives to reflect on and confront their family’s past or the troubles that they had to endure. Although it may be painful for them to visit these sites, studies have shown that these places can provide a place for healing (Nimela, 2010). Finally, these places allow the survivors of the tragic event to remember and pay respects to their past friends or fellow victims. These locations also create a view of the location under a more peaceful setting, as the survivors have most likely only seen the site while it was part of a war or devastating event (Nimela, 2010). Many times these survivors often feel survivor’s guilt, and having a memorial can help subdue these symptoms.
There are also many secondary topics within the theme of curiosity/novelty. Over the years, the media has influenced the growth of dark tourism. With mainstream tv shows and movies reenacting gruesome events, more and more people have taken interest and obtained a curiosity towards the events and the death that surrounds them (Rihito, 2019). An example of this can be found when looking back at the history of dark tourism, and how the movies about the Titanic influenced the growth of dark tourism. Paranormal activity is also a main draw for many to visit dark locations. Many tourists claim to have seen a paranormal tv show or movie and then this leads them to become curious about whether or not these ghosts do exist, so they go to seek it themselves (Rihito, 2019). The final subcategory is novelty. Some guests at these locations claim they want to have a new and exciting experience, something that is out of the ordinary. For many people, the thrill of seeing something new and unusual is a good enough reason for them to visit a dark tourism location.
Based on many scholarly sources, it is clear that there are patterns and themes in the motives of dark tourism. The conclusion from the research is that there are three main reasons why most people participate in dark tourism. In no certain order, they are education, remembrance, and curiosity/novelty. It is unclear at this point which of these reasons is the most prevalent because every study shows a different percentage for each motive. Additionally, although there are many other reasons for dark tourism travel, these reasons may not be significant enough to fully be included in the overall conclusion. The common theme of education makes sense because most of these dark tourism sites have been turned into museums, and the main point of museums is to educate the visitors. The same goes for the theme of remembrance, many of the locations in addition to being museums were also created as memorials for the victims of the event (Gaya, 2019). However, the one theme that does not quite fit into this pattern is curiosity/novelty. Unlike the others, dark tourism locations were not simply built just for the curiosity and novelty factor. This outlying motive has raised some questions in society that pertain to the morality of the idea (Dimitrovski, 2019).
Morality Debriefing
So why are these patterns so important to society? As mentioned before, with dark tourism becoming more and more popular, there has been some doubt surrounding the idea of whether or not dark tourism is morally acceptable. A good start to answering this question is to look at the patterns that were found between the motives. While both education and remembrance have a pattern, curiosity/novelty seems to be an outlier. For many in society, the two motives that have a pattern are usually considered to be a morally acceptable reason to visit a dark tourism location. However, curiosity/novelty is often the reason that raises the question of morality in the first place. After investigating the main motives of dark tourism, we can begin to piece together possible answers to the question of morality.
Many people do believe that dark tourism is not only a good thing but also important for society. Many of these reasons have been stated previously, but most importantly, people claim that it is important to educate others so that society does not run the risk of possibly re-creating an event like the Holocaust or other drastic events. People also argue that the sites are important for remembrance and memorial reasons. They find that there is nothing wrong with honoring and remembering those who had passed in a horrible or tragic way.
It is equally important to consider the proposition that dark tourism could be a morally bad thing. The theme of novelty/curiosity fits into this side of the argument. An article from the journal Madness and Mayhem expresses how dark tourism can form negative impacts. The author Collete Copeland writes mainly about photography and the idea of disrespect. The notion of tourists going to gravesites and smiling while taking pictures next to bones where thousands of people were brutally murdered is a large factor of why this tourism can be viewed as disrespectful (Copeland, 2011). Many see it as just an unusual experience, while they fail to realize that for the people who died, it was a true reality that they had to endure. Copeland also critiques the motive of morbid curiosity, saying that the specific motive is disrespectful towards the victims because the tourists are simply there to fulfill their curiosity (Copeland, 2011).
Another account written by Simone Usborne (2019), a journalist in the UK, describes a fire that occurred at Grenfell Tower in London, in which 71 people perished. Usborne notes that after the fire, there seemed to be a significant number of people that came to see the wreckage, and even pose for a selfie or a picture, while there were still missing people being searched for in the blackened remains of the building (Usborne, 2019). It went so far that a bus full of Chinese tourists pulled up to the site to take pictures. As one can imagine, all of this unwanted attention was highly criticized by the local people. Many made comments saying things like “this is not the Eiffel Tower,” and, “you do not take a picture to add onto a hashtag.” People had been stopping at the site because they were intrigued by their curiosity and even to some extent the novelty of such an unusual circumstance, not because they were mourning the loss of the victim’s lives lost in the fire (Usborne, 2019). Usborne asks the question “where should we draw our boundaries?” For many, the line between morally acceptable and not is a bit blurred and can be hard to distinguish what is right from wrong in these situations.
Evaluation Motives and Morals
After looking through the motives and the interpretation of these motives, the central question revolving around the morality of dark tourism has a clearer answer. While the interpretation of the answer to this question can be left up to each individual, there is a main trend that most people, including myself, consider to be the most accurate.
Under the circumstances of trying to gain education about a particular site and its history, this type of tourism should be considered morally acceptable. There should be no wrong in wanting to learn about tragic events in history for many reasons. First, it can help to prevent a similar event from happening by providing a way for people to reflect on past mistakes. Wanting to become more educated about a subject or history should not be viewed as wrong. It is also pretty clear that visiting dark tourism locations for the sake of remembrance is also not an invalid reason to visit. These memorials are often primarily built in the first place so that family members, ancestors, and even strangers can pay their respects towards the victims of the tragedy that took place. Morally, there is nothing wrong with seeking out dark tourism locations to mourn loss. However, when it comes to the motive of curiosity and novelty, the question of morality takes a bit of a turn. Visiting a dark tourism site just to check off the box for curiosity and novelty is not a good reason to visit. Visiting, for this reason, is often viewed as disrespectful, and for good reason. Many times, people are seen taking selfies and posting Instagram hashtags to “show off” the location they are at, meanwhile forgetting that the place they are standing at was a place of tragedy and death, where many people suffered and perished. This motive for exploring dark tourism locations should be frowned upon for its lack of respect towards those who died.
In conclusion, although many people may be driven away from exploring dark tourism sites based on the idea of possibly being disrespectful, we should remember that this kind of tourism can be a valuable tool for society. It allows us to confront dark mistakes throughout history and remember those who have been lost. However, this tourism can also be abused by those who are merely seeking a thrilling, new, or exciting adventure. It is imperative that when traveling to visit these sites, that one is mindful of their motives for being there. So next time you want to tour a place where a tragic event has occurred, make sure you are going for the right reasons. Leave your camera and selfie stick at home, remember there is a time and a place for those things, but they do not belong at these locations.
References
Allman, R. (2017). Motivations and intentions of tourists to visit dark tourism locations. (Mastersthesis, Iowa State University, Ames Iowa, United States). Retrieved from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6250&context=etd
Copeland, C. (2011). MADNESS AND MAYHEM: The Aesthetics of Dark Tourism. Afterimage,39(1/2), 43–46. https://doi-org.ezproxy.bethel.edu/10.1525/aft.2011.39.1-2.43
Dimitrovski, D., Luković, M., & Senić, V. (2019). Motives, Obsession with Death and BehavioralIntentions in Dark Tourism. TEME: Casopis Za Društvene Nauke, 43(2), 455–473.https://doi-org.ezproxy.bethel.edu/10.22190/TEME180119028D
Gaya, E. (2013). Understanding motivation of visitors at dark tourism sites: Case study of August7th Memorial Park Kenya. (Masters thesis, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland). Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/38095097.pdf
McKinney, D. (2020, February 13). Why Dark Tourism Matters (According to a Dark Tourist):Cultura Obscura. Retrieved from https://culturaobscura.com/what-is-dark-tourism/
Nimela, T. (2010). Motivation factors in dark tourism. (Masters thesis, Lahti University, Lahti,Finland). Retrieved fromhttps://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c761/7af5a525b5c02006026169365e35484c4db9.pdf
Rihito Kimura. (2019). “Dark Tourism” and Bioethics Education. Japan Mission Journal, 73(3),200–205.
Sheree, A. (2019, August 8). What is dark tourism and can it ever be an ethical form of travel? Retrieved from https://www.wingingtheworld.com/is-dark-tourism-ever-okay/
Usborne, S. (2019, April 8). Dark tourism: When tragedy meets tourism. Retrieved fromhttps://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2018/02/dark-tourism-when-tragedy-meets-tourism
Yuill, S. (2003). Dark tourism: Understanding visitor motivation at sites of death and disaster.(Masters thesis, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States). Retrievedfromhttps://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/89/etd-tamu-2003C-RPTS-Yuill-1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
