Description
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this Special Issue of IJCTHR on dark
tourism. These papers take either a demand-side, supply-side, or integrated demand-and-supply side
perspective to understanding dark tourism. Collectively, the papers explore tourist experiences at dark
sites, the management of dark sites, ethical issues in profit making, and the involvement of indigenous
peoples in site management.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
New perspectives on dark tourism
Avital Biran Kenneth F. Hyde
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Avital Biran Kenneth F. Hyde, (2013),"New perspectives on dark tourism", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research, Vol. 7 Iss 3 pp. 191 - 198
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Philip Stone, (2013),"Dark tourism scholarship: a critical review", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 7
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Anna Farmaki, (2013),"Dark tourism revisited: a supply/demand conceptualisation", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research, Vol. 7 Iss 3 pp. 281-292http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJ CTHR-05-2012-0030
Rachael Raine, (2013),"A dark tourist spectrum", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 7 Iss 3 pp. 242-256http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJ CTHR-05-2012-0037
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Guest editorial
New perspectives on dark tourism
Avital Biran and Kenneth F. Hyde
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this Special Issue of IJCTHR on dark
tourism. These papers take either a demand-side, supply-side, or integrated demand-and-supply side
perspective to understanding dark tourism. Collectively, the papers explore tourist experiences at dark
sites, the management of dark sites, ethical issues in pro?t making, and the involvement of indigenous
peoples in site management.
Design/methodology/approach – This editorial draws lessons from the papers presented in the
Special Issue.
Findings – Just as we contemplate our mortality in different ways in our daily lives, so we contemplate
death in different ways in tourism praxis. The papers presented here stretch the boundaries of the
current de?nition of dark tourism. We move beyond a discussion of classi?cations of dark tourism to
recognise dark tourism as both an individual experience and a complex socio-cultural phenomenon.
Originality/value – The move from a purely descriptive to an experiential and critical investigation of
dark tourism bodes well for the development of a dark tourism body of knowledge. This paper suggests
several avenues for future research on dark tourism.
Keywords Tourism, Ethics, Retailing, Death, Dark tourism, Dark tourism supply, Dark tourism demand,
Integrated supply-and-demand approach, Tourist experiences, Indigenous peoples, Tourism retailing
Paper type General review
Introduction
Different terms have been used to describe, de?ne, and conceptualise the growing
fascination of the global media, tourists and researchers alike with travels to sites associated
with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre – black spots tourism, thanatourism,
morbid tourism (Stone, 2011a; Stone and Sharpley, 2008). Scholars have commonly
adopted the term ‘‘dark tourism’’ to describe this phenomenon, a term ?rst coined by Foley
and Lennon (1996) in an editorial for International Journal of Heritage Studies. Nevertheless,
the common usage of this term does not signal the existence of a universally accepted
de?nition of this phenomenon (Stone, 2011a). Moreover, despite the increasing academic
interest in this subject since the mid-1990s, there is general agreement that dark tourism still
remains theoretically fragile and poorly conceptualised (Jamal and Lelo, 2011; Stone and
Sharpley, 2008). In line with Sharpley and Stone’s (2009b) observation that there are still
many more questions in relation to dark tourism, and no simple answers, the purpose of this
Special Issue is to address some of those questions and foster new approaches to an
understanding of dark tourism.
The call for papers for this Special Issue focused on three main perspectives, inviting
authors to ‘‘look at either the demand-side or the supply-side of dark tourism, or take a more
holistic view, examining both demand and supply sides’’. To date, dark tourism research has
comprised largely descriptive accounts of a supply-side perspective of sites of death and
tragedy (Sharpley, 2009). Under this notion, studies have emphasised the diversity and
DOI 10.1108/IJCTHR-05-2013-0032 VOL. 7 NO. 3 2013, pp. 191-198, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
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PAGE 191
Avital Biran is based at the
School of Tourism,
Bournemouth University,
Bournemouth, UK. Kenneth
F. Hyde is based at AUT
University, Auckland, New
Zealand.
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variety of dark sites, focusing on de?ning and classifying dark tourism manifestations based
on the attributes of sites (Kang et al., 2012). Some prominent examples are Miles (2002),
distinguishing between dark, darker and darkest sites, and Stone’s (2006) proposed
spectrum, ranging from lightest to darkest sites. Yet, this approach has been criticised as
leading to an increasing dilution and fuzziness of the notion of dark tourism as it arbitrarily
combines markedly diverse visitor experiences (Sharpley, 2009). As such, a supply-side
approach raises questions regarding whether it is justi?able to categorise collectively
tourists’ experiences at theme parks such as the London Dungeon alongside the
experiences of visitors to genocide camps, as dark tourism, and whether the concept of
dark tourism is helpful at all for tourism research.
From a demand perspective, calls for more consumer-oriented research have resulted in
studies that focus on the question of tourist motivations to visit dark sites (Stone and
Sharpley, 2008; Hyde and Harman, 2011). Recent works suggest that the motivation to visit
such sites is not to experience death per se, as theorised by early studies (e.g. Seaton,
1996), but to contemplate life and one’s mortality through gazing upon the signi?cant other
dead (Stone, 2011b, 2012). Other researchers have argued that visits to such sites may be
completely devoid of interest with death or confrontation with mortality, as empirical research
reveals a variety of motives, including motives akin to those of heritage tourism, pilgrimage
and special interest tourism (Hyde and Harman, 2011; Kang et al., 2012). Clearly, the
discussion of tourist’s motivations to engage in dark tourism is still ongoing, and the motives
for visiting such sites have yet to be investigated fully or systematically (Stone and Sharpley,
2008).
Recognising the need to go beyond the mere classi?cation and typology of sites and
motives, some authors have suggested the need for examining the nature of both supply
and demand. Sharpley (2005, 2009) conceptualises dark tourism based on the interaction
between the site’s characteristics (ranging from accidental to purposeful) and the way it is
consumed (i.e. tourists’ motivations, expectations, perceptions). Sharpley (2005) identi?es
four shades of dark tourism experiences (black, pale, grey tourism demand and grey
tourism supply), thus drawing attention to the personal meaning and the subjective nature of
dark tourism experiences. This notion further suggests that different visitors may have
different experiences, and various reasons to visit a site. Nevertheless, limited attention has
been given in the literature to this notion or to the wider socio-cultural context of the
relationships between the supply and demand of dark tourism (Biran et al., 2011; Sharpley,
2012).
These are just some of the debates in the literature which have prompted us to initiate this
Special Issue. As O’Leary and Huan (2012) note in their introduction to another Special Issue
in IJCTHR, ‘‘one is never certain what the submissions will look like’’ (p. 3). Subsequently, we
set out on this adventure with an open mind, attempting to overcome knowledge force-?eld
barriers as noted by Tribe (2006), and reveal a greater part of the ‘‘truth’’ about dark tourism.
The following section provides an overview of the papers in this Special Issue in light of this
aim.
How does this Special Issue advance dark tourism knowledge?
Edited books and Special Issues can be seen as providing a snapshot of contemporary
thinking within an area of investigation, and as opening a door to new perspectives. One
recent example in this context is Sharpley and Stone’s (2009a) book The Darker Side of
Travel. That book was the ?rst to draw together the conceptual themes around dark tourism
and explore in an informed manner the relationships between the theory and practice of dark
tourism. Re?ecting on the eight papers that compose this Special Issue offers several
insights as to current advances in dark tourism research and theory.
Firstly, the statistics on submissions received for this issue not only re?ect ongoing interest in
the commoditisation and consumption of death-related sites, but also indicate the growing
geographical spread of this interest. Papers were submitted from nine different countries,
with the eight papers published here originating from Australia, Canada, Cyprus, New
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Zealand, the UK and the USA. This geographical diversity is also apparent in the dark sites
explored in these papers. In addition, the af?liation of authors further emphasises the
multi-faceted nature and complexity of dark tourism, as af?liations include academics from
the ?elds of geography, sociology and anthropology, tourism, business and management,
and even a museum practitioner. Surprisingly, only one of the authors is af?liated with a
university tourism department. This diversi?cation may re?ect a growing recognition of the
need to go beyond traditional disciplinary borders to research dark tourism rigorously and
logically (Stone, 2011a).
Secondly, in terms of study methods, it seems that Wight’s (2005) observation that dark
tourism research has predominantly adopted qualitative methods is still valid. However, the
papers in the Special Issue also re?ect the emergence of several less traditional methods to
the exploration of dark tourism. Speci?cally, Johnston (2013) adopts the use of a public
unsolicited personal document (Hodder, 1998), i.e. Mark Twain’s description of his travels in
The Innocents Abroad. The use of Twain’s ‘‘published diary’’ provides insights into an
individual’s processes of interpretation and meaning-making in relation to a variety of
death-related sites, and also offers an historical perspective to the consumption of dark sites
(Wilkins, 1993). Buda and McIntosh (2013), explore the lived experiences of one tourist to a
place socially constructed as forbidden (Iran), through a series of online interviews. These
two examples are original, ?rstly in their focus on the experience of one individual, and
secondly in the research tools adopted. The wealth and depth of insights yielded suggests
that the complexity and the dif?culty of exploring the taboo of death as an element of
consumption encourages scholars to adopt more innovative and ?exible methods to
understand this phenomenon fully.
Thirdly, the Special Issue further echoes a wide diversity of death-related sites and
experiences. Some of the papers focus on types of sites and forms of tourism that have long
been discussed in the dark tourism literature. For instance, Cheal and Grif?n (2013) look at
the battle?eld of Gallipoli, Raine (2013) investigates visitors to graveyards and cemeteries,
and Brown (2013), Lemelin et al. (2013) and Farmaki (2013) explore sites of con?ict,
memorialisation and genocide (e.g. Auschwitz-Birkenau, Little Bighorn battle?eld in
Canada, and the National Struggle Museum in Cyprus). On the other hand, some of the
experiences presented here further stretch the boundaries of the de?nition of dark tourism.
In particular, Buda and McIntosh (2013) focus on a tourist’s lived experiences in a danger
zone, namely Iran. Miller and Gonzalez (2013) situate death tourism (or suicide tourism)
within the framework of dark tourism. Thus, the researchers here have adopted a wide
de?nition of dark tourism. It could be that researchers are increasingly recognising ‘‘the
range of meditating relationships that dark tourism potentially has with the thanatological
condition of society’’ (Stone, 2012, p. 1576). Just as we contemplate our mortality in different
ways in our daily lives, through the media and popular culture, so we contemplate death in
different ways in tourism praxis (Stone, 2012; Stone and Sharpley, 2008).
Looking at the themes of the papers published here indicates a potential shift in the focus of
dark tourism research, from the supply of dark tourism products to emphasising the
perspectives of tourists and the relationships between the provision and consumption of
dark tourism. By way of comparison, some two thirds of the chapters in Sharpley and Stone’s
(2009a) book deal with the practice and management of dark sites. In this Special Issue,
only two studies take a strictly supply-side perspective. Though the exploration of tourist
motivation and the interpretation of dark sites still attracts much attention (as previously
observed by Wight, 2005), the Special Issue re?ects a widening of research interests. Yet,
we might still be far from saying that dark tourism has ‘‘matured’’ as a subject of academic
investigation.
In terms of the demand perspective, the papers in this issue tend to focus on the broader
context of the tourist experience rather than simply tourist motivation. The ?rst two papers
explore the tourist experience with the aimof enhancing the theoretical underpinning of dark
tourism. In the opening paper, Johnston (2013) aims to do so by viewing Mark Twain’s travel
experiences through different theoretical lenses regarding the understanding of dark
tourism. Johnston reveals a breath of consumption and production in?uences that construct
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the tourist’s personal experience and their encounters with death. In doing so, he identi?es
that dark experiences may not necessarily be pre-motivated or purposely supplied; thus,
simply exploring a site’s attributes or a tourist’s motives might provide only a limited
understanding of dark tourism phenomena. Following from this, Buda and McIntosh (2013)
adopt the psychological notion of voyeurism to understand a tourist’s lived experiences.
Buda and McIntosh (2013) emphasise the need to conceptualise dark tourismin terms of the
individual’s subjective experiences, rather than identi?able attractions, in order to capture
the complexities around the dark tourism phenomenon.
The next two studies draw attention to the practical and managerial implications of
understanding tourists and their experiences at dark sites. Focusing on Gallipoli, Cheal and
Grif?n’s (2013) paper further expands this notion by exploring tourist’s pre-, during- and
post-visit experiences. Cheal and Grif?n (2013) demonstrate the various ways in which
tourists engage with the site to build memorable experiences, emphasising the importance
of interpretation in this process, and the transformable impact of a visit that shares
similarities with a secular pilgrimage (Hyde and Harman, 2011). Thus far, limited attention
has been paid in the literature to the potential consequences of dark tourism (apart from
Stone’s work), and the impacts of the tourist experience. While Cheal and Grif?n (2013) focus
on how a speci?c site is experienced by different visitors, Raine (2013) takes a variety of
sites to provide a more comprehensive understanding of dark tourism demand. Drawing on
Stone’s (2006) notion of the spectrum of dark tourism supply, Raine (2013) develops a dark
tourist spectrum. This spectrum ranges from the ‘‘lightest’’ incidental tourists who visit a site
for sightseeing and enjoying peaceful green spaces, to the ‘‘darkest’’ tourists who engage
deeply and have a personal and spiritual connection to a site (i.e. mourners and pilgrims).
While the dark tourism literature has been heavily criticised for focusing on the supply and
production of experiences, the two studies in this issue that adopt a supply orientation hint at
the array of managerial challenges still to be explored from the supply-side perspective
(Sharpley, 2009). These studies emphasise the need to consider dark tourism provision and
the role of such sites within their social, cultural, historical and political contexts. For
instance, noting the importance of site interpretation, Lemelin et al. (2013) explore the
representation of indigenous people at dark sites. Based on case studies, Lemelin et al.
(2013) discuss various approaches to include the indigenous population fully in site
management in a manner that facilitates reconciliation and provides opportunities to
increase tolerance and understanding between cultural groups. Lemelin et al. (2013) relate
to politics and power relations in exploring the representation of indigenous people at dark
sites. In her paper, Brown (2013) provides an in-depth discussion of the role of museum
shops at dark sites, as both pro?t-making and meaning-making vehicles. Brown (2013) also
re?ects on the ethical and commercial considerations arising from the locational authenticity
of the site, the subject matter of the site and the museum’s approach to interpreting the dark
event presented. Brown (2013) raises ethical issues regarding the balance between
commercialism, suitability of the merchandise and meaning-making at museum shops at
dark sites.
The last two papers in this Special Issue adopt an integrated supply and demand
perspective. Farmaki (2013) explores the conjunction between supply and demand. She
highlights dark tourism as a multi-layer phenomenon constructed from the site’s projected
image (based on its inherent attributes as well as its re?ection in the media and promotional
materials) and its perceived image (affected by the tourist’s motives and personal
characteristics). While previous studies have noted the visitors’ personal connection with the
site (e.g. Biran et al., 2011; Sharpley, 2005), this study highlights the need to adopt a wider
and more holistic concept, i.e. the concept of image, to clarify the interaction between
supply and demand. In the last paper in the issue, Miller and Gonzalez (2013) makes the
case for considering ‘‘death tourism’’ or ‘‘suicide tourism’’ under the framework of dark
tourism, through a discussion of the growing association between the idea of death with
dignity and the commoditisation of death in the tourism industry. As part of this, Miller and
Gonzalez (2013) explore the relationships between supply and demand for death tourism in
relation to wider social, legal, moral and commercial considerations.
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What is next for advancing dark tourism knowledge?
A discussion of how this Special Issue may advance dark tourism knowledge would not be
complete without asking what is missing or under-represented in this issue. Answering this
question may suggest avenues for future investigations in dark tourism. A few issues can be
noted in this regard.
Firstly, there is not even one paper in this issue that has adopted quantitative research
methods. Though this re?ects the general state of dark tourism research, it begs the
question of why this is so (Wight, 2005). Is it because of the nature of the topic? Does
quantitative research require more effort and resources? For example, a number of the
papers in this issue are based on small samples or on secondary information. Part of this
might also be related to the disciplinary af?liations of the authors (e.g. geography, sociology,
anthropology), which are generally dominated by a post-positivist approach (Tribe, 2006).
Similarly, Wight (2005) attributes this to the prominence of sociological issues in dark
tourism, which have traditionally adopted qualitative methods of investigation. In this
context, Wight (2005) advocates the need for dark tourism investigation to overlap into
quantitative and positivist enquiry, since this subject is related to practical tourism interests,
such as the economic impact of such sites and segmentation of visitors. Quantitative
methods may have further advantages as well, for example in contributing to an
understanding of tourist behaviour and experiences at dark sites (see, for example, Hyde
and Harman, 2011; Kang et al., 2012).
Secondly, it should be noted that Stone and Sharpley’s (2008) thanatological framework,
which highlights the role of dark tourism as a modern-day practice for confronting mortality
and death anxiety, has become widely accepted in the literature. As such, many of the
papers in this issue also cite this work or have adopted this framework. However, most of the
papers have not gone further to explore and develop the ideas raised by Stone and Sharpley
(with some exception by Johnston, 2013). Future studies could explore the effect of
consuming various dark tourism products on the individual’s level of death anxiety and
emotions.
Likewise, the Special Issue gives limited attention to psychological aspects of dark tourism
consumption. While Stone and Sharpley (2008) conceptualise dark tourism within the macro
socio-cultural environment, there is still limited understanding of the inner mechanisms for
people to engage in dark tourism and the psychological bene?ts of doing so. There is an
abundance of research on the notion of ‘‘feeling bad to feel good’’, or the attraction of violent
entertainment such as horror ?lms (e.g. Goldstein, 1999; Andrade and Cohen, 2007), which
could be relevant both to understanding the consumption experiences as well as to the
development, design and marketing of dark tourism. Moreover, given the fact that many
scholars refer to rubbernecking, bloodlust and gore curiosity as key motives for dark
tourism, it is surprising that such aspects have been overlooked thus far (Ashworth, 2002;
Dann, 1998). A starting point to the potential contribution of psychological theory to an
understanding of dark tourism is evident in the paper of Buda and McIntosh (2013), who
adopt Freud and Lacan’s theories of voyeurism.
Another issue that has been noted by Stone and Sharpley (2008) and that has been largely
overlooked in this Special Issue is the notion of cross-cultural differences. The exceptions
here are the papers by Lemelin et al. (2013) and Farmaki (2013). As different cultural
systems may be more or less effective in protecting the individual fromthe idea of death and
dying (Schumaker et al., 1991), this may also affect patterns of consumption and supply of
dark tourism. However, most if not all studies in this issue focus on dark sites in the Western
world or explore Western tourists. Only the papers by Lemelin et al. and Farmaki pay
attention to a cross-cultural comparison of issues relating to the provision and consumption
of dark tourism. This lack of attention to cross-cultural issues in dark tourism coincides with
the general dearth and limited scope of cross-cultural research in tourism in general (Berno
and Ward, 2005).
Finally, Seaton and Lennon (2004) propose dark tourism to be a contemporary ‘‘leisure
activity’’ (p. 63). Also, Stone (2012) suggests that visits to dark sites are now ‘‘part of a
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broader visitor economy and often packaged and promoted with other mainstream
attractions’’ (p. 1578). Yet, empirical research is still in its infancy to provide further insights
into the co-consumption of leisure and dark tourism. Similarly, limited attention has been
given to this notion in this Special Issue. Johnston’s (2013) paper, which draws on Twain’s
travels, may in some respects re?ect the consumption of dark sites within the wider context
of the leisure experience. Future research could explore the internal con?icts tourists may
experience (or suppress) when consuming sites of tragedy alongside leisure experiences.
Equally, such con?icts could also be investigated in relation to the suppliers of dark tourism,
such as the ethical and moral issues related to making pro?t from the commoditisation of
death and suffering.
Conclusion
If anything, this Special Issue further stresses that dark tourism is a complex and multi-faced
phenomenon, both in terms of its supply and consumption, as well as in relation to being an
individual and a socio-cultural phenomenon. While it is important to achieve some form of
acceptable de?nition of the phenomenon we are researching, perhaps at this stage we
should simply accept the wider de?nition of dark tourism, which links the ideas of death and
tourism (Stone, 2006). A wider perspective could allow a more comprehensive investigation
of the relationships between death and tourism supply and demand as we encounter death
and mortality, both as individuals and as a society, in various ways, from entertainment and
education, to memorialisation and commemoration (Stone and Sharpley, 2008; Stone, 2012).
The diversity of issues explored and the methods, perspectives and disciplines adapted in
this Special Issue re?ect a growing understanding that the production and consumption of
dark tourism has diverse interrelationships with the cultural condition of society (Stone,
2011a). The papers presented here, suggest that we have now moved beyond a discussion
of classi?cations and de?nitions of dark tourism to recognise that it is a socially complex
phenomenon and that visitors experience dark sites in diverse ways. As such, to achieve a
more rigorous conceptualisation of dark tourism we might ?rst need to understand the
subjective and diverse nature of such experiences. This notion is in line with the
post-modernist move in tourism research, which emphasises the subjective over the
objective, as well as the critical turn in tourism studies which theorises the tourism
phenomenon within its wider political, economic, cultural and social contexts (Ateljevic et al.,
2007; Collins-Kreiner, 2010). The move from a descriptive to an experiential and critical
investigation bodes well for the development of a dark tourism body of knowledge.
Thus, rather than seeing dark tourism as a ‘‘sectional pathology’’ (Seaton and Lennon, 2004,
p. 68) and a deviant fascination with death, we need to accept that death is an inevitable part
of everyone’s lives, and this is re?ected in tourism too. Thus perhaps to understand dark
tourism, we ?rst of all need to keep an open mind and resist the temptation to constrain it to a
strict de?nition. This Special Issue aims to do just that, to keep an open mind about dark
tourism. In doing so, do we actually advance dark tourism knowledge, or do we merely
create greater confusion? That is for the reader to decide.
References
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Research, Vol. 34, pp. 283-300.
Ashworth, G. (2002), ‘‘Holocaust tourism: the experience of Krako´ w-Kazimierz’’, International Research
in Geographical and Environmental Education, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 363-367.
Ateljevic, I., Pritchard, A. and Morgan, N. (2007), The Critical Turn in Tourism Studies Innovative
Research Methodologies, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Berno, T. and Ward, C. (2005), ‘‘Innocence abroad: a pocket guide to psychological research on
tourism’’, American Psychologist, Vol. 60 No. 6, pp. 593-600.
Biran, A., Poria, Y. and Oren, G. (2011), ‘‘Sought experiences at (dark) heritage sites’’, Annals of Tourism
Research, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 820-841.
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About the authors
Avital Biran is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, UK. Her
main research areas are tourist behaviour, tourism and psychology and dark tourism. Avital
Biran is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]
Kenneth F. Hyde is an Associate Professor of Marketing at AUT University, Auckland, New
Zealand. His research on tourist behaviour and tourist decision making had been published
in the leading journals in tourism.
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This article has been cited by:
1. G.J. Ashworth, Rami K. Isaac. 2015. Have we illuminated the dark? Shifting perspectives on ‘dark’ tourism. Tourism
Recreation Research 40, 316-325. [CrossRef]
2. Richard C. Franklin, Peter A. LeggatBasic epidemiology of non-infectious diseases 9-22. [CrossRef]
3. Dorina Maria Buda. 2015. The death drive in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research 50, 39-51. [CrossRef]
4. Dorina Maria Buda, Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre, Lynda Johnston. 2014. Feeling and tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research
46, 102-114. [CrossRef]
5. Stephen Miles. 2014. Battlefield sites as dark tourism attractions: an analysis of experience. Journal of Heritage Tourism 9,
134-147. [CrossRef]
6. Juergen Gnoth, Xavier Matteucci. 2014. A phenomenological view of the behavioural tourism research literature. International
Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 8:1, 3-21. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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doc_491399700.pdf
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this Special Issue of IJCTHR on dark
tourism. These papers take either a demand-side, supply-side, or integrated demand-and-supply side
perspective to understanding dark tourism. Collectively, the papers explore tourist experiences at dark
sites, the management of dark sites, ethical issues in profit making, and the involvement of indigenous
peoples in site management.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
New perspectives on dark tourism
Avital Biran Kenneth F. Hyde
Article information:
To cite this document:
Avital Biran Kenneth F. Hyde, (2013),"New perspectives on dark tourism", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research, Vol. 7 Iss 3 pp. 191 - 198
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Anna Farmaki, (2013),"Dark tourism revisited: a supply/demand conceptualisation", International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
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Guest editorial
New perspectives on dark tourism
Avital Biran and Kenneth F. Hyde
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this Special Issue of IJCTHR on dark
tourism. These papers take either a demand-side, supply-side, or integrated demand-and-supply side
perspective to understanding dark tourism. Collectively, the papers explore tourist experiences at dark
sites, the management of dark sites, ethical issues in pro?t making, and the involvement of indigenous
peoples in site management.
Design/methodology/approach – This editorial draws lessons from the papers presented in the
Special Issue.
Findings – Just as we contemplate our mortality in different ways in our daily lives, so we contemplate
death in different ways in tourism praxis. The papers presented here stretch the boundaries of the
current de?nition of dark tourism. We move beyond a discussion of classi?cations of dark tourism to
recognise dark tourism as both an individual experience and a complex socio-cultural phenomenon.
Originality/value – The move from a purely descriptive to an experiential and critical investigation of
dark tourism bodes well for the development of a dark tourism body of knowledge. This paper suggests
several avenues for future research on dark tourism.
Keywords Tourism, Ethics, Retailing, Death, Dark tourism, Dark tourism supply, Dark tourism demand,
Integrated supply-and-demand approach, Tourist experiences, Indigenous peoples, Tourism retailing
Paper type General review
Introduction
Different terms have been used to describe, de?ne, and conceptualise the growing
fascination of the global media, tourists and researchers alike with travels to sites associated
with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre – black spots tourism, thanatourism,
morbid tourism (Stone, 2011a; Stone and Sharpley, 2008). Scholars have commonly
adopted the term ‘‘dark tourism’’ to describe this phenomenon, a term ?rst coined by Foley
and Lennon (1996) in an editorial for International Journal of Heritage Studies. Nevertheless,
the common usage of this term does not signal the existence of a universally accepted
de?nition of this phenomenon (Stone, 2011a). Moreover, despite the increasing academic
interest in this subject since the mid-1990s, there is general agreement that dark tourism still
remains theoretically fragile and poorly conceptualised (Jamal and Lelo, 2011; Stone and
Sharpley, 2008). In line with Sharpley and Stone’s (2009b) observation that there are still
many more questions in relation to dark tourism, and no simple answers, the purpose of this
Special Issue is to address some of those questions and foster new approaches to an
understanding of dark tourism.
The call for papers for this Special Issue focused on three main perspectives, inviting
authors to ‘‘look at either the demand-side or the supply-side of dark tourism, or take a more
holistic view, examining both demand and supply sides’’. To date, dark tourism research has
comprised largely descriptive accounts of a supply-side perspective of sites of death and
tragedy (Sharpley, 2009). Under this notion, studies have emphasised the diversity and
DOI 10.1108/IJCTHR-05-2013-0032 VOL. 7 NO. 3 2013, pp. 191-198, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
j
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH
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PAGE 191
Avital Biran is based at the
School of Tourism,
Bournemouth University,
Bournemouth, UK. Kenneth
F. Hyde is based at AUT
University, Auckland, New
Zealand.
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variety of dark sites, focusing on de?ning and classifying dark tourism manifestations based
on the attributes of sites (Kang et al., 2012). Some prominent examples are Miles (2002),
distinguishing between dark, darker and darkest sites, and Stone’s (2006) proposed
spectrum, ranging from lightest to darkest sites. Yet, this approach has been criticised as
leading to an increasing dilution and fuzziness of the notion of dark tourism as it arbitrarily
combines markedly diverse visitor experiences (Sharpley, 2009). As such, a supply-side
approach raises questions regarding whether it is justi?able to categorise collectively
tourists’ experiences at theme parks such as the London Dungeon alongside the
experiences of visitors to genocide camps, as dark tourism, and whether the concept of
dark tourism is helpful at all for tourism research.
From a demand perspective, calls for more consumer-oriented research have resulted in
studies that focus on the question of tourist motivations to visit dark sites (Stone and
Sharpley, 2008; Hyde and Harman, 2011). Recent works suggest that the motivation to visit
such sites is not to experience death per se, as theorised by early studies (e.g. Seaton,
1996), but to contemplate life and one’s mortality through gazing upon the signi?cant other
dead (Stone, 2011b, 2012). Other researchers have argued that visits to such sites may be
completely devoid of interest with death or confrontation with mortality, as empirical research
reveals a variety of motives, including motives akin to those of heritage tourism, pilgrimage
and special interest tourism (Hyde and Harman, 2011; Kang et al., 2012). Clearly, the
discussion of tourist’s motivations to engage in dark tourism is still ongoing, and the motives
for visiting such sites have yet to be investigated fully or systematically (Stone and Sharpley,
2008).
Recognising the need to go beyond the mere classi?cation and typology of sites and
motives, some authors have suggested the need for examining the nature of both supply
and demand. Sharpley (2005, 2009) conceptualises dark tourism based on the interaction
between the site’s characteristics (ranging from accidental to purposeful) and the way it is
consumed (i.e. tourists’ motivations, expectations, perceptions). Sharpley (2005) identi?es
four shades of dark tourism experiences (black, pale, grey tourism demand and grey
tourism supply), thus drawing attention to the personal meaning and the subjective nature of
dark tourism experiences. This notion further suggests that different visitors may have
different experiences, and various reasons to visit a site. Nevertheless, limited attention has
been given in the literature to this notion or to the wider socio-cultural context of the
relationships between the supply and demand of dark tourism (Biran et al., 2011; Sharpley,
2012).
These are just some of the debates in the literature which have prompted us to initiate this
Special Issue. As O’Leary and Huan (2012) note in their introduction to another Special Issue
in IJCTHR, ‘‘one is never certain what the submissions will look like’’ (p. 3). Subsequently, we
set out on this adventure with an open mind, attempting to overcome knowledge force-?eld
barriers as noted by Tribe (2006), and reveal a greater part of the ‘‘truth’’ about dark tourism.
The following section provides an overview of the papers in this Special Issue in light of this
aim.
How does this Special Issue advance dark tourism knowledge?
Edited books and Special Issues can be seen as providing a snapshot of contemporary
thinking within an area of investigation, and as opening a door to new perspectives. One
recent example in this context is Sharpley and Stone’s (2009a) book The Darker Side of
Travel. That book was the ?rst to draw together the conceptual themes around dark tourism
and explore in an informed manner the relationships between the theory and practice of dark
tourism. Re?ecting on the eight papers that compose this Special Issue offers several
insights as to current advances in dark tourism research and theory.
Firstly, the statistics on submissions received for this issue not only re?ect ongoing interest in
the commoditisation and consumption of death-related sites, but also indicate the growing
geographical spread of this interest. Papers were submitted from nine different countries,
with the eight papers published here originating from Australia, Canada, Cyprus, New
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Zealand, the UK and the USA. This geographical diversity is also apparent in the dark sites
explored in these papers. In addition, the af?liation of authors further emphasises the
multi-faceted nature and complexity of dark tourism, as af?liations include academics from
the ?elds of geography, sociology and anthropology, tourism, business and management,
and even a museum practitioner. Surprisingly, only one of the authors is af?liated with a
university tourism department. This diversi?cation may re?ect a growing recognition of the
need to go beyond traditional disciplinary borders to research dark tourism rigorously and
logically (Stone, 2011a).
Secondly, in terms of study methods, it seems that Wight’s (2005) observation that dark
tourism research has predominantly adopted qualitative methods is still valid. However, the
papers in the Special Issue also re?ect the emergence of several less traditional methods to
the exploration of dark tourism. Speci?cally, Johnston (2013) adopts the use of a public
unsolicited personal document (Hodder, 1998), i.e. Mark Twain’s description of his travels in
The Innocents Abroad. The use of Twain’s ‘‘published diary’’ provides insights into an
individual’s processes of interpretation and meaning-making in relation to a variety of
death-related sites, and also offers an historical perspective to the consumption of dark sites
(Wilkins, 1993). Buda and McIntosh (2013), explore the lived experiences of one tourist to a
place socially constructed as forbidden (Iran), through a series of online interviews. These
two examples are original, ?rstly in their focus on the experience of one individual, and
secondly in the research tools adopted. The wealth and depth of insights yielded suggests
that the complexity and the dif?culty of exploring the taboo of death as an element of
consumption encourages scholars to adopt more innovative and ?exible methods to
understand this phenomenon fully.
Thirdly, the Special Issue further echoes a wide diversity of death-related sites and
experiences. Some of the papers focus on types of sites and forms of tourism that have long
been discussed in the dark tourism literature. For instance, Cheal and Grif?n (2013) look at
the battle?eld of Gallipoli, Raine (2013) investigates visitors to graveyards and cemeteries,
and Brown (2013), Lemelin et al. (2013) and Farmaki (2013) explore sites of con?ict,
memorialisation and genocide (e.g. Auschwitz-Birkenau, Little Bighorn battle?eld in
Canada, and the National Struggle Museum in Cyprus). On the other hand, some of the
experiences presented here further stretch the boundaries of the de?nition of dark tourism.
In particular, Buda and McIntosh (2013) focus on a tourist’s lived experiences in a danger
zone, namely Iran. Miller and Gonzalez (2013) situate death tourism (or suicide tourism)
within the framework of dark tourism. Thus, the researchers here have adopted a wide
de?nition of dark tourism. It could be that researchers are increasingly recognising ‘‘the
range of meditating relationships that dark tourism potentially has with the thanatological
condition of society’’ (Stone, 2012, p. 1576). Just as we contemplate our mortality in different
ways in our daily lives, through the media and popular culture, so we contemplate death in
different ways in tourism praxis (Stone, 2012; Stone and Sharpley, 2008).
Looking at the themes of the papers published here indicates a potential shift in the focus of
dark tourism research, from the supply of dark tourism products to emphasising the
perspectives of tourists and the relationships between the provision and consumption of
dark tourism. By way of comparison, some two thirds of the chapters in Sharpley and Stone’s
(2009a) book deal with the practice and management of dark sites. In this Special Issue,
only two studies take a strictly supply-side perspective. Though the exploration of tourist
motivation and the interpretation of dark sites still attracts much attention (as previously
observed by Wight, 2005), the Special Issue re?ects a widening of research interests. Yet,
we might still be far from saying that dark tourism has ‘‘matured’’ as a subject of academic
investigation.
In terms of the demand perspective, the papers in this issue tend to focus on the broader
context of the tourist experience rather than simply tourist motivation. The ?rst two papers
explore the tourist experience with the aimof enhancing the theoretical underpinning of dark
tourism. In the opening paper, Johnston (2013) aims to do so by viewing Mark Twain’s travel
experiences through different theoretical lenses regarding the understanding of dark
tourism. Johnston reveals a breath of consumption and production in?uences that construct
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the tourist’s personal experience and their encounters with death. In doing so, he identi?es
that dark experiences may not necessarily be pre-motivated or purposely supplied; thus,
simply exploring a site’s attributes or a tourist’s motives might provide only a limited
understanding of dark tourism phenomena. Following from this, Buda and McIntosh (2013)
adopt the psychological notion of voyeurism to understand a tourist’s lived experiences.
Buda and McIntosh (2013) emphasise the need to conceptualise dark tourismin terms of the
individual’s subjective experiences, rather than identi?able attractions, in order to capture
the complexities around the dark tourism phenomenon.
The next two studies draw attention to the practical and managerial implications of
understanding tourists and their experiences at dark sites. Focusing on Gallipoli, Cheal and
Grif?n’s (2013) paper further expands this notion by exploring tourist’s pre-, during- and
post-visit experiences. Cheal and Grif?n (2013) demonstrate the various ways in which
tourists engage with the site to build memorable experiences, emphasising the importance
of interpretation in this process, and the transformable impact of a visit that shares
similarities with a secular pilgrimage (Hyde and Harman, 2011). Thus far, limited attention
has been paid in the literature to the potential consequences of dark tourism (apart from
Stone’s work), and the impacts of the tourist experience. While Cheal and Grif?n (2013) focus
on how a speci?c site is experienced by different visitors, Raine (2013) takes a variety of
sites to provide a more comprehensive understanding of dark tourism demand. Drawing on
Stone’s (2006) notion of the spectrum of dark tourism supply, Raine (2013) develops a dark
tourist spectrum. This spectrum ranges from the ‘‘lightest’’ incidental tourists who visit a site
for sightseeing and enjoying peaceful green spaces, to the ‘‘darkest’’ tourists who engage
deeply and have a personal and spiritual connection to a site (i.e. mourners and pilgrims).
While the dark tourism literature has been heavily criticised for focusing on the supply and
production of experiences, the two studies in this issue that adopt a supply orientation hint at
the array of managerial challenges still to be explored from the supply-side perspective
(Sharpley, 2009). These studies emphasise the need to consider dark tourism provision and
the role of such sites within their social, cultural, historical and political contexts. For
instance, noting the importance of site interpretation, Lemelin et al. (2013) explore the
representation of indigenous people at dark sites. Based on case studies, Lemelin et al.
(2013) discuss various approaches to include the indigenous population fully in site
management in a manner that facilitates reconciliation and provides opportunities to
increase tolerance and understanding between cultural groups. Lemelin et al. (2013) relate
to politics and power relations in exploring the representation of indigenous people at dark
sites. In her paper, Brown (2013) provides an in-depth discussion of the role of museum
shops at dark sites, as both pro?t-making and meaning-making vehicles. Brown (2013) also
re?ects on the ethical and commercial considerations arising from the locational authenticity
of the site, the subject matter of the site and the museum’s approach to interpreting the dark
event presented. Brown (2013) raises ethical issues regarding the balance between
commercialism, suitability of the merchandise and meaning-making at museum shops at
dark sites.
The last two papers in this Special Issue adopt an integrated supply and demand
perspective. Farmaki (2013) explores the conjunction between supply and demand. She
highlights dark tourism as a multi-layer phenomenon constructed from the site’s projected
image (based on its inherent attributes as well as its re?ection in the media and promotional
materials) and its perceived image (affected by the tourist’s motives and personal
characteristics). While previous studies have noted the visitors’ personal connection with the
site (e.g. Biran et al., 2011; Sharpley, 2005), this study highlights the need to adopt a wider
and more holistic concept, i.e. the concept of image, to clarify the interaction between
supply and demand. In the last paper in the issue, Miller and Gonzalez (2013) makes the
case for considering ‘‘death tourism’’ or ‘‘suicide tourism’’ under the framework of dark
tourism, through a discussion of the growing association between the idea of death with
dignity and the commoditisation of death in the tourism industry. As part of this, Miller and
Gonzalez (2013) explore the relationships between supply and demand for death tourism in
relation to wider social, legal, moral and commercial considerations.
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What is next for advancing dark tourism knowledge?
A discussion of how this Special Issue may advance dark tourism knowledge would not be
complete without asking what is missing or under-represented in this issue. Answering this
question may suggest avenues for future investigations in dark tourism. A few issues can be
noted in this regard.
Firstly, there is not even one paper in this issue that has adopted quantitative research
methods. Though this re?ects the general state of dark tourism research, it begs the
question of why this is so (Wight, 2005). Is it because of the nature of the topic? Does
quantitative research require more effort and resources? For example, a number of the
papers in this issue are based on small samples or on secondary information. Part of this
might also be related to the disciplinary af?liations of the authors (e.g. geography, sociology,
anthropology), which are generally dominated by a post-positivist approach (Tribe, 2006).
Similarly, Wight (2005) attributes this to the prominence of sociological issues in dark
tourism, which have traditionally adopted qualitative methods of investigation. In this
context, Wight (2005) advocates the need for dark tourism investigation to overlap into
quantitative and positivist enquiry, since this subject is related to practical tourism interests,
such as the economic impact of such sites and segmentation of visitors. Quantitative
methods may have further advantages as well, for example in contributing to an
understanding of tourist behaviour and experiences at dark sites (see, for example, Hyde
and Harman, 2011; Kang et al., 2012).
Secondly, it should be noted that Stone and Sharpley’s (2008) thanatological framework,
which highlights the role of dark tourism as a modern-day practice for confronting mortality
and death anxiety, has become widely accepted in the literature. As such, many of the
papers in this issue also cite this work or have adopted this framework. However, most of the
papers have not gone further to explore and develop the ideas raised by Stone and Sharpley
(with some exception by Johnston, 2013). Future studies could explore the effect of
consuming various dark tourism products on the individual’s level of death anxiety and
emotions.
Likewise, the Special Issue gives limited attention to psychological aspects of dark tourism
consumption. While Stone and Sharpley (2008) conceptualise dark tourism within the macro
socio-cultural environment, there is still limited understanding of the inner mechanisms for
people to engage in dark tourism and the psychological bene?ts of doing so. There is an
abundance of research on the notion of ‘‘feeling bad to feel good’’, or the attraction of violent
entertainment such as horror ?lms (e.g. Goldstein, 1999; Andrade and Cohen, 2007), which
could be relevant both to understanding the consumption experiences as well as to the
development, design and marketing of dark tourism. Moreover, given the fact that many
scholars refer to rubbernecking, bloodlust and gore curiosity as key motives for dark
tourism, it is surprising that such aspects have been overlooked thus far (Ashworth, 2002;
Dann, 1998). A starting point to the potential contribution of psychological theory to an
understanding of dark tourism is evident in the paper of Buda and McIntosh (2013), who
adopt Freud and Lacan’s theories of voyeurism.
Another issue that has been noted by Stone and Sharpley (2008) and that has been largely
overlooked in this Special Issue is the notion of cross-cultural differences. The exceptions
here are the papers by Lemelin et al. (2013) and Farmaki (2013). As different cultural
systems may be more or less effective in protecting the individual fromthe idea of death and
dying (Schumaker et al., 1991), this may also affect patterns of consumption and supply of
dark tourism. However, most if not all studies in this issue focus on dark sites in the Western
world or explore Western tourists. Only the papers by Lemelin et al. and Farmaki pay
attention to a cross-cultural comparison of issues relating to the provision and consumption
of dark tourism. This lack of attention to cross-cultural issues in dark tourism coincides with
the general dearth and limited scope of cross-cultural research in tourism in general (Berno
and Ward, 2005).
Finally, Seaton and Lennon (2004) propose dark tourism to be a contemporary ‘‘leisure
activity’’ (p. 63). Also, Stone (2012) suggests that visits to dark sites are now ‘‘part of a
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broader visitor economy and often packaged and promoted with other mainstream
attractions’’ (p. 1578). Yet, empirical research is still in its infancy to provide further insights
into the co-consumption of leisure and dark tourism. Similarly, limited attention has been
given to this notion in this Special Issue. Johnston’s (2013) paper, which draws on Twain’s
travels, may in some respects re?ect the consumption of dark sites within the wider context
of the leisure experience. Future research could explore the internal con?icts tourists may
experience (or suppress) when consuming sites of tragedy alongside leisure experiences.
Equally, such con?icts could also be investigated in relation to the suppliers of dark tourism,
such as the ethical and moral issues related to making pro?t from the commoditisation of
death and suffering.
Conclusion
If anything, this Special Issue further stresses that dark tourism is a complex and multi-faced
phenomenon, both in terms of its supply and consumption, as well as in relation to being an
individual and a socio-cultural phenomenon. While it is important to achieve some form of
acceptable de?nition of the phenomenon we are researching, perhaps at this stage we
should simply accept the wider de?nition of dark tourism, which links the ideas of death and
tourism (Stone, 2006). A wider perspective could allow a more comprehensive investigation
of the relationships between death and tourism supply and demand as we encounter death
and mortality, both as individuals and as a society, in various ways, from entertainment and
education, to memorialisation and commemoration (Stone and Sharpley, 2008; Stone, 2012).
The diversity of issues explored and the methods, perspectives and disciplines adapted in
this Special Issue re?ect a growing understanding that the production and consumption of
dark tourism has diverse interrelationships with the cultural condition of society (Stone,
2011a). The papers presented here, suggest that we have now moved beyond a discussion
of classi?cations and de?nitions of dark tourism to recognise that it is a socially complex
phenomenon and that visitors experience dark sites in diverse ways. As such, to achieve a
more rigorous conceptualisation of dark tourism we might ?rst need to understand the
subjective and diverse nature of such experiences. This notion is in line with the
post-modernist move in tourism research, which emphasises the subjective over the
objective, as well as the critical turn in tourism studies which theorises the tourism
phenomenon within its wider political, economic, cultural and social contexts (Ateljevic et al.,
2007; Collins-Kreiner, 2010). The move from a descriptive to an experiential and critical
investigation bodes well for the development of a dark tourism body of knowledge.
Thus, rather than seeing dark tourism as a ‘‘sectional pathology’’ (Seaton and Lennon, 2004,
p. 68) and a deviant fascination with death, we need to accept that death is an inevitable part
of everyone’s lives, and this is re?ected in tourism too. Thus perhaps to understand dark
tourism, we ?rst of all need to keep an open mind and resist the temptation to constrain it to a
strict de?nition. This Special Issue aims to do just that, to keep an open mind about dark
tourism. In doing so, do we actually advance dark tourism knowledge, or do we merely
create greater confusion? That is for the reader to decide.
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About the authors
Avital Biran is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, UK. Her
main research areas are tourist behaviour, tourism and psychology and dark tourism. Avital
Biran is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]
Kenneth F. Hyde is an Associate Professor of Marketing at AUT University, Auckland, New
Zealand. His research on tourist behaviour and tourist decision making had been published
in the leading journals in tourism.
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This article has been cited by:
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Recreation Research 40, 316-325. [CrossRef]
2. Richard C. Franklin, Peter A. LeggatBasic epidemiology of non-infectious diseases 9-22. [CrossRef]
3. Dorina Maria Buda. 2015. The death drive in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research 50, 39-51. [CrossRef]
4. Dorina Maria Buda, Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre, Lynda Johnston. 2014. Feeling and tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research
46, 102-114. [CrossRef]
5. Stephen Miles. 2014. Battlefield sites as dark tourism attractions: an analysis of experience. Journal of Heritage Tourism 9,
134-147. [CrossRef]
6. Juergen Gnoth, Xavier Matteucci. 2014. A phenomenological view of the behavioural tourism research literature. International
Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research 8:1, 3-21. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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