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Dark tourism: analysis of the relationship between motivations, experiences, and benefits of visitors at Recoleta Cemetery, Argentina

Dark tourism: análise da relação entre motivações, experiências e benefícios dos visitantes do cemitério da recoleta, argentina, dark tourism: análisis de la relación entre motivaciones, vivencias y beneficios de los visitantes del cementerio de la recoleta, argentina.

Dark tourism is a form of niche tourism that is undergoing increasingly rapid development. The literature identifies the cemetery as a site for dark tourism, through its association with the ideas of death and mourning; these can cause unpleasant feelings for tourists, which is a fundamental characteristic of the ‘dark tourism’ concept. The objective of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the motivations, experiences, and benefits of visiting the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study is characterised as exploratory, descriptive, and has used the quantitative approach. A total of 450 respondents claimed to have visited the Recoleta cemetery. The authors tested and validated five factors through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, including social and learning motivations, reflexive and empathetic experiences, and benefits. The result provides theoretical evidence that motivations to visit the Recoleta cemetery are related to knowledge seeking, leisure, and social activities with family and friends. The experiences obtained during the visit include the eliciting of a sense of escapism, through relaxation and peace. The study offers evidence that visiting the cemetery can provide moments of contemplation, and promote reflection about life. In addition, this study identifies practical modifications that can assist in decision-making processes.

Keywords Dark tourism; Motivation; Experiences; Benefits; Dark resting places

O dark tourism é uma forma de turismo de nicho com desenvolvimento cada vez mais rápido. A literatura definiu o cemitério como dark tourism pois sugere a ideia de morte e luto, que pode causar sentimentos desagradáveis aos turistas, tornando-se uma característica fundamental deste conceito. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a relação entre as motivações, experiências e benefícios de visitar o cemitério da Recoleta em Buenos Aires, Argentina. O estudo caracteriza-se como exploratório, descritivo e utilizou a abordagem quantitativa. Um total de 450 entrevistados afirmaram ter visitado o cemitério da Recoleta. Os autores testaram e validaram cinco fatores por meio de análise fatorial exploratória e confirmatória, incluindo motivações sociais e de aprendizagem, experiências reflexivas e empáticas e benefícios. O resultado fornece evidências teóricas de que as motivações estão relacionadas à busca de conhecimento, lazer e atividades sociais com a família e amigos. As experiências obtidas durante a visita estão relacionadas ao sentimento escapista através do relaxamento e paz. O estudo oferece evidências de que a visita ao cemitério pode ser um momento contemplativo, promovendo a reflexão sobre a vida. Por outro lado, contribuições práticas podem auxiliar nos processos de tomada de decisão.

Palavras-chave Dark tourism; Motivação; Experiências; Benefícios; Lugares de descanso escuros

El dark tourism es una forma de turismo de nicho con un desarrollo cada vez más rápido. La literatura definió al cementerio como dark tourism ya que sugiere la idea de la muerte y el duelo, que puede provocar sentimientos desagradables en los turistas, convirtiéndose en una característica fundamental de este concepto. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la relación entre las motivaciones, vivencias y beneficios de visitar el cementerio de la Recoleta en Buenos Aires, Argentina. El estudio se caracteriza por ser exploratorio, descriptivo y utilizó el enfoque cuantitativo. Un total de 450 encuestados afirmaron haber visitado el cementerio de la Recoleta. Los autores probaron y validaron cinco factores a través de un análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio, incluidas las motivaciones sociales y de aprendizaje, las experiencias reflexivas y empáticas y los beneficios. El resultado proporciona evidencia teórica de que las motivaciones están relacionadas con la búsqueda de conocimiento, el ocio y las actividades sociales con familiares y amigos. Las experiencias obtenidas durante la visita están relacionadas con el sentimiento escapista a través de la relajación y la paz. El estudio ofrece evidencia de que visitar el cementerio puede ser un momento contemplativo, que promueve la reflexión sobre la vida. Por otro lado, las contribuciones prácticas pueden ayudar en los procesos de toma de decisiones.

Palabras clave Turismo oscuro; Motivación; Experiencias; Beneficios; Lugares de descanso oscuros

1 INTRODUCTION

The attractions counted among dark tourism include places associated with natural or human-made disasters or atrocities that have become more than sites of memory, and tourist attractions ( Kang et al., 2012 Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... ). Foley and Lennon (1996) Foley, M., & Lennon, J. J. (1996). JFK and dark tourism: A fascination with assassination. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2(4), 198-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527259608722175 https://doi.org/10.1080/1352725960872217... employed the term dark tourism for the first time, when they analysed the media's fascination with the death of US President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Although they were the first to introduce the term ‘dark tourism’, other researchers had investigated the relationship between tourism and death.

Rojek (1993) Rojek, C. (1993). Fatal attractions. In Ways of Escape (pp. 136-172). Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373402_5 https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373402_5... introduced the concept of dark destinations called Black Spots: tourist developments in macabre locations and places where celebrities or large numbers of people died suddenly and violently. Seaton (1996) Seaton, A. V. (1996). Guided by the dark: From thanatopsis to thanatourism. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2(4), 234-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527259608722178 https://doi.org/10.1080/1352725960872217... argues that dark tourism is the travel dimension of thanatopsis, which describes travel to a place that is totally or partially motivated by the desire for real or symbolic encounters with death – particularly, but not exclusively, violent death. Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996) Tunbridge, J. E., & Ashworth, G. J. (1996). Dissonant heritage. The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict. presented the term dissonant heritage. Bloom (2000) Blom, T. (2000). Morbid tourism – a postmodern market niche with an example from Althorp. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, 54(1), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/002919500423564 https://doi.org/10.1080/002919500423564... treats morbid tourism as tourism that focuses on sudden death, and quickly attracts many people. Advancing on the thematic, dark tourism is defined by Stone (2006, p. 146) Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis, 54(2), 145-160. as "the act of travelling to places associated with death, suffering, and the seemingly dreadful". Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... observe that such places encompass sites as varied as mass murder and death, battlefields, cemeteries, mausoleums, and the former homes of deceased celebrities.

These authors claim that dark tourism is a tourism phenomenon of contemporary relevance, and one that has attracted several researchers to commit more to the study of this phenomenon. Many of these studies highlight that dark tourism can provide a significant tourism experience. Simultaneously, it raises new anxieties and ethical dilemmas about travelling, even though paying visits to places associated with death is not a recent phenomenon. In this context, people have been attracted, purposefully or not, by websites, attractions, or events linked in some way to death, suffering, violence, or disaster ( Stone, 2005 Stone, P. (2005). Dark tourism-An old concept in a new World. Tourism, (125), 20. ).

Cemeteries were categorised by Stone (2006) Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis, 54(2), 145-160. as places where dark tourism takes place. Mionel (2020) Mionel, V. (2020). (Not so) Dark tourism: The Merry Cemetery in Săpânţa (Romania) – An expression of folk culture. Tourism Management Perspectives, 34, 100656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100656 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.10065... notes that cemeteries can cause unpleasant sensations for some people. The author links the macabre aspect of the cemetery to its associations with ​​death and mourning, which can inspire a feeling of fear. Levitt (2012) Levitt, L. (2012). Solemnity and celebration: dark tourism experiences at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research, 4(1). defines the main characteristics of these places as commemoration and solemnity. As for Pereira (2020) Pereira, T. (2020). Motivações para a prática do dark tourism. ACENO-Revista de Antropologia do Centro-Oeste, 7(14), 215-230. https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.9138 https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.913... , in addition to being a place used to respect and celebrate deceased loved ones, cemeteries have been used to study nature and local history. The author also mentions that tourism has appropriated some of these spaces, thus transforming them into commercial places to provide entertainment. This approach is in line with the concept of dark resting places proposed by Stone (2006) Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis, 54(2), 145-160. , that is, a resting place that is being reused to produce entertainment for tourists. Thus, for a better understanding of tourist behaviour and, consequently, better service delivery, there is a need to identify the factors that motivate tourists to go to these places, and to investigate their reactions when visiting.

Despite being a controversial topic, there has been a growing number of investigations into places of dark tourism. Yet the relationship between the motivation to visit these places, and the dark tourism experience itself, is still poorly understood ( Stone & Sharpley, 2008 Stone, P., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. Annals of tourism Research, 35(2), 574-595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2008.02.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2008.02... ). The authors claim there are doubts about the factors that influence motivation to seek the experience – such as whether it is basic fascination with death, or whether other factors could be at play. Another little explored theme is the benefits obtained from dark tourism ( Kang et al., 2012 Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... ). According to Ashworth and Hartmann (2005) Ashworth, G., & Hartmann, R. (2005). Horror and human tragedy revisited: the management of sites of atrocities for tourism. Cognizant Communication Corporation. , dark tourism can provide a profound experience, but can also raise anxieties and ethical dilemmas due to the peculiar significance placed on it.

Understanding the gains that the tourist has when visiting these places can help improve the understanding between the destination/enterprise and the consumer/tourist. Due to the lack of studies on the subject, several investigations have repeated requests for research to better pinpoint which factors influence the motivation of dark tourism ( Seaton & Lennon, 2004 Seaton, A. V., & Lennon, J. J. (2004). Thanatourism in the early 21st century: moral panics, ulterior motives and alterior desires. New horizons in tourism: Strange experiences and stranger practices, 63-82. https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851998633.0063 https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851998633.00... ; Stone, 2005 Stone, P. (2005). Dark tourism-An old concept in a new World. Tourism, (125), 20. , 2006; Stone & Sharpley, 2008 Stone, P., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. Annals of tourism Research, 35(2), 574-595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2008.02.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2008.02... ; Biran, Poria & Oren, 2011 Biran, A., Poria, Y., & Oren, G. (2011). Sought experiences at (dark) heritage sites. Annals of tourism research, 38(3), 820-841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.12.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.12... ), in the search for a consensus on the experience of dark tourism and the possible benefits obtained by tourists ( Kang et al., 2012 Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... ).

Therefore, this article aims to analyse the relationship between the motivations, experiences, and benefits of visiting the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. First, we adapted the scale to the context of cemeteries. To fulfill the objectives, we used the following constructs: motivations ( Yan et al., 2016 Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... ), experiences ( Otto & Ritchie, 1996 Otto, J. E., & Ritchie, J. B. (1996). The service experience in tourism. Tourism management, 17(3), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)00003-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)000... ), and benefits ( Kang, 2010 Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. ). We then tested the relationship between the constructs using structural equation modelling. This article, therefore, attempts to develop a greater understanding of consumer behaviour when visiting cemeteries. In developing this analysis, this article addresses a critical research gap that contributes to advancing the literature and will assist tourism management in developing and implementing market-oriented service strategies to enhance dark tourism experiences.

2 THEORETICAL BASIS

2.1 dark tourism.

According to Babic and Bingula (2015) Babić, D., & Bingula, M. (2015). Interpretation at special places: Mirogoj Cemetery. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 188, 186-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.03.366 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.03... , the cemeteries are places to honour the deceased, in their role as the final resting place where numerous remembrance practices occur. Remembering and celebrating the past is an essential part of the present, while memory and celebration are inextricably linked to heritage processes. According to Assunção (2019) Assunção, A. P. (2019). Cemetery tourism in Loures: the value of the transfiguration of a cemetery. Finisterra: Revista portuguesa de geografia, 54(111), 37-59. , the term ‘cemetery tourism’ appeared for the first time at the International Congress of Contemporary Cemeteries (ASCE, 2001). At the time, this type of tourism was associated with cultural and heritage tourism. For the author, death is part of life, and although neglected for a long time, it is emerging as an opportunity to discover new sensations in postmodern society. For Pereira and Limbeger (2020) Pereira, T. (2020). Motivações para a prática do dark tourism. ACENO-Revista de Antropologia do Centro-Oeste, 7(14), 215-230. https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.9138 https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.913... , the cemetery can be considered a manifestation of popular culture, which allows visitors to observe expressions of thought, values and culture across eras.

Despite this, however, Foley and Lennon (2000, p. 14-16) Foley, M., & Lennon, J. J. (2000). Dark tourism. Continuum. maintain that cemeteries do not fit within the scope of dark tourism because "visits, whether by friends and relatives of the dead or for other reasons, can be widely considered in categories similar to a pilgrimage". In opposition, Stone (2006) Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Turizam: međunarodni znanstveno-stručni časopis, 54(2), 145-160. proposed the development of seven categories for the study of the different attractions related to dark tourism: Dark Fun Factories, Dark Exhibitions, Dark Dungeons, Dark Resting Places, Dark Shrines, Dark Conflict Sites, and finally, Dark Camps of Genocide. Pereira (2020) Pereira, T., & Limberger, P. F. (2020). Turismo cemiterial: um estudo sobre as experiências no cemitérop da Consolação a partir do TripAdvisor. Revista Reuna, 25(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v25n1p1-19 https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v... claims that cemeteries have become a space in which the living are dazzled by the dead and that this type of tourism can fit within dark tourism, as the concept of dark tourism runs along a spectrum of darker and lighter elements. Assunção (2019) Assunção, A. P. (2019). Cemetery tourism in Loures: the value of the transfiguration of a cemetery. Finisterra: Revista portuguesa de geografia, 54(111), 37-59. claims that this tourist typology can be given several names, depending on the tourist's objectives.

Foley and Lennon’s (2000) Foley, M., & Lennon, J. J. (2000). Dark tourism. Continuum. statement simplifies the implications of cemeteries and their role in society. For example, Walter (2009) Walter, T. (2009). Dark tourism: Mediating between the dead and the living. The darker side of travel: The theory and practice of dark tourism, 39-55. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845411169-004 https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845411169-0... describes several relationships with the dead available to the community in public and private spaces. McDowell (2008) Mcdowell, S. 2008. Heritage, Memory and Identity. Research Companions, Hampshire, pp. 37- 55. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315613031-2 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315613031-2... argues that one of the modern societies' characteristics is the desire to represent memory through the marking of 'place', usually affiliated with places to which people have a physical or emotional connection. Pereira (2020) Pereira, T. (2020). Motivações para a prática do dark tourism. ACENO-Revista de Antropologia do Centro-Oeste, 7(14), 215-230. https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.9138 https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.913... argues that tourism in cemeteries is related to the duality between death and celebration of life, which visitors can gain through being physically close to the monuments or graves of well-known personalities. For Millán (2019) Millán, M. G., Perez Naranjo, L. M., Hernandez Rojas, R. D., & Millan Vazquez de la Torre, M. G. (2019). Cemetery tourism in southern Spain: An analysis of demand. Tourism and hospitality management, 25(1), 37-52. https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.1.1 https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.1.1... , cemetery tourism is a subsection of dark tourism. According to the researcher, the increase in popularity of these places is related to discovering various attributes such as artistic, architectural, historical, and landscape heritage – as well as the fascination with violent deaths, whether belonging to history or macabre legends. As visiting cemeteries can provide these points of interest, they should be considered when exploring people's motivations for visiting.

Tourism in cemeteries demonstrates the search for cultural information and understanding the social practices in the destination one is visiting ( Leoti et al., 2019 Leoti, A., Pereira, T., Torres Tricárico, L., & de Mello Rossini, D. (2019). Cemitério do imigrante de joinville/sc: um estudo acerca das emoções expressadas no tripadvisor. TURyDES, 12(26). https://doi.org/10.23912/978-1-906884-14-7-1274 https://doi.org/10.23912/978-1-906884-14... ). The tourist visit to the necropolis can be framed through objectivity-subjectivity dualism ( Moesch, 2002 Moesch, M. (2002). Além das disciplinas: O Desafio do Próximo Século. Turismo e Investigação Crítica. ). Objectivity is present in the tangible aspects – lime, concrete, marble, iron, copper – and subjectivity is present in the symbolisms in funeral art, in the relationships between the living and the dead, and more. According to Del Puerto (2016) Del Puerto, C. B. (2016). Turismo em Cemitério. O Cemitério como Patrimônio e Atrativo Turístico, considerando a Trama Morte e Vida nas Necrópoles. , the materiality present in historical cemeteries can at first glance seem fixed and unmoving. However, the meaning and uses of these sites are imbued by subjectivity, which by its nature changes over time. When looked at from the perspective of the cultural space of a city, the author says that cemeteries allow us to glimpse the human relationship with death.

2.2 Motivation

Although tourist motivation is a well-established subject and is widely discussed in tourism studies, research on dark tourism was slow to address why people visit places associated with death ( Light, 2017 Light, D. (2017). Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism. Tourism Management, 61, 275-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.01.011 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.0... ). Despite this, some studies have been conducted to determine what motivates people to visit dark sites ( Isaac & Çakmak, 2016 Isaac, R. K., & Çakmak, E. (2016). Understanding the motivations and emotions of visitors at Tuol Sleng genocide prison museum (S-21) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. International Journal of Tourism Cities. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-06-2016-0014 https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-06-2016-001... ). Wight (2006) Wight, A. C. (2006). Philosophical and methodological praxes in dark tourism: Controversy, contention and the evolving paradigm. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 12(2), 119-129. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356766706062151 https://doi.org/10.1177/1356766706062151... states that most research on motivation for dark tourism is conceptual, and lacks empirical research. The lack of empirical research may explain why knowledge about the demand for dark tourism remains limited. Yan et al. (2016) Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... state that motivation has emerged as a key academic field in dark tourism studies in recent years. However, it remains a subject that has not been thoroughly and systematically researched. The authors observe that, so far, most of the research on this theme is primarily sourced from theoretical and non-empirical studies. The authors claim that a range of dark tourism motivations have been proposed and examined, based on several places of death and disaster, and different perspectives in previous literature.

An empirical study by Biran et al. (2011) Biran, A., Poria, Y., & Oren, G. (2011). Sought experiences at (dark) heritage sites. Annals of tourism research, 38(3), 820-841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.12.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.12... indicates that the reasons for visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp can be categorised into four main types: "seeing is believing," "learning and understanding," "famous tourist attractions," and "experience of emotional heritage". For Bloom (2000) Blom, T. (2000). Morbid tourism – a postmodern market niche with an example from Althorp. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift, 54(1), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/002919500423564 https://doi.org/10.1080/002919500423564... , the motivations are related to the desire for inner purification. Other motivations identified related to schadenfreude ( Seaton & Lennon, 2004 Seaton, A. V., & Lennon, J. J. (2004). Thanatourism in the early 21st century: moral panics, ulterior motives and alterior desires. New horizons in tourism: Strange experiences and stranger practices, 63-82. https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851998633.0063 https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851998633.00... ); a childhood curiosity about mortality ( Dann, 2005 Dann, G. M. (2005). Children of the dark. Horror and human tragedy revisited: The management of sites of atrocities for tourism, 233-252. ); a search for the otherness of death ( Seaton, 2009 Seaton, T. (2009). Purposeful otherness: Approaches to the management of thanatourism. The darker side of travel: The theory and practice of dark tourism, 75-108. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845411169-006 https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845411169-0... ); concern with personal genealogy and family history ( Buntman, 2008 Buntman, B. (2008). Tourism and tragedy: The memorial at Belzec, Poland. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 14(5), 422-448. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527250802284867 https://doi.org/10.1080/1352725080228486... ); nostalgia ( Tarlow, 2005 Tarlow, P. (2005). Dark Tourism: The Appealing ‘Dark’ Side of Tourism and More. In: M. Novelli, ed. Niche Tourism: Contemporary Issues, Trends and Cases, pp. 47–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7506-6133-1.50012-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7506-6133... ); a search for 'authentic' places in a commodified world ( Johnston, 2010 Johnston, T. (2010). Thanatourism and the commodification of space in post-war Croatia and Bosnia. In Tourist Experience (pp. 63-76). Routledge. ); a fascination with evil ( Lennon, 2010 Lennon, J. (2010). Dark tourism and sites of crime. ); and a desire to find the pure/impure sacred ( Osbaldiston & Petray, 2011 Osbaldiston, N., & Petray, T. (2011). The role of horror and dread in the sacred experience. Tourist Studies, 11(2), 175-190. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797611424955 https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797611424955... ). For Pereira and Limberger (2020) Pereira, T., & Limberger, P. F. (2020). Turismo cemiterial: um estudo sobre as experiências no cemitérop da Consolação a partir do TripAdvisor. Revista Reuna, 25(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v25n1p1-19 https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v... , factors that influence the motivation to visit a cemetery are related to sociability and learning. Likewise, Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... point out that the motivation for dark tourism is summarised in three constructs: learning and obligation, educational programs, and social reasons. According to the authors, the educational function has been considered the most relevant factor when visiting these spaces. Our first general hypothesis emerges based on this construction, relating motivation to tourist experiences.

2.3 Dark tourism experience

Dark sites, primarily cemeteries, cause unpleasant feelings for many people. Dark tourism suggests the ideas of death, mourning, and sadness, making it a fundamental feature of cemeteries and leading them to inspire fear ( Mionel, 2020 Mionel, V. (2020). (Not so) Dark tourism: The Merry Cemetery in Săpânţa (Romania) – An expression of folk culture. Tourism Management Perspectives, 34, 100656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100656 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.10065... ). More broadly, experience as a concept has been discussed in several academic studies ( Brown, 2015 Brown, L. (2015). Memorials to the victims of Nazism: The impact on tourists in Berlin. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 13(3), 244-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2014.946423 https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2014.94... ; Lee, 2016 Lee, Y. J. (2016). The relationships amongst emotional experience, cognition, and behavioural intention in battlefield tourism. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 21(6), 697-715. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2015.1068195 https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2015.10... ; Zhang et al., 2016 Zhang, H., Yang, Y., Zheng, C., & Zhang, J. (2016). Too dark to revisit? The role of past experiences and intrapersonal constraints. Tourism Management, 54, 452-464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.0... ; Sharma & Rickly, 2018 Sharma, N., & Rickly, J. M. (2018). Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 18(1), 41-57. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2017.1403801 https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2017.14... ). Exploring tourists' perception of their destinations' experiences is a frequent topic due to the indispensable relationship with the destination attributes ( Cetin & Bilgihan, 2016 Cetin, G., & Bilgihan, A. (2016). Components of cultural tourists’ experiences in destinations. Current Issues in Tourism, 19(2), 137-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2014.994595 https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2014.99... ).

The investigation of visitors' experiences in places for dark tourism has differed in its approaches, both in focus and context ( Light, 2017 Light, D. (2017). Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism. Tourism Management, 61, 275-301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.01.011 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.0... ). According to the author, these places' experiences are complex, with several layers, and that is far from superficial, a visit to these places can be profound and highly significant. However, there is no unique type of experience, as visitors can engage with (and respond to) dark locations or attractions in several ways ( Yankholes & McKercher, 2015 Yankholmes, A., & McKercher, B. (2015). Rethinking slavery heritage tourism. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 10(3), 233-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2014.988159 https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2014.98... ), depending on their motivations and cultural background ( Zhang et al., 2016 Zhang, H., Yang, Y., Zheng, C., & Zhang, J. (2016). Too dark to revisit? The role of past experiences and intrapersonal constraints. Tourism Management, 54, 452-464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.0... ); the extent of their connection to the site ( Cohen, 2011 Cohen, E. H. (2011). Educational dark tourism at an in populo site: The Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Annals of tourism research, 38(1), 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.08.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.08... ); and the social context of their visit ( MacCarthy & Willson, 2015 MacCarthy, M., & Willson, G. (2015). The business of D-Day: An exploratory study of consumer behaviour. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 21(7), 698-715. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2014.1001423 https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2014.10... ).

These interpretations focus on the emotional or affective dimension of the human experience and can be interpreted subjectively or emotionally ( Uzzell, 1989 Uzzell, D. L. (1989). Heritage interpretation. ). As a result, dark tourism can offer tourists a meaningful experience. Thus, our general hypothesis is that the experience in dark tourism is related to different types of benefits obtained.

2.4 Benefits

The benefits are the rewards associated with certain behaviours, while motivation encourages and directs these behaviours ( Mykletun & Mazza, 2016 Mykletun, R. J., & Mazza, L. (2016). Psychosocial benefits from participating in an adventure expedition race. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2016-0047 https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2016-0047... ). A benefit can be conceived as a change seen as an advantageous improvement on a condition, or gains for an individual or a group ( Driver et al., 1991 Driver, B. L., Tinsley, H. E., & Manfredo, M. J. (1991). The paragraphs about leisure and recreation experience preference scales: Results from two inventories designed to assess the breadth of the perceived psychological benefits of leisure. Benefits of leisure, 263-286 ). Motivation and benefits are not mutually exclusive, and they operate in a continuous cycle in which the obtained benefits motivate people to continue vacationing ( Pomfret, 2006 Pomfret, G. (2006). Mountaineering adventure tourists: a conceptual framework for research. Tourism management, 27(1), 113-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2004.08.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2004.0... ). According to Mykletun and Mazza (2016) Mykletun, R. J., & Mazza, L. (2016). Psychosocial benefits from participating in an adventure expedition race. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2016-0047 https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2016-0047... , both motivation and benefits are related to needs, but it is argued that the two are not the same. For the authors, motivation acts as a driving force that guides the behaviour, and benefits result from such behaviour. They function as rewards and are related to the experiences and satisfaction of individuals. As a result variable, the benefits are likely to influence customers' future decisions ( Frochot & Morrison, 2000 Frochot, I., & Morrison, A. M. (2000). Benefit segmentation: A review of its applications to travel and tourism research. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 9(4), 21-45. https://doi.org/10.1300/J073v09n04_02 https://doi.org/10.1300/J073v09n04_02... ).

Many benefits are associated with holidaymaking, including improvements in well-being, functioning, cohesion, unity, bonding, communication, solidarity, and relationships ( Obrador, 2012 Obrador, P. (2012). The place of the family in tourism research: Domesticity and thick sociality by the pool. Annals of Tourism Research, 39(1), 401-420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.07.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.07... ). For Mykletun and Mazza (2016) Mykletun, R. J., & Mazza, L. (2016). Psychosocial benefits from participating in an adventure expedition race. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2016-0047 https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2016-0047... , the benefits obtained from an activity usually make up the essence of the stories people tell friends and family after attending an event; thus, they are a central component of word-of-mouth. The probability of an activity being repeated should be influenced by the benefits obtained in similar activities in the past, as it is assumed that the benefits directly influence visitors' future behavioural intentions ( Cole & Illum, 2006 Cole, S. T., & Illum, S. F. (2006). Examining the mediating role of festival visitors’ satisfaction in the relationship between service quality and behavioral intentions. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 12(2), 160-173. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356766706062156 https://doi.org/10.1177/1356766706062156... ). The concept of benefit can be shortened to psychosocial benefits ( Meretse et al., 2015 Meretse, A. R., Mykletun, R. J., & Einarsen, K. (2016). Participants' benefits from visiting a food festival–the case of the Stavanger food festival (Gladmatfestivalen). Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 16(2), 208-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250.2015.1108865 https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250.2015.11... ), defined here as the final values that people believe they have gained participating in a specific (leisure) activity. For Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... , a benefit-based approach is a useful tool to facilitate understanding the psychological experiences of visitors in tourism and leisure environments, particularly in dark tourism environments that do not offer hedonic experiences.

According to Kang (2010) Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. , the scientific research on benefits began in leisure and recreation research in the early 1980s, driven by concerns about the effective management of amenities resources of recreation sites ( Driver et al., 1987 Driver, B. L., Brown, P. J., Stankey, G. H., & Gregoire, T. G. (1987). The ROS planning system: Evolution, basic concepts, and research needed. Leisure Sciences, 9(3), 201-212. . https://doi.org/10.1080/01490408709512160 https://doi.org/10.1080/0149040870951216... ; Manning, 1999 Manning, R. E. (1999). Studies in outdoor recreation: Search and research for satisfaction. Oregon State University Press. ). These studies identified various benefits in a recreational context, particularly in North America ( Driver et al., 1987 Driver, B. L., Brown, P. J., Stankey, G. H., & Gregoire, T. G. (1987). The ROS planning system: Evolution, basic concepts, and research needed. Leisure Sciences, 9(3), 201-212. . https://doi.org/10.1080/01490408709512160 https://doi.org/10.1080/0149040870951216... ), based on a behavioural approach directed to objectives and aims at some need or satisfaction ( Manning, 1999 Manning, R. E. (1999). Studies in outdoor recreation: Search and research for satisfaction. Oregon State University Press. ). Kang (2010) Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. argues that these studies were based on the expectation theory developed in social psychology, which suggested that people engage in activities in specific contexts to obtain known, expected, and valued psychological results ( Manning, 1999 Manning, R. E. (1999). Studies in outdoor recreation: Search and research for satisfaction. Oregon State University Press. ).

There are several benefits that a tourist can obtain when visiting a place classified as dark. For Hartmann (2014) Hartmann, R. (2014). Dark tourism, thanatourism, and dissonance in heritage tourism management: New directions in contemporary tourism research . Journal of Heritage Tourism, 9(2), 166-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2013.807266 https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2013.80... , Holocaust tourism honours the victims of Nazi Germany. According to the researcher, participating in this tourism is not related to satisfying only the curiosity to visit a famous place, but to learn in a more focused way about the losses of the Jewish community. This tourism is more related to a form of educational tourism. The author adds that tourism related to war and conflicts attracts several tourists to enjoy the landscapes and monuments. For Fajardo (2020) Fajardo, V. C. (2020). Turismo dark: la muerte como nuevo negocio turístico en España. Revista internacional de turismo, empresa y territorio, 4(2), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.21071/riturem.v4i2.12865 https://doi.org/10.21071/riturem.v4i2.12... , tourists get personalised, genuine, and sensory experiences in dark places.

Regarding tourism in cemeteries, Millán (2019) Millán, M. G., Perez Naranjo, L. M., Hernandez Rojas, R. D., & Millan Vazquez de la Torre, M. G. (2019). Cemetery tourism in southern Spain: An analysis of demand. Tourism and hospitality management, 25(1), 37-52. https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.1.1 https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.1.1... mentions that tourists, in general, are satisfied to contemplate funerary monuments, architectural beauty, and landscaping. In addition to these, Pereira and Limberger (2020) Pereira, T., & Limberger, P. F. (2020). Turismo cemiterial: um estudo sobre as experiências no cemitérop da Consolação a partir do TripAdvisor. Revista Reuna, 25(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v25n1p1-19 https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v... found that the tourist experience includes escapist, educational and political dimensions. Assuncão (2019) Assunção, A. P. (2019). Cemetery tourism in Loures: the value of the transfiguration of a cemetery. Finisterra: Revista portuguesa de geografia, 54(111), 37-59. states that tourism in cemeteries offers benefits for tourists and the community as it places value on ​​local history and characters, irrespective of any political values assigned to their identities. It creates effective citizenship and the possibility of education and humanism.

Some studies have explored these benefits. Pereira (2020) Pereira, T. (2020). Motivações para a prática do dark tourism. ACENO-Revista de Antropologia do Centro-Oeste, 7(14), 215-230. https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.9138 https://doi.org/10.48074/aceno.v7i14.913... states that the contemporary context of tourism can influence their interpretations and has suggested more research focusing on perceived benefits. Therefore, to better understand, this study explores the perceived benefits of visiting cemeteries. The correlation between three dimensions will be used for this research: motivation, experience, and benefits. The benefits-based approach was used to understand the experiences of dark tourists at Parque Paz de Jeju on April 3 by Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... . For the development of the study, the authors used the literature on recreational leisure ( Driver et al., 1987 Driver, B. L., Brown, P. J., Stankey, G. H., & Gregoire, T. G. (1987). The ROS planning system: Evolution, basic concepts, and research needed. Leisure Sciences, 9(3), 201-212. . https://doi.org/10.1080/01490408709512160 https://doi.org/10.1080/0149040870951216... ; Manning, 1999 Manning, R. E. (1999). Studies in outdoor recreation: Search and research for satisfaction. Oregon State University Press. ). Given the above, our last general hypothesis arises, relating motivation and tourist experiences to the benefits obtained. From theory, we create a general model ( Fig. 1 ).

3 Research methods

The theoretical foundation reviewed the relevant theories to build a conceptual framework and, finally, the theoretical basis for this investigation of visitors' motivations, experiences, and benefits in a dark tourism location. In turn, this part describes the research methodology of the study. We tested the model and the eight hypotheses using a questionnaire applied to tourists and visitors to the Recoleta cemetery.

3.1 Study location

The Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires is a symbolic reduction of this metropolis. In this gallery, the community preserved its outstanding personalities (such as Eva Peron, Silvina Ocampo, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Carlos Saavedra Lamas, and Luis Federico Leloir). It showcases the artistic styles favoured in each era ( Magaz & Arevalo, 1993 Magaz, M., Arévalo, B. (1991). Arquitectura funeraria de Buenos Aires: La Recoleta. República Argentina. Consejeria de Obras Publicas y Transportes ­ Dirección General de Arquitectura y Vivendas, 471­479. ). Poetic invocations, farewell speeches, funeral announcements, and posthumous tributes were put at the service of the recurrent posthumous celebrations held in Buenos Aires at the beginning of the 20th century. Along with these written expressions, majestic material expressions and beautiful iconographic reproductions were combined to attest to death's social and political importance. In speeches, mausoleums, paintings, photographs, funerals, or visits to the cemetery, it is possible to detect how death encroaches on the public space; and how its ceremonies denote, on the one hand, social hierarchies, and on the other, its close connection with art ( Gayol, 2009 Gayol, S. La construcción del reuerdo de las elites Argentinas em el Cemeterio de La Recoleta: el miedo al olvido y a la invisibilidade,1880-1920. Los Miedos En La Historia , México, v. 1, n. 1, 207-236, 2009. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv512s9t.11 https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv512s9t.11... ). The cemetery is becoming a garden cemetery, continuing its stylistic evolution according to the current mentality ( Magaz & Arevalo, 1993 Magaz, M., Arévalo, B. (1991). Arquitectura funeraria de Buenos Aires: La Recoleta. República Argentina. Consejeria de Obras Publicas y Transportes ­ Dirección General de Arquitectura y Vivendas, 471­479. ). Despite being an almost mandatory stop when visiting the city of Buenos Aires, there is no specific number of how many tourists visit this place. However, in a survey carried out in 2021 on the TripAdvisor platform, there were 26,650 reviews. The average rate given the assessment was 4.5, attesting to the fascination and appeal of this place.

3.2 Methodology

In this study, the research hypotheses were empirically tested based on data collected from a survey of visitors from the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were non-probabilistic selected for the researchers' convenience tourists from different countries on an online platform. To validate the questionnaire for cemeteries, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach's Alpha test were applied to assess the reliability and internal consistency of the factors. In the end, we analysed the formative model with mediation, using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Two software packages were employed in the analysis: IBM-SPSS 24, descriptive statistics and frequency analysis, and Smart PLS 3.0 for the structural equation modelling.

Initially, we conducted a pre-test survey in October 2019 involving 35 respondents who had visited the Recoleta cemetery. The data obtained in this first stage provided several benefits. First, they helped to better indicate the relevance of the questions in the questionnaire. Using feedback from the pilot survey, we were able to identify variables in the questionnaire that had ambiguities or prompted difficulty in interpretation. Second, it was possible to do some initial tests, to test the scale and make changes regarding the questioning of demographic data, and thus produce final adjustments to the construct. Therefore, the pre-test allowed the researcher to improve the questionnaire's design, measurement, and administration, thus reducing bias and possible errors and allowing them to continue applying the research.

3.3 Data collection

The data collection method consisted of a questionnaire structured on the Google Forms platform and applied online on the social network Facebook, through sponsored media aimed at people from the Recoleta cemetery region, using the platform's geolocation tool. We chose the social media platform Facebook because it is the most used social network in Latin America (Wearesocial, 2019). A filter question was asked to confirm whether profile owners had recently visited the Recoleta Cemetery to be included in the study. We included only those in the analysis.

Constructs were measured using scales tested and validated in previous studies. The motivations dimension (12 items) proposed by Yan et al. (2016) Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... includes learning and obligation, educational programs, social reasons, and curiosity. Variables relating to experience (10 items) were proposed by Otto and Ritchie (1996) Otto, J. E., & Ritchie, J. B. (1996). The service experience in tourism. Tourism management, 17(3), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)00003-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)000... , including hedonic experiences, peace of mind, involvement, and escapism. The scale of benefits (12 items) was proposed by Kang (2010) Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. and contains learning, comfort in fulfilling the obligation, family bond, and meaning. All variables were measured on a five-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree, to 5 = strongly agree) and are presented in annex 1 .

We collected data between November 2019 and February 2020. We obtained a total of 487 responses, and 450 questionnaires were considered valid after analysing Mahalanobis to remove outliers. To establish the minimum sample, we use G*Power. Regarding the parameter values, the following were used: the size of the effect size f² (0.15), α err prob (0.05), power (1- β err prob) (0.95), and the number of predictors (5). The recommended sample size was 74. Therefore, our sample is adequate.

3.4 Sample description

First, compliance with the assumptions to ensure the validity of the proposed model was verified. Among the main assumptions, it is worth noting that the Kolmogorov-Smirov test suggests the non-normality of the variables. With this in mind, we chose to use non-parametric test software (Smart-PLS). There were no null associations between the observable variables and their respective latent factors in the estimation, nor were there values greater than 1.0 and less than -1.0 in the estimated standardised coefficients, which would indicate multicollinearity ( Marôco, 2010 Marôco, J. (2010). Análise de equações estruturais: Fundamentos teóricos, software & aplicações. ReportNumber, Lda. ).

Regarding gender, women were predominant, making up 73.8% of respondents; 24.4% were males, and 1.8% chose not to say their gender. Regarding civil status, 62.4% said they were single, 23.1% were married, 10.2% were divorced, and 4.2% were widowed. Most of the sample were aged between 19-29 years (37.3%), 16.4% between 30-39 years, 12.2% were between 50-59, and 12.2% between 60-69 years. Regarding the respondents' educational level, 44.4% have a college degree, 28,67% have an MBA or Master’s degree, and 16.9% have a high school degree. There were 12 nationalities identified among the respondents, the most representative being Argentines with 89.1%, followed by Brazilians with 6.4% and Venezuelans with 1.6%. Only 1.11% of the respondents were not residents of any Latin American country. The data instrument was made available in Spanish and Portuguese as most visitors speak these two languages. The table with detailed information is in annex 2 .

4 DATA ANALYSUS AND RESULTS

4.1 reliability of the measurement scale.

The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to reduce the number of dimensions and identify construct structures, as this analysis can efficiently decrease the error variance of the indicator correlations before obtaining a measurement model for further analysis ( Bollen, 1998 Bollen, N. P. (1998). Valuing options in regime-switching models . Journal of Derivatives, 6, 38-50. https://doi.org/10.3905/jod.1998.408011 https://doi.org/10.3905/jod.1998.408011... ). As stated by Qi, Yang, and Zhang (2013) Qi, Q., Yang, Y., & Zhang, J. (2013). Attitudes and experiences of tourists on calligraphic landscapes: A case study of Guilin, China. Landscape and urban planning, 113, 128-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.01.007 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.20... , EFA can be applied to measure factorial structures in cases where analytical and empirical data provided by the literature are limited. Principal Component Analysis was used to extract the factors. As shown in Table 2 , all factors presented an Alpha Cronbach value higher than 0.6. Five factors were identified: Engaging Experiences, Contagious Experiences, Physical Experiences, Learning Motivations, Social Motivations, and Benefits.

The first factor has four indicators. This set of constructs is related to interaction experiences, so was named Reflective Benefits. In the second factor, five constructs were framed that refer to physical sensations during the experiences. They are related to relaxation, being comfortable, and doing something they like; therefore, factor 2 was named Experiences. The third factor had four indicators, grouped together due to their interest in history, conflict, and human rights. Therefore, factor 3 was named Learning Motivations. The fourth factor also represented another type of motivation, one which concerns the relationship between visitors and other people, such as friends and relatives. Thus, we named factor 4 as Social Motivations. The last factor is concerned with reflections after the visit, and includes five indicators that refer to feelings of family importance, gratitude, and comfort. This factor was named as Empathic Benefits. All factors were named by the researchers according to the elements proposed by Yan et al. (2016) Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... , Otto and Ritchie (1996) Otto, J. E., & Ritchie, J. B. (1996). The service experience in tourism. Tourism management, 17(3), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)00003-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)000... , and Kang (2010) Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. , who also performed exploratory research to verify the dimensionality of the proposed scale.

After the exploratory factor analysis, we reformulated our hypotheses according to the unfolding of the dimensions. Therefore, following what was previously proposed in the theoretical foundation, our hypotheses are:

H1a: Learning motivations positively influence the reflective benefits obtained in dark tourism.

H1b: Learning motivations positively influence the experiences gained in dark tourism.

H1c: Learning motivations positively influence the empathic benefits obtained in dark tourism.

H2a: Social motivations positively influence the reflective benefits obtained in dark tourism.

H2b: Social motivations positively influence the experiences gained in dark tourism.

H2c: Social motivations positively influence the empathic benefits obtained in dark tourism.

H3a: Experiences positively influence the reflective benefits obtained in dark tourism.

H3b: Experiences positively influence the empathic benefits obtained in dark tourism.

4.2 Analysis of the relationships of the theoretical model

The structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed through the Smart PLS 3 software to analyse the measurement and structural models. The factors identified in EFA ( Table 2 ) were used as dimensions to identify the causes and effects and test the hypotheses. The 24 observable variables included in the proposed model were validated in five dimensions in the EFA ( Table 2 ). The dimension reflective benefits (5 items), experiences (7 items), empathic benefits (4 items), learning motivations (5 items), and social motivations (3 items). According to the model ( Figure 2 ), the subsequent analysis stage aims to measure the causes and effects among five different dimensions generated by EFA ( Table 2 ).

The present study's constructs were tested according to the guidelines pre-established by Hair et al. (2014) Hair Jr., J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European business review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.0... . The reliability (Cronbach's Alpha), the internal consistency, the convergent validity, and the measurement scale's discriminant validity were examined. The internal consistency in each construct was acceptable; all items in the model exceeded the minimum of 0.40 ( Hair et al., 2014 Hair Jr., J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European business review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.0... ). In terms of convergent validity, composite reliability (CR) estimates were above the minimum of 0.70 ( Fornell and Larcker, 1981 Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics. https://doi.org/10.2307/3150980 https://doi.org/10.2307/3150980... ). All average variance extracted (AVE) exceeded the recommended 0.50 threshold ( Fornell & Larcker, 1981 Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics. https://doi.org/10.2307/3150980 https://doi.org/10.2307/3150980... ). Cronbach's Alpha (shown in Table 1 ) was also tested, and in accordance with Hair et al. (2014) Hair Jr., J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European business review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.0... , reliability was observed since all Cronbach's Alpha estimates exceeded 0.60. The bootstrapping method with individual signal alteration was used to obtain inferential statistics with 500 cases and 5000 subsamples ( Hair, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2011 Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing theory and Practice, 19(2), 139-152. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190202 https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-66791902... ; Usakli & Kucukergin, 2018 Usakli, A., & Kucukergin, K. G. (2018). Using partial least squares structural equation modeling in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2017-0753 https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-11-2017-07... ). Subsequently, the Harmam single factor test was performed to assess common method bias (CMB) ( Podsakoff et al., 2003 Podoshen, J. S. (2013). Dark tourism motivations: Simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison. Tourism management, 35, 263-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2012.08.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2012.0... ). The coefficient of determination (R²), predictive relevance (Q²), effect sizes (f²), and mediation effects was estimated. The results indicated that the constructs examined in this study were acceptable in reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity.

The AVE result confirms that the 24 observable variables identified in the literature to measure motivations, experiences, and benefits accurately measure the three constructs when relating to the practice of dark tourism. Discriminant validity ( Table 4 ) suggests that the factors are divergent and represent distinct constructs in concept and way of measuring. Thus, the motivations, experiences, and benefits measures proved adequate to continue with the structural model's empirical validation.

Subsequently, model relationships were tested. The significance of the proposed relationships was determined by examining the t-values of the path coefficients, estimated by the bootstrapping technique (5000 samples). The structural model's overall explanatory power was evaluated by the value of R², predictive power through the values Q² and f², and path coefficient (β value).

The model supported all relationships. The results indicated that the proposed model has an explanatory power of 28.9% for empathic benefits, 26.9% explanatory power for reflective benefits, and 23.7% explanatory power for experiments ( Figure 2 ). These values represent an average explanatory power ( Chin, 1998 Chin, W. W. (1998). Issues and opinion on structural equation modeling. MIS Quarterly, 22(1), vii–xvi. ). One of the reasons for this result may be the existence of mediating and moderating variables to add to the proposed model. However, these results advance the scientific knowledge presented by Yan et al. (2016) Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... and Otto and Ritchie (1996) Otto, J. E., & Ritchie, J. B. (1996). The service experience in tourism. Tourism management, 17(3), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)00003-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)000... , reinforcing the relationship between learning and social motivation with experiences, as well as advancing the study by Kang (2010) Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. relating these dimensions to benefits.

The Stone-Geisser Q² values obtained through the blindfolding technique (see Table 3 ) for empathic benefits, reflective benefits, and experiences were higher than zero, supporting the model's predictive validity ( Hair et al., 2014 Hair Jr., J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European business review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.0... ). Chin (1998) Chin, W. W. (1998). Issues and opinion on structural equation modeling. MIS Quarterly, 22(1), vii–xvi. suggests that a good model demonstrates relevance when Q² is higher than zero. Hence, as all Q² coefficients are considerably higher than zero (SSE /SSO), it is concluded that the model's predictive relevance exists about the endogenous latent variables. The Q² coefficients estimated by the blindfolding procedure represent how well the path model can predict the initially observed values. Similar to the approach of the f² effect to assess R² coefficients, the relative impact of the predictive relevance (Q²) can be obtained employing a procedure analogous to the calculation of f² ( Hair et al., 2014 Hair Jr., J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). European business review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.01.0... ).

Then, the analyses were done in the Bootstrapping configuration for 5,000 samples, with no signal change. This statistical resource was used to identify the factor loadings values of the relationships between latent variables (β) and verify their effect and significance. Table 6 presents the values related to the structural model analysis, with the results of the hypotheses tests.

The results indicated that the Cohen f² values (see Table 7 ) presented loads lower than 0.02, which indicates unsatisfactory effects for endogenous latent constructs ( Henseler, Ringle, & Sinkovics, 2009 Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sinkovics, R. R. (2009). The use of partial least squares path modeling in international marketing. In New challenges to international marketing. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7979(2009)0000020014 https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7979... ). Learning motivations impacted empathic benefits (f² = 0.232), experiences (f² = 0.162) and reflective benefits (f² =0.051). Social motivations impacted empathic benefits (f² = 0.029), reflexive benefits (f² =0.023) and experiences (f² =0.103). Finally, the experiences impacted the empathic benefits (f² =0.009) and reflective benefits (f² =0.115).

The results suggest that the relationship between learning motivation and empathic benefits has more effect than social motivations. The findings show that the reasons for visiting the Recoleta Cemetery are more about learning the history of the city, country, and families than they are about seeking out a ‘dark’ experience. The same is true of reflective benefits and experiences. These findings accord with Biran et al.'s (2011) Biran, A., Poria, Y., & Oren, G. (2011). Sought experiences at (dark) heritage sites. Annals of tourism research, 38(3), 820-841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.12.001 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.12... findings, indicating that tourists are motivated by an interest in learning about the place they are visiting. Regarding social motivations, the findings are in line with those of Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... , since it does not have a substantial effect on the empathic and reflective benefits – indicating that the atmosphere of the place, despite making an impression on tourists, was not superior to the interest in learning something. Another factor reflecting this relationship is the effect of more significant experiences in reflexive benefits than in empathic ones.

5 DISCUSSION

Although research in dark tourism has evolved, Podoshen (2013) Podoshen, J. S. (2013). Dark tourism motivations: Simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison. Tourism management, 35, 263-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2012.08.002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2012.0... claims that it is still in an embryonic stage and will require further exploration before it is possible to produce a generalisable theory. This investigation seeks to advance on three fronts: motivations, experiences, and perceived benefits. In recent years, motivation has emerged as a critical academic field in black tourism studies. With the exploratory factor analysis result, the motivation dimension was subdivided into two categories, called learning and social. Regarding the first, our study identified that tourists are motivated to visit a cemetery in search of acquiring knowledge, out of interest in the contemporary history of the country, and even to understand issues that are related to ideological conflicts or human rights; the cemetery hosts several personalities who lived in, and were party to, defining moments and eras of Argentinean history.

Yan et al. (2016) Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... studied the earthquake in Beichuan, China, and identified that the motivation to visit this location was related to learning. The authors found that the motivations for a visit are related to learning about the Sichuan earthquake and its effects in Beichuan, teaching children about the earthquake, and receiving a patriotic education. These findings follow the motivational factors found in this investigation. The relationship between dark tourism and learning is also identified in the research by Connell (2017) Connell, J. (2017). Shining light on the darkness. Placing tourists within North Korean tourism. Comment on: Desiring the dark: ‘A taste for the unusual’ in North Korean tourism?. Current Issues in Tourism, 20(4), 356-362. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2015.1032896 https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2015.10... . The author investigated tourism in North Korea and found the motivation related to political-moral tourism, as a form and place of learning. The second motivational factor is linked to sociability, concerning those who visited the site in the company of friends or relatives, or because friends or relatives had recommended it for a day of leisure.

Structural equation modelling found that hypotheses H1a, H1b, H1c, H2a, H2b, H2c were supported. Both motivations are related and were supported during the visit to the cemetery. To begin with, the data gathered on motivation for learning suggested that it was the main reason for visiting the cemetery, as it was shown to have a more significant effect on experiences, reflective and empathetic benefits. Furthermore, it is clear that social motivations positively affected experiences, reflective and empathetic benefits. As noted in this investigation and mentioned above, there is a duality between death/life, and mourning/celebration. We realise that, in fact, the dead who dwell therein memory are alive in history. Recent protests across the world concerning the statues of former slaveowners make clear that these personalities still have a dynamic history, despite having died long ago. This finding partially agrees with Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... , who identified the motivation to learn as the main factor for a visit to the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, in South Korea. Both this study and Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... focus on ideological conflicts and history. They were identified as the second main reason for the visit regarding social motivations. The same finding was identified by Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... .

Concerning H3a and H3b, both were supported in the confirmatory analysis. The model represented 23.7% of the explanatory power and had good effects on empathic and reflexive benefits. The experience dimension also indirectly affected social and learning motivations, and reflective and empathic benefits. Data analysis revealed that the benefits could be derived from their experiences in visiting the cemetery.

Concerning H3a and H3b, both were supported in the confirmatory analysis. The model represented 23.7% of the explanatory power and had satisfactory effects on empathic and reflexive benefits. The experience dimension also indirectly affected social and learning motivations, and on reflective and empathic benefits. Data analysis revealed that these benefits could be derived from their experiences in visiting the cemetery. When visiting a resting place, one can learn and reflect.

These findings were partially different from Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... , where visitors were reluctant to use enjoyment or pleasure to describe the reason for the visit and the benefits derived from their experiences. However, the authors’ study suggests that visitors agree that they had a pleasant day. The relationship between the experience and benefits of ‘sharing time with family or friends or a good day off’ was supported. As an analysis, it is suggested that a cemetery is a place of learning that allows for more profound reflections on its own existence. According to Pereira and Limberger (2020) Pereira, T., & Limberger, P. F. (2020). Turismo cemiterial: um estudo sobre as experiências no cemitérop da Consolação a partir do TripAdvisor. Revista Reuna, 25(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v25n1p1-19 https://doi.org/10.21714/2179-8834/2020v... , the cemetery allows the visitor moments of self-reflection. The reflective benefit is, to some extent, similar to the feeling of pleasure derived from escaping from everyday life through leisure or recreation ( Driver et al., 1991 Driver, B. L., Tinsley, H. E., & Manfredo, M. J. (1991). The paragraphs about leisure and recreation experience preference scales: Results from two inventories designed to assess the breadth of the perceived psychological benefits of leisure. Benefits of leisure, 263-286 ).

The results found in this investigation partially reflect those of Kang et al. (2012) Kang, E. J., Scott, N., Lee, T. J., & Ballantyne, R. (2012). Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea. Tourism Management, 33(2), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.03.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.0... , in confirming one of the most distinctive characteristics of dark tourism experiences: a therapeutic effect or a sense of psychological healing experienced by visitors. In addition, although both reflective and empathic benefits were shown to have a relationship with experiences, they are also shown to be directly related to social and learning motivations.

The variable with the highest load was "to celebrate personalities buried in the Recoleta cemetery", followed by the variable "fulfilled the obligation to celebrate the personalities buried there". Celebrating personalities is not something new in studies in cemeteries, especially heritage ones. According to Levitt (2012) Levitt, L. (2012). Solemnity and celebration: dark tourism experiences at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Journal of Unconventional Parks, Tourism & Recreation Research, 4(1). , tourist cemeteries attract visitors who wish to experience a sense of closeness with the famous, even if only because of the star's remains. This leads the author to describe a cemetery as a place of personal and cultural memory. The two are often intertwined: tourists looking for a favourite celebrity's grave, crossing paths with people in mourning who are paying tribute to a loved one.

6 CONCLUSIONS

From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to dark tourism literature by testing the proposed relationships in the cemeterial tourism context, resulting in a new evaluation model. The present study provides a new integrated structure, valid and reliable, that can be replicated in tourist cemeteries in other destinations.

First, this study seeks to understand the factors that motivate tourists to visit the Recoleta cemetery. The research results prove that motivations are related to the search for knowledge. The results suggest a second motivational factor is related to leisure, and social activities with family and friends. It is worth remembering that the cemetery is a keeper of heritage and contains several personalities, whether in the political, social, economic, or artistic sphere.

Second, the research seeks to identify the experiences had during the visit to the cemetery. It was found that two dimensions motivated tourists to visit the cemetery, namely learning and sociability. We realised that the cemetery met the expectations of tourists, so much so that in the experience dimension, we found variables related to escapism; that is, the involvement in the experience was so great that people stopped thinking of their daily lives for at least part of their day, and immersed themselves in the experience. Another variable we identified is that tourists had a momentous day and felt good overall. The study provides evidence that, despite being in a location that falls into the dark tourism category, the visitor experiences feelings of relaxation and peace rather than an experience of fear.

The third theoretical contribution is related to the benefits of the visit. The study provides evidence that the visit to the cemetery can be contemplative, in promoting reflection on life – to understand the importance of living today, valuing family, and remembering ancestors. In addition, the result suggests that the visitor ends up having empathic benefits by sharing pain and sadness with other people; but that it also has the benefit of celebrating a feeling of closeness to personalities who, for whatever reason, were well-known during their lives.

Regarding the practical implications, this study suggests that urban cemeteries, such as the Recoleta cemetery, can attract people from different parts of the world and have a high educational function. Thus, the cemetery can be a tourist product that can provide tourists with a different experience. First, our research presented factors related to motivation to visit a cemetery. We show that the social motivation is going to visit, either because it was recommended or to take someone, is a determinative factor. The second motivation is related to wanting to learn about something. As a potential tourist product, cemetery managers should focus on providing this content to the tourist. One way for cemeteries to encourage greater tourist flow is to provide a tour guide, and a second way is to include QR Codes to provide information. One way for those who are not adept at technology, or do not have access to the internet, is to display signs with brief explanations about the person or grave being visited.

A second point is related to experiences during the visit. Factors related to fun, relaxation, and even forgetting about everyday problems were identified. In other words, the cemetery is not just a place of mourning but also a form of leisure for escapist purposes. This multifunctionality of cemeteries should be taken into account when considering cemetery infrastructure, with landscaping and mobility as factors to consider in providing a good experience. Managers of these sites can make cemeteries green urban spaces.

Moreover, despite not charging the entrance, the cemetery has become a famous tourist attraction in Buenos Aires; it is almost a must-stop for tourists. The present study provides evidence that the five dimensions identified are statistically supported, advancing the studies by Yan et al. (2016) Yan, B. J., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. L., Lu, S. J., & Guo, Y. R. (2016). Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China . Tourism Management, 53, 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.09.014 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.0... , Otto and Ritchie (1996) Otto, J. E., & Ritchie, J. B. (1996). The service experience in tourism. Tourism management, 17(3), 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)00003-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/0261-5177(96)000... , and Kang (2010) Kang, E. J. (2010). Experience and benefits derived from a dark tourism site visit: the effect of demographics and enduring involvement. Ph.D. Dissertation. School of Tourism. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland. . Therefore, it is worth paying particular attention to the dissemination and promotion of the history of the “celebrities” buried there. A social media that disseminates these curiosities is suggested as an example of a management initiative. Several people obtain income from the cemetery, such as tour guides, and the weekend street fair which surrounds the cemetery. In addition to publicising the curiosities and stories of this open-air museum, an advertisement suggests that a visit to the Recoleta cemetery is a trip for everyone, regardless of age – a finding in accord with this study, which found that parents take their children to teach them about history, and to have a meaningful day. Furthermore, we identified the need for a visit counter, as the cemetery does not have this control.

7 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This research had limitations when it came to managing data collection. First, the questionnaires of this study were written only in Portuguese and Spanish. The results in terms of motivation, experiences, and benefits were obtained only from visitors who can communicate in either of these two languages. Second, the results may be affected by the Facebook Business geolocation tool. The Recoleta cemetery usually receives many visitors from different nationalities, particularly from Brazil – but the research may not have portrayed this reality. Therefore, it is suggested that the study be replicated in different places. There are a small number of responses from male visitors regarding the sample size, causing gender disparity. The study results may be helpful to have a basic understanding of the three dimensions studied. Thus, new research is suggested which would aim for more parity in the sample size between the sexes.

Moreover, we suggest new research using tumular art as a motivating factor, a guided tour as a moderating factor, and new indicators such as cleanliness and safety. We suggest that researchers investigate the role of the guide in the experience through a multigroup analysis (MGA). Lastly, we identified that some cemeteries have QR Codes to provide information to their tourists; therefore, we suggest research exploring the adoption of technologies that can be utilised for the tourist experience in sites of dark tourism.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection 24 Mar 2023
• Date of issue 2022
• Received 13 Aug 2021
• Accepted 12 Mar 2022

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0863-6383
• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1904-8429
• https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6814-6020

Tércio Pereira

• E-mail: [email protected]

Melise de Lima Pereira

• E-mail: [email protected]

Pablo Flôres Limberger

• E-mail: [email protected]

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Figures | tables.

• Figures (2)

Figure 1   Conceptual research model

Figure 2   The proposed model for the cemetery

Table 1   Demographic profile

Table 2   exploratory factor analysis.

• Note¹: Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Oblique Rotation Method. KMO (Kaiser- Meyer-Olkin): 0.955. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity: χ2 = 7986.700; df= 28; p< 0.001. Note²: F.L. = Factor loading; Eig = eigenvalue; Cr = Cronbach’s alpha; V.E. = Variance explained (%); C.V.E = Cumulative variance explained (%).

Table 3   Assumptions

• RB= reflective benefits; Exp= experiences; EB= empathic benefits; LM= learning motivations; SM= social motivations.

Table 4   Discriminant validity

Table 5   blindfolding test, table 6   relationship test, table 7   cohen effect, how to cite, pdf version for download, related articles.

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Dark tourism hot spots you need to visit in Latin America

By Hannah Paranihi

Published on Jul 23, 2019 | 3 min

The dark tourism trend is fast gaining momentum with travellers the world over. Although we’ve always been interested in travelling to dark historical attractions such as Auschwitz or famous battlefields, last year’s ‘Dark Tourist’ series on Netflix shone a light on some of the more bizarre dark tourism attractions.

With five brand new trips to Patagonia and Colombia and 13 revamped trips across Latin America , we’ve put together a list of some of the dark destinations in Latin America that you may never have heard of.

The Nazi Graveyard of the Amazon – Brazil

In 1935, before World War II, a group of Nazis set out to explore and conquer the Amazon Basin in an expedition known as, ‘The Guayana Project’. The Nazis saw Brazil as a vast land filled with natural resources. It quickly became apparent that the journey through the Amazon was to be less than successful. The group were plagued with disease and got lost several times, having to rely on the local natives for help. Trip foreman Joseph Grenier passed away from malaria on the trip and erected in his memory, deep in the Amazon, is a curious 9-foot tall wooden cross bearing his name and adorned with swastikas.

Convento de San Francisco Ossuary – Lima, Peru 

Beneath this church in Lima you’ll find the remains of an estimated 75,000 people artfully arranged in a truly spine-tingling display. The catacombs acted as a burial ground until 1808 when the city cemetery was opened and remained forgotten until 1943. It’s believed they are connected via secret underground passages with other churches in the area.

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Read More: 7 wonder-full Peru experiences you have to add to your bucket list

Virgin of the Mystic Rose – Medellin, Colombia 

The city of Medellin is one of the most well-known dark tourist spots in the world, thanks to the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. Perhaps one of the most interesting sites here is the Virgin of the Mystic Rose – a shrine to ‘Mystic Rosa’ where it is believed Escobar’s cartel would visit to pray for successful hits.  Also known as the ‘Virgin of the Assassins,’ there’s rumour that Escobar built the shrine from rubble found in the once abandoned grotto and placed the statue here to express his gratitude.

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Mexican Cenotes – Yucatan Peninsula 

These beautiful underground waterholes have a mystical quality to them. As stunning as they may be, many were used as a spot for sacrifices – sometimes human – by the Mayans. Archaeologists have found human bones, jewellery and ceramics in many of the cenotes. It’s thought that the Mayan’s believed them to be portals to the underworld.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwmX1rpnqLj/

Read More: 30 things to do in Latin America before you die

Ernesto Che Guevera Statue – El Alton, Bolivia

Che Guevera is perhaps one of the most divisive figures in history. Radicalised by the extreme poverty he witnessed throughout South America, he was driven to overthrow what he saw as the exploitation of Latin America by the United States. While this all sounds well-meaning, working with Fidel Castro, Che presided over the first firing squads and established labour camps across the country where he acted as judge, jury and executioner. In El Alto, at the outskirts of La Paz , stands this 30-foot-tall statue of Che stomping on the head of a bald eagle. The statue is made entirely  of scrap metal, including parts of engines, cogs, wheels, and other mechanical spare parts.

30 best things to do in Latin America

7 experiences that will leave you obsessed with latin america, 11 of the best adventure experiences you can do in latin america with contiki.

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Beaches? Cruises? ‘Dark’ Tourists Prefer the Gloomy and Macabre

Travelers who use their off time to visit places like the Chernobyl nuclear plant or current conflict zones say they no longer want a sanitized version of a troubled world.

By Maria Cramer

North Korea. East Timor. Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave that for decades has been a tinderbox for ethnic conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

They’re not your typical top tourist destinations.

But don’t tell that to Erik Faarlund, the editor of a photography website from Norway, who has visited all three. His next “dream” trip is to tour San Fernando in the Philippines around Easter , when people volunteer to be nailed to a cross to commemorate the suffering of Jesus Christ, a practice discouraged by the Catholic Church.

Mr. Faarlund, whose wife prefers sunning on Mediterranean beaches, said he often travels alone.

“She wonders why on earth I want to go to these places, and I wonder why on earth she goes to the places she goes to,” he said.

Mr. Faarlund, 52, has visited places that fall under a category of travel known as dark tourism , an all-encompassing term that boils down to visiting places associated with death, tragedy and the macabre.

As travel opens up, most people are using their vacation time for the typical goals: to escape reality, relax and recharge. Not so dark tourists, who use their vacation time to plunge deeper into the bleak, even violent corners of the world.

They say going to abandoned nuclear plants or countries where genocides took place is a way to understand the harsh realities of current political turmoil, climate calamities, war and the growing threat of authoritarianism.

“When the whole world is on fire and flooded and no one can afford their energy bills, lying on a beach at a five-star resort feels embarrassing,” said Jodie Joyce, who handles contracts for a genome sequencing company in England and has visited Chernobyl and North Korea .

Mr. Faarlund, who does not see his travels as dark tourism, said he wants to visit places “that function totally differently from the way things are run at home.”

Whatever their motivations, Mr. Faarlund and Ms. Joyce are hardly alone.

Eighty-two percent of American travelers said they have visited at least one dark tourism destination in their lifetime, according to a study published in September by Passport-photo.online, which surveyed more than 900 people. More than half of those surveyed said they preferred visiting “active” or former war zones. About 30 percent said that once the war in Ukraine ends, they wanted to visit the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers resisted Russian forces for months .

The growing popularity of dark tourism suggests more and more people are resisting vacations that promise escapism, choosing instead to witness firsthand the sites of suffering they have only read about, said Gareth Johnson, a founder of Young Pioneer Tours , which organized trips for Ms. Joyce and Mr. Faarlund.

Tourists, he said, are tired of “getting a sanitized version of the world.”

A pastime that goes back to Gladiator Days

The term “dark tourism” was coined in 1996, by two academics from Scotland, J. John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, who wrote “Dark Tourism: The Attraction to Death and Disaster.”

But people have used their leisure time to witness horror for hundreds of years, said Craig Wight, associate professor of tourism management at Edinburgh Napier University.

“It goes back to the gladiator battles” of ancient Rome, he said. “People coming to watch public hangings. You had tourists sitting comfortably in carriages watching the Battle of Waterloo.”

Professor Wight said the modern dark tourist usually goes to a site defined by tragedy to make a connection to the place, a feeling that is difficult to achieve by just reading about it.

By that definition, anyone can be a dark tourist. A tourist who takes a weekend trip to New York City may visit Ground Zero. Visitors to Boston may drive north to Salem to learn more about the persecution of people accused of witchcraft in the 17th century. Travelers to Germany or Poland might visit a concentration camp. They might have any number of motivations, from honoring victims of genocide to getting a better understanding of history. But in general, a dark tourist is someone who makes a habit of seeking out places that are either tragic, morbid or even dangerous, whether the destinations are local or as far away as Chernobyl.

In recent years, as tour operators have sprung up worldwide promising deep dives into places known for recent tragedy, media attention has followed and so have questions about the intentions of visitors, said Dorina-Maria Buda, a professor of tourism studies at Nottingham Trent University .

Stories of people gawking at neighborhoods in New Orleans destroyed by Hurricane Katrina or posing for selfies at Dachau led to disgust and outrage .

Were people driven to visit these sites out of a “sense of voyeurism or is it a sense of sharing in the pain and showing support?” Professor Buda said.

Most dark tourists are not voyeurs who pose for photos at Auschwitz, said Sian Staudinger, who runs the Austria-based Dark Tourist Trips , which organizes itineraries in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe and instructs travelers to follow rules like “NO SELFIES!”

“Dark tourists in general ask meaningful questions,” Ms. Staudinger said. “They don’t talk too loud. They don’t laugh. They’re not taking photos at a concentration camp.”

‘Ethically murky territory’

David Farrier , a journalist from New Zealand, spent a year documenting travels to places like Aokigahara , the so-called suicide forest in Japan, the luxury prison Pablo Escobar built for himself in Colombia and McKamey Manor in Tennessee, a notorious haunted house tour where people sign up to be buried alive, submerged in cold water until they feel like they will drown and beaten.

The journey was turned into a show, “Dark Tourist,” that streamed on Netflix in 2018 and was derided by some critics as ghoulish and “sordid.”

Mr. Farrier, 39, said he often questioned the moral implications of his trips.

“It’s very ethically murky territory,” Mr. Farrier said.

But it felt worthwhile to “roll the cameras” on places and rituals that most people want to know about but will never experience, he said.

Visiting places where terrible events unfolded was humbling and helped him confront his fear of death.

He said he felt privileged to have visited most of the places he saw, except McKamey Manor.

“That was deranged,” Mr. Farrier said.

Professor Buda said dark tourists she has interviewed have described feelings of shock and fear at seeing armed soldiers on streets of countries where there is ongoing conflict or that are run by dictatorships.

“When you’re part of a society that is by and large stable and you’ve gotten into an established routine, travel to these places leads you to sort of feel alive,” she said.

But that travel can present real danger.

In 2015, Otto Warmbier , a 21-year-old student from Ohio who traveled with Young Pioneer Tours, was arrested in North Korea after he was accused of stealing a poster off a hotel wall. He was detained for 17 months and was comatose when he was released. He died in 2017, six days after he was brought back to the United States.

The North Korean government said Mr. Warmbier died of botulism but his family said his brain was damaged after he was tortured.

Americans can no longer travel to North Korea unless their passports are validated by the State Department.

A chance to reflect

Even ghost tours — the lighter side of dark tourism — can present dilemmas for tour operators, said Andrea Janes, the owner and founder of Boroughs of the Dead: Macabre New York City Walking Tours.

In 2021, she and her staff questioned whether to restart tours so soon after the pandemic in a city where refrigerated trucks serving as makeshift morgues sat in a marine terminal for months.

They reopened and were surprised when tours booked up fast. People were particularly eager to hear the ghost stories of Roosevelt Island, the site of a shuttered 19th-century hospital where smallpox patients were treated .

“We should have seen as historians that people would want to talk about death in a time of plague,” Ms. Janes said.

Kathy Biehl, who lives in Jefferson Township, N.J., and has gone on a dozen ghost tours with Ms. Janes’s company, recalled taking the tour “Ghosts of the Titanic” along the Hudson River. It was around 2017, when headlines were dominated by President Trump’s tough stance on refugees and immigrants coming into the United States.

Those stories seemed to dovetail with the 100-year-old tales of immigrants trying to make it to New York on a doomed ship, Ms. Biehl said.

It led to “a catharsis” for many on the tour, she said. “People were on the verge of tears over immigration.”

Part of the appeal of dark tourism is its ability to help people process what is happening “as the world gets darker and gloomier,” said Jeffrey S. Podoshen , a professor of marketing at Franklin and Marshall College, who specializes in dark tourism.

“People are trying to understand dark things, trying to understand things like the realities of death, dying and violence,” he said. “They look at this type of tourism as a way to prepare themselves.”

Mr. Faarlund, the photo editor, recalled one trip with his wife and twin sons: a private tour of Cambodia that included a visit to the Killing Fields , where between 1975 and 1979 more than 2 million Cambodians were killed or died of starvation and disease under the Khmer Rouge regime.

His boys, then 14, listened intently to unsparing and brutal stories of the torture center run by the Khmer Rouge. At one point, the boys had to go outside, where they sat quietly for a long time.

“They needed a break,” Mr. Faarlund said. “It was quite mature of them.”

Afterward, they met two of the survivors of the Khmer Rouge, fragile men in their 80s and 90s. The teenagers asked if they could hug them and the men obliged, Mr. Faarlund said.

It was a moving trip that also included visits to temples, among them Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, and meals of frog, oysters and squid at a roadside restaurant.

“They loved it,” Mr. Faarlund said of his family.

Still, he can’t see them coming with him to see people re-enact the crucifixion in the Philippines.

“I don’t think they want to go with me on that one,” Mr. Faarlund said.

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The 2022 list highlights places around the globe where travelers can be part of the solution.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

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DARK TOURISM: um estudo sobre as publicações científicas no Brasil

Série: Turismo e Hotelaria; Capítulo do Livro: T&H no contexto do Dark Tourism

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Dark tourism: motivations and visit intentions of tourists

International Hospitality Review

ISSN : 2516-8142

Article publication date: 8 July 2021

Issue publication date: 14 June 2022

The overall purpose of this study is to utilize the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in combination with four dark tourism constructs (dark experience, engaging entertainment, unique learning experience, and casual interest) to gain a better understanding of behaviors and intentions of tourists who have visited or plan to visit a dark tourism location.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1,068 useable questionnaires was collected via Qualtrics Panels for analysis purposes. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to verify satisfactory reliability and validity regarding the measurement of model fit. With adequate model fit, structural equation modeling was employed to determine positive and negative relationships between TPB and dark tourism constructs. In all, 11 hypotheses statements were tested within this study.

Results of this study indicate that tourists are curious, interested, and intrigued by dark experiences with paranormal activity, resulting in travel choices made for themselves based on personal beliefs and preferences, with minimal outside influence from others. It was determined that dark experience was the most influential of the dark tourism constructs tested in relationship to attitudes and subjective norm.

Research limitations/implications

The data collected for this study were collected using Qualtrics Panels with self-reporting participants. The actual destination visited by survey participants was also not factored into the results of this research study.

Originality/value

This study provides a new theoretical research model that merges TPB and dark tourism constructs and established that there is a relationship between TPB constructs and dark tourism.

Dark tourism

• Thanatourism
• Motivations
• Theory of planned behaviour

Lewis, H. , Schrier, T. and Xu, S. (2022), "Dark tourism: motivations and visit intentions of tourists", International Hospitality Review , Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 107-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/IHR-01-2021-0004

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Heather Lewis, Thomas Schrier and Shuangyu Xu

Published in International Hospitality Review . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Dark tourism is defined as the act of tourists traveling to sites of death, tragedy, and suffering ( Foley and Lennon, 1996 ). This past decade marks a significant growth of dark tourism with increasing number of dark tourists ( Lennon and Foley, 2000 ; Martini and Buda, 2018 ). More than 2.1 million tourists visited Auschwitz Memorial in 2018 (visitor numbers, 2019), and 3.2 million tourists visited the Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial annually (a year in review, 2017). Despite of the increasing popularity, there is still limited understanding of dark tourism as a multi-faceted phenomenon ( Biran et al. , 2011 ) . Some research has looked into the motivations and experience of dark tourists ( Poria et al. , 2004 ; Poria et al. , 2006 ). However, most were based on conceptual frameworks and arguments with little empirical data, even less have examined tourist visit intentions to dark tourism sites ( Zhang et al. , 2016 ), let alone the association between dark tourists' motivations and visit intentions. Many scholars suggested the pressing needs for empirical research into dark tourism from tourist perspectives to understand their motivations and experiences ( Seaton and Lennon, 2004 ; Sharpley and Stone, 2009 ; Zhang et al. , 2016 ). Of the limited empirical dark tourism studies, most were case studies with historical battlefields and concentration camps being the hot spots ( Le and Pearce, 2011 ; Lennon and Foley, 1999 ; Miles, 2002 ). Still, a comprehensive understanding of dark tourists' motivations and their intentions to visit is lacking.

As such, this study was conducted to understand both the motivations and visit intentions of tourists to dark tourism destinations. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) constructs ( attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control) and the four dark tourism dimensions (i.e. dark experience, engaging entertainment, unique learning experience, and casual interest ) were utilized to address the following objectives: (1) examine the motivations of dark tourists; (2) investigate the intentions of the dark tourists to visit a dark tourism destination in the next 12 months; and (3) explore the association between the motivations and visit intentions of dark tourists. The dark tourism dimensions utilized for this study were adapted supported by previous dark tourism studies ( Biran et al. , 2014 ; Bissell, 2009 ; Lam and Hsu, 2006 ; Molle and Bader, 2014 ). While many studies have utilized TPB in the past, this study will utilize the TPB to focus attention on why travelers are motivated to visit dark tourism locations specifically.

Literature review

Travels associated with death dates back for centuries ( Dale and Robinson, 2011 ). Early examples of dark tourism include Roman gladiator games, guided tours to watch hangings in England, and pilgrimages to medieval executions ( Stone, 2006 ). Even today, many tourists are fascinated with and thus visited sites of death and tragedy such as the John F. Kennedy's death site in Dallas, Texas, and the Ground Zero 9/11 Memorial in New York ( Foley and Lennon, 1996 ; Strange and Kempa, 2003 ). Abandoned prisons and sites of punishment and incarcerations are also popular attractions among dark tourists (e.g., Pentridge in Melbourne, Australia; Foley and Lennon, 1996 ). However, the term dark tourism did not get introduced to the research community until 1996 which ignited many later research efforts on this topic ( Light, 2017 ).

Dark tourism is defined as the act of tourists traveling to sites of death, tragedy, and suffering ( Foley and Lennon, 1996 ). Many scholars also came up with other terms and labels to describe such phenomenon including thanatourism ( Seaton, 1996 ), disaster tourism ( Rojek, 1993 ), black spot tourism ( Rojek, 1993 ), morbid tourism ( Blom, 2000 ) and even phoenix tourism ( Powell et al. , 2018 ). Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) suggested that despite of different names, at the heart of the concept is travel to places of death that are often linked to violence ( Robb, 2009 ). Many researchers use the term dark tourism and thanatourism interchangeably, while more tend to use dark tourism as an umbrella term for any form of tourism that is somehow related to death, suffering, atrocity, tragedy or crime ( Light, 2017 ). Given the standard use of the term dark tourism in the practice and scholarship of tourism, such a term will be used throughout this manuscript.

Dark tourism research in this past two decades mainly covers six themes including the discussion on definition, concepts, and typologies; the associated ethical issues; the political and ideological dimensions; the nature of demand for dark tourism locations; site management; and the methods used for research ( Light, 2017 ). The area of terminology and definitions undoubtedly dominates in the dark tourism literature ( Zhang et al. , 2016 ). While in the area of exploring the nature of demand for dark tourism locations, the relatively limited research concentrated in four aspects – both the motivations and experiences of dark tourists, the relationship between visiting and sense of identity, and new approaches to theorizing the consumption of dark tourism ( Light, 2017 ).

Research addressing dark tourists' motivations were relatively slow. Many early studies simply postulate and propose tourists' motivations to visit dark tourism sites, with a lack of empirical research to support ( Light, 2017 ). As such, many studies in the past decade examined dark tourists' motivations through different case studies, with concentration camps or historical battlefields being the hot spots ( Lennon and Foley, 1999 ; Miles, 2002 ). Research reveals that tourists visit dark tourism destinations for a wide variety of reasons, such as curiosity ( Biran et al. , 2014 ; Isaac and Cakmak, 2014 ), desire for education and learning about what happened at the site ( Kamber et al. , 2016 ; Yan et al. , 2016 ), interest in history or death ( Yankholmes and McKercher, 2015 ; Raine, 2013 ), connecting with one's personal or family heritage ( Mowatt and Chancellor, 2011 ; Le and Pearce, 2011 ). Drawing from literature, four common themes (i.e. dark experience, engaging entertainment, unique learning experience, casual interest) emerged, served as the foundational pillars for this study, and were discussed below.

The motivation construct

Dark experience.

Raine's (2013) dark tourist spectrum study of tourists visiting burial grounds and graveyards concluded that mourners and pilgrims had personal and spiritual connections to the different sites being studied. Mourners visited specific gravesites and usually would perform meditations for the dead. Pilgrims had a personal connection to specific burial sites in some way, whether it is a religious connection to the individual or they served as a personal hero ( Raine, 2013 ). Death rites are often performed as a ritual not necessarily to mark the passing of the deceased but rather to heal the wounds of families, communities, societies, and/or nations by the deceased's passing ( Bowman and Pezzullo, 2009 ).

Additionally, Raine's (2013) study discovered another subset of tourists—the morbidly curious and thrill seekers. Those classified as morbidly curious or thrill seekers were visiting burial sites to confront and experience death. Whether a mourner or pilgrim or the morbidly curious thrill seeker, the tourists had a strong connection to the dead they were there to visit which could categorize them as seeking a dark experience.

To take dark tourism to the extreme, Miller and Gonzalez (2013) completed a study on death tourism. Death tourism occurs when individuals travel to a location to end their lives, often through a means of assisted medical suicide. It was determined that this is still a taboo topic for some countries where it is not legalized, however it is gaining more publicity. It was determined that death tourism is typically the result of one of four reasons; the primary reason death tourism is planned is because of assisted suicide being illegal in the traveler's home country ( Miller and Gonzalez, 2013 ). While death tourism does not directly apply to this particular study, it is an offspring of dark tourism and is a tourist activity that is related to dark experience.

Dark Experience will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Dark Experience will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

Engaging Entertainment

Engaging Entertainment will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Engaging Entertainment will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

Unique learning experience

Unique Learning Experience will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Unique Learning Experience will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

Casual interest

Casual Interest will have a positive relationship with Attitudes

Casual Interest will have a positive relationship with Subjective Norm

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

Behavioral intention, defined as an individual's anticipated or planned future behavior ( Swan, 1981 ), has been suggested as a central factor that correlates strongly with observed behavior ( Baloglu, 2000 ). Many believed that intentions serve as an immediate antecedent to actual behavior ( Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975 ; Konu and Laukkanen, 2010 ). Fishbein and Ajzen developed the Theory of planned behavior (TPB) base on three constructs: attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been widely used in tourism research ( Ajzen and Driver, 1992 ; Han et al. , 2010 ; Han and Kim, 2010 ; Lam and Hsu, 2004 , 2006 ). TPB suggests that individuals are more likely to engage in behaviors that are believed to be achievable ( Armitage and Conner, 2001 ). Ajzen (1991) suggested that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are important to predict intention. Perceived behavioral control is what influences the tourists' intentions and their perception of their ability to perform a specific behavior.

Lam and Hsu (2004) utilized the TPB to examine motivations of travelers from mainland China to Hong Kong and found that attitude, perceived behavioral control, and past behaviors were directly related to travel intentions. In another study examining the visit intentions of Taiwanese travelers to Hong Kong, Lam and Hsu (2006) found that a positive association between visit frequency and re-visit intention.

Cheng et al. (2006) used the TPB to examine the negative word-of-mouth communication on visit intentions of Chinese consumers to high-class Chinese restaurants. It was determined from their study that the TPB constructs were positively impacted by negative word-of-mouth indicating that the TPB effectively measured consumer communication intention. Similarly, Han and Kim (2010) modified the TPB in the investigation of customers' intention to revisit environmentally friendly hotels and found that past behavior was a significant predictor of intention–the more customers stay at a green hotel, the more likely they intend to revisit. It can be concluded from previous research efforts that the TPB can be utilized to effectively measure behavioral intentions of tourists successfully.

Motivation and intentions

Attitudes will have a positive relationship with Intention

Subjective Norm will have a negative relationship with Intention

Perceived Behavioral Control will have a positive relationship with Intention

Methodology

Survey instrument.

A survey questionnaire was developed to collect information on the socio-demographic background, motivation construct, and planned behavior construct from tourists. Socio-demographic data queried were age in years (continuous), gender (3 categories, male, female and prefer not to answer), level of education (9 categories, from less than high school degree to doctoral degree), marital status (5 categories, from single to widow/widower), personal annual income (12 categories, from less than $20,000 to more than $200,000). Tourists' home residence state and country were also collected.

A dark tourism motivation construct was developed based on previous studies ( Biran et al. , 2014 ; Bissell, 2009 ; Lam and Hsu, 2006 ; Molle and Bader, 2014 ), and used to query previous visit and potential visit separately using a five-point Likert scale (“1 = extremely unimportant”; “5 = extremely important”). This motivation construct consists of 33 item statements from four dimensions ( Table 1 ) which include engaging entertainment, dark experience , unique learning experience , and casual interest . Dark experience consisted of nine statements, related to death, fascination with abnormal and/or bizarre events and destinations, and emotional experiences with a connection to death (e.g., “to travel”, “to have some entertainment”). Engaging entertainment was measured using ten statements that inquire about the personal or emotional connection to the destination they have visited or wish to visit in the future (e.g., “to witness the act of death and dying”, “to experience paranormal activity”). Unique learning experience focused on learning about the history of the destination being visited or trying something that is different and out of the ordinary (eight items, e.g., “to try something new”, “to increase knowledge”). Casual interest focuses on individuals who want to visit a dark tourism destination for the entertainment value but want to have a relaxing time while doing so (six items, “special tour promotions”, “natural scenery”).

The planned behavior construct queried on four dimensions (i.e., attitudes , subjective norms , perceived behavioral control , and behavioral intentions ) associated with visiting dark tourism destinations, with a total of 16 item statements ( Table 2 ). Five item statements were used to measure dark tourists' attitudes (e.g., “visiting a dark tourism destination is enjoyable”, “visiting a dark tourism destination is pleasant”) and behavioral intentions (e.g., “I will visit a dark tourism destination in the next 12 months”, “I would revisit the most recent dark tourism destination I visited again in the future”) respectively, using a five-point Likert scale (“1 = Strongly disagree”; “5 = Strongly agree”). Dark tourists' perceived behavioral control was measured by three item statements (e.g., “I am in control of whether or not I visit a dark tourism destination”, “If wanted, I could easily afford to visit a dark tourism destination”), using the same five-point Likert scale (“1 = Strongly disagree”; “5 = Strongly agree”). For subjective norms dimension, each of the three item statements was measured by a different five-point Likert scale. The statement that “most people I know would choose a dark tourism destination for vacation purposes” uses the scale in which “1 = strongly disagree”, “5 = strongly agree”. One item statement asks individuals to rate on whether “people who are important to me think I ____ choose a dark tourism destination to visit” “1 = definitely should not”, “5 = definitely should”). Another statement asks individuals to rate whether “people who are important to me would ___ of my visit to a dark tourism destination” “1 = definitely disapprove”, “5 = definitely approve”).

Sampling and procedure

To increase the reliability and validity of the survey, a pilot study was conducted. A small group of industry professionals from all over the country currently working at dark tourism destinations and other academic researchers were invited to critique the initial draft of the survey. Forty-one individuals took the survey instrument and provided feedback (e.g., some wording issues). After revisions from the pilot study were completed, the survey was launched, and data was collected.

Qualtrics, a web-based survey software company with access to an electronic database of survey candidates, was used to administer this questionnaire to participants. A total of 44,270 invitations were randomly sent to Qualtrics panel participants requesting participation in this study. Qualification of participants was completed by requesting all survey recipients answer the following questions: (1) Have you visited a dark tourism location within the past 24 months? and (2) Do you plan to visit a dark tourism location within the next 12 months? A statement was provided to all participants explaining what consisted of a dark tourism location to ensure participants were not taking the survey based on experiences of activities like haunted houses or haunted hayrides. Only 3,907 individuals were eligible to complete the survey, and a total of 1,068 participants did complete the survey, which yields a response rate of 27.3%. Altogether 651 out of 1,068 individuals had previously visited a dark tourism destination within the last 24 months while the remaining 417 individuals plan to visit a dark tourism destination within the next 12 months.

Data analysis included descriptive statistics, reliability tests, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). Descriptive statistics were used to outline respondents' characteristics (e.g., demographic composition). CFA was utilized to evaluate the measurement model, demonstrate adequate model fit, and ensure satisfactory levels of reliability and validity of underlying variables and their respective factors. Factor loadings greater than 0.70 indicated that the constructs are appropriately represented and considered acceptable ( Hair et al. , 2010 ). Cronbach's alphas were computed to test the internal reliability of items comprising each dimension of the dark tourism motivation construct ( dark experience , engaging entertainment , unique learning experience , casual interest ) and the planned behavior construct ( attitudes , subjective norm , perceived behavioral control ), respectively. A cutoff value of 0.7 was utilized to determine “good” reliability ( Peterson, 1994 , p. 381).

To confirm measurement model validity, the chi-squared ( x 2 ) statistic, Root-Mean-Square-Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) values were reviewed. Cutoff criteria used to determine “good fit” were RMSEA score < 0.08 ( Byrne, 1998 ), CFI scores > 0.90 ( Kline, 2005 ), SRMR < 0.08 to indicate a good fit ( Hu and Bentler, 1999 ).

Overwhelmingly, many tourists who had either visited a dark tourism location or plan to visit a dark tourism destination were female (65.4%). Additionally, the majority of participants were 25–34 years of age (44.2%) with the next largest age groups being 35–44 years (21%) and 18–24 years (20.9%). Most had either a 4-years Bachelor's degree from college (30.5%) or at least some college education but did not finish their degree (25.3%). 54.5% of the survey participants were married and 37.6% were single. As for income, the largest percentage (19.5%) had an individual annual income ranging from $20,001-$40,000. A full table of demographic characteristics of the participants can be seen in Table 3 .

Partial disaggregation of measurement model

SEM was utilized to investigate the relationships among dark tourism construct, the planned behavior construct and behavioral intentions. Like the CFA testing, the SEM also uses the chi-squared ( x 2 ) , RMSEA, SRMR, and CFI to determine overall model fit and relationships for this study. After further testing for convergent and discriminant validity, it was determined that all constructs met the composite reliability 0.70 or greater standard regarding the 3-parcel hypothesized model ( Table 4 ) ( Hair et al. , 2010 ).

There are several ways to parcel variables into groupings. For purposes of this study, the variables were parceled using the item-to-construct method since the SEM model was large in size and the goal was to have parcels balanced in terms of difficulty and discrimination ( Little et al. , 2002 ). To develop the parcels, standardized regression weights were evaluated, and the three highest scores served as anchors to each of the three parcels with the highest values associated to parcel 1, next highest to parcel 2, and then the next highest to parcel 3. The remainder of variables were placed into the parcels continuing with the 4th highest value placed into the 3rd parcel and repeating the process in inverted order until all variables were assigned into parcels. Once the variables for each construct were placed into appropriate parcel groupings, averages of the questions associated to the new parceled variables were calculated prior to the CFA and SEM analysis. The attitude and behavioral intention constructs had five variable questions, while subjective norm and perceived behavioral control only had three questions. In those situations, one individual variable question served as the parcel item. Table 2 shows the variables and the parcels in which they were grouped.

Additionally, the average variance extracted was calculated and proved to be less than the composite reliability for each construct indicating convergent reliability of the constructs. The average variance extracted was greater than the 0.50 standard for Dark Experience, Engaging Entertainment, Unique Learning Experience, Attitude, and Subjective Norm constructs. Behavioral Intention (0.49) and Casual Interest (0.48) had values that were borderline acceptable regarding convergent validity. The only construct that did not meet the standards of convergent validity testing was Perceived Behavioral Control (0.23). When testing for divergent validity, all square-root of average variance extracted calculations were greater than the inter-construct correlations indicating divergent validity was present in this study. Partial disaggregation of the variables resulted in a much stronger overall model fit. The RMSEA value was 0.08 indicating a strong model fit and the CFI (0.891) value was acceptable indicating a good model fit. The SRMR value (0.06, Table 4 ) also showed a strong model fit.

Hypothesis testing

Overall, most of the relationships between the dark tourism construct and the TPB constructs were significant. Results show that dark experience has a positive significant relationship with both attitudes (0.434) regarding tourists visiting a dark tourism destination and subjective norms (0.242, Table 5 ). Casual interest has a positive significant relationship with both attitudes (0.404) and subjective norm (0.330). Both engaging entertainment (−0.080; −0.217) and unique learning experience (0.152; −0.247) are not significantly associated with neither attitudes nor subjective norms . Results show that both attitudes (0.396) and perceived behavioral control (0.716) have a significant positive relationship with behavioral intention .

SEM testing was completed on the data. In addition to the significant and insignificant relationships indicated by the SEM testing, to answer some of the specific research questions asked by this study one must review the distinct question factor loadings to get those answers. A full set of the factor loadings of survey questions asked regarding dark tourism and TPB constructs are in Table 1 . A visualization of all hypothesis testing results is in Table 5 as well as on Figure 1 .

It can be concluded from the findings of this research that dark experience has a positive relationship with attitudes regarding tourists visiting a dark tourism location, indicating that Hypothesis 1 was fully supported. Tourists seek specific characteristics when choosing to visit a dark tourism destination. Akin to findings from Bissell (2009) , the reasons for visiting: I want to try something new and out of the ordinary as well as I am fascinated with abnormal and bizarre events were strong. Alone these two variables do not constitute wanting to experience dark tourism but suggest a curiosity about dark tourism and a desire for new experiences ( Seaton and Lennon, 2004 ). Individuals answered favorably to all questions related to interest in experiencing paranormal activity. Although Sharpley (2005) suggested “fascination with death” as a potential motive for tourists to visit dark tourism destinations, questions specifically related to death (i.e., to witness the act of death and dying , to satisfy personal curiosity about how the victims died ) , reveal that fascination with death and dying was not a strong motivating factor for the tourists' who participated in this research study. The positive relationships of dark experience with attitudes ( H1 ) and subjective norm ( H2 ) , respectively, implies that tourists are seeking experiences that satisfy curiosity or they are seeking interaction with the paranormal. Tourists seek a fun and enjoyable tourist experience by visiting dark tourism destinations, and do not feel pressured by societal norms of their friends and family, which may prevent them from visiting dark tourism destinations.

The engaging entertainment dimension regarding both attitude ( H3 ) and subjective ( H4 ) was not supported in this study, which is interesting considering the questions in this dimension were developed to determine the importance of the tourists connecting with the information presented at the destination while still having an enjoyable experience.

Like Raine (2013) , this study considered the unique learning experience dimension to include individuals who are hobbyists and are typically visiting these destinations solely for educational purposes and to not engage with the destination as a dark tourism site. To present an alternative consideration to the construct of unique learning experience, Seaton (1996) determined that the more attached a person was to a destination, the less likely they would be fascinated with death, resulting in the tourists not viewing the dark tourism destination as being “dark”. This thought process may be a possibility of explanation for why the relationships were negative between unique learning experience and the TPB constructs, resulting in both Hypothesis 5 and 6 not being supported. Farmaki (2013) strengthens this argument by determining that many tourists visit museums for the purpose of education, but museums will incorporate the concept of death to enhance the tourist experience.

Results from this study also indicate that participants of this study were not traveling to dark tourism destinations for educational purposes. Additionally, results indicate that individuals who were perhaps traveling for the purposes of unique learning experience had negative feelings or experiences with subjective norms, lending to the belief that their family and friends were not supportive of their choice to visit a dark tourism destination.

Raine (2013) discovered a group of tourists she classified as sightseers and passive recreationalists. These tourists can be themed as “incidental” as they were likely not seeking a dark tourism destination related to death and burials, but instead were looking for a destination to escape from everyday life. These statements can easily be supported by this research study as Hypotheses 7 and 8 were both positively supported in relationship to casual interest and attitudes ( H7 ) and subjective norm ( H8 ). The questions asked in this study specifically relate to value of tours, special promotions, and enjoying time with friends and family.

Individuals were seeking attitudinal experiences through their visits to dark tourism destinations, supporting Hypothesis 9 . Unlike the results from Lam and Hsu (2004) , subjective norms do play a role in behavioral intentions. This study found that the influence of societal norms and pressures do influence tourists' intention to visit dark tourism destinations, lending to Hypothesis 10 not being supported as expected. Regarding perceived behavioral control, when tourists feel capable and in control of their tourism choices, it will positively impact their behavioral intention or likelihood of visiting a dark tourism destination, supporting Hypothesis 11 .

Practical implications

Practitioners working in tourism industries and communities of dark tourism destinations can greatly benefit from the results of this study. Managers of dark tourism destinations must realize that visitors are attracted to these locations for many different reasons ( Bissell, 2009 ) and not just for fascination of death or paranormal activity. While this research does not focus specifically on individual motivating factors that influence behavior to visit, overarching attributes were determined to influence behavioral intentions more than others. The significant positive relationships found in this study between dark experience, unique learning experience, and casual interest suggest dark tourism destination managers offer a variety of tours and services to visitors and should be sensitive in how they display or present information so it does not come across as being offensive to tourists in the event they have strong emotional ties to the destination or individual(s) who may have been a victim at the destination.

Due to the broad nature of this study and its data collection efforts, the dark tourism locations visited by participants varied greatly. It can be concluded from the data that the use of television and contemporary media featuring dark tourism locations does positively influence tourists' behavioral intention to visit. Variables related to dark tourism destinations featured on television shows were more strongly favored in relationship to the dark experience construct than engaging entertainment. This indicates that tourists are curious about what they have seen on television or mass media and want to experience similar. Managers of dark tourism destinations featured on television shows should effectively market their locations as such to increase interest and tourism traffic to their destination. If paranormal tours are not currently being offered this would be a recommendation (if applicable) to generate more tourism interest.

Additionally, due to the increased popularity and reliance on websites and social media platforms for information, practitioners should register their location on dark tourism websites and registries so more curious travelers can easily locate them. Utilizing TripAdvisor.com and other similar travel websites is another option for practitioners to generate tourism interest to their destination. Making information readily available and easy to locate for tourists will continue to strengthen the relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention. Additionally, considering societal norms had a positive relationship with dark tourism constructs within this study, practitioners could market their destination as being taboo to tourists wanting to satisfy their rebellious curiosity.

Limitations and future research

This study has several limitations. Since the data was collected using Qualtrics Panels, potential participants are asked to self-report and assess whether they are eligible dark tourists for this study, based on given definition of dark tourism. Such self-assessment may not always be precise. If adopting this survey method, future research may consider asking participations to provide the specific dark tourism destination type that they have visited in the past 24 months, to help further confirm their eligibility for study participation. It is also recommended that if time and resources permit, future research consider collecting data on-site at dark tourism destinations. Also, this research study did not take into consideration the type of dark tourism destination visited by the respondents. Dark tourism destinations vary in the levels of violence and death that are associated with them ( Seaton, 1996 ; Stone, 2006 ). Future research can investigate additional motivational factors of tourists to visit dark tourism destinations with varying levels of darkness associated to them.

Most of the previous studies are case studies with historical battlefields and concentration camps being the hot spot for tourist activity. It is important and yet lacking to explore the general pattern of the association between motivations and visit intentions to dark tourism sites in general. Ryan and Kohli (2006) suggested there are differences between dark tourism destinations created by natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes in Sichuan, China; Biran et al. , 2014 ) and those that were sites of death at the hand of man (e.g., Auschwitz concentration camp). Moreover, Zhang et al. (2016) were among the few that explored the associated between motivation and association, but only on college students at one specific site. Although this study is inclusive of different dark tourist groups and dark tourism sites, future research may consider factoring in such difference in dark tourism destinations while exploring dark tourist motivations and visit intensions.

Conclusions

This study serves as exploratory research examining the association between tourist motivations and visit intentions and paves the way for future research in dark tourism. This study contributes to the dark tourism literature by proposing a new theoretical framework linking and extending dark tourism motivation construct with the Planned Behavior Construct. Study results can also benefit practitioners in dark tourism sector.

Graphic representation of theoretical framework and hypothesis testing results

Factor loadings for dark tourism variables

Partial disaggregation parcel groupings of TPB variables

Demographic characteristics of survey participants

CFAs of nested models

Full-data set hypothesis testing results

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Dark Tourism

A brief look at the seedier side of extreme holidays..

Posted December 9, 2019 | Reviewed by Kaja Perina

In a previous article , I briefly examined ‘disaster tourism’, a form of ‘dark tourism’ and 'niche tourism'. Since writing that article I came across an interesting book chapter by the Slovenian researcher Dr. Lea Kuznik entitled ‘Fifty shades of dark stories’ examining the many motivations for engaging in the seedier side of tourism. Dark tourism is something that I have been guilty of myself. For instance, as a Beatles fanatic , when I first went to New York, I went to the Dakota apartments where John Lennon had been shot by Mark David Chapman . In her chapter, Dr. Kuznik notes that:

“Dark tourism is a special type of tourism, which involves visits to tourist attractions and destinations that are associated with death, suffering, disasters and tragedies venues. Visiting dark tourist destinations in the world is the phenomenon of the twenty-first century, but also has a very long heritage. Number of visitors of war areas, scenes of accidents, tragedies, disasters, places connected with ghosts, paranormal activities, witches and witchhunt trials, cursed places, is rising steeply”.

As I noted in my previous article, the motivations for such behaviour is varied. Those working in the print and broadcast media often live by the maxim that ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ (meaning that death and disaster sell). Clearly whenever anything hits the front of newspapers or is the lead story on radio and television, it gains notoriety and infamy. This applies to bad things as well as good things and is one of the reasons why dark tourism has become so popular. Kuznik notes that although dark tourism has a long history, it has only become a topic for academic study since the mid-1990s. Dr. Kuznik observes that:

“The term dark tourism was coined by Foley and Lennon (1996) to describe the attraction of visitors to tourism sites associated with death, disaster, and depravity. Other notable definitions of dark tourism include the act of travel to sites associated with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre (Stone, 2006), and as visitations to places where tragedies or historically noteworthy death has occurred and that continue to impact our lives (Tarlow, 2005). Scholars have further developed and applied alternative terminology in dealing with such travel and visitation, including thanatourism (Seaton, 1996), black spot tourism (Rojek, 1993), atrocity heritage tourism (Tunbridge & Ashworth, 1996), and morbid tourism (Blom, 2000). In a context similar to ‘dark tourism’, terms like ‘macabre tourism’, ‘tourism of mourning’ and ‘dark heritage tourism’ are also in use. Among these terms, dark tourism remains the most widely applied in academic research (Sharpley, 2009)”.

Kuznik also notes that dark tourism has been referred to as “place-specific tourism”. Consequently, some researchers began to classify dark tourism sites based upon their defining characteristics. As Kuznik notes:

“Miles (2002) proposed a darker-lighter tourism paradigm in which there remains a distinction between dark and darker tourism according to the greater or lesser extent of the macabre and the morose. In this way, the sites of the holocaust, for example, can be divided into dark and darker tourism when it comes to their authenticity and scope of interpretation…On the basis of the dark tourism paradigm of Miles (2002), Stone (2006) proposed a spectrum of dark tourism supply which classifies sites according to their perceived features, and from these, the degree or shade of darkness (darkest to lightest) with which they can be characterised. This spectrum has seven types of dark tourism suppliers, ranging from Dark Fun Factories as the lightest, to Dark Camps of Genocide as the darkest. A specific example of the lightest suppliers would be dungeon attractions, such as London Dungeon, or planned ventures such as Dracula Park in Romania. In contrast, examples of the darkest sites include genocide sites in Rwanda, Cambodia, or Kosovo, as well as holocaust sites such as Auschwitz-Birkenau”.

In relation to the reasons for visiting dark tourism sites, Kuznik came up with seven main motivations for why we as humans seek out such experiences (i.e., curiosity, education , survivor guilt , remembrance, nostalgia , empathy, and horror ) that are outlined below (please note that the descriptions are edited verbatim from Kuznik’s chapter)

Curiosity: “Many tourists are interested in the unusual and the unique, whether this be a natural phenomenon (e.g. Niagara Falls), an artistic or historical structure (e.g. the pyramids in Egypt), or spectacular events (e.g. a royal wedding). Importantly, the reasons why tourists are attracted to dark tourism sites derive, at least in part, from the same curiosity which motivates a visit to Niagara Falls. Visiting dark tourism sites is an out of the ordinary experience, and thus attractive for its uniqueness and as a means of satisfying human curiosity. So the main reason is the experience of the unusual”.

Empathy: “One of the reasons for visiting dark tourism sites may be empathy, which is an acceptable way of expressing a fascination with horror…In many respects, the interpretation of dark tourism sites can be difficult and sensitive, given the message of the site as forwarded by exhibition curators can at times conflict with the understandings of visitors”.

Horror: “Horror is regarded as one of the key reasons for visiting dark tourism sites, and in particular, sites of atrocity…Relating atrocity as heritage at a site is thus as entertaining as any media depiction of a story, and for precisely the same reasons and with the same moral overtones. Such tourism products or examples are: Ghost Walks around sites of execution or murder (Ghost Tour of Prague), Murder Trails found in many cities like Jack the Ripper in London”.

Education: “In much tourism literature it has been claimed that one of the main motivations for travel is the gaining of knowledge, and the quest for authentic experiences. One of the core missions of cultural and heritage tourism in particular is to provide educational opportunities to visitors through guided tours and interpretation. Similarly, individual visits to dark tourism sites to gain knowledge, understanding, and educational opportunities, continue to have intrinsic educational value…many dark tourism attractions or sites are considered important destinations for school educational field trips, achieving education through experiential learning”.

Nostalgia: “Nostalgia can be broadly described as yearning for the past…or as a wistful mood that an object, a scene, a smell or a strain of music evokes…In this respect Smith (1996) examined war tourism sites and concluded that old soldiers do go back to the battlefields, to revisit and remember the days of their youth”.

Remembrance: “Remembrance is a vital human activity connecting us to our past…Remembrance helps people formulate an identity , allowing them to learn from past mistakes, and to go forward with a clear vision of the future. In the context of dark tourism, remembrance and memory are considered key elements in the importance of sites”.

Survivor’s guilt : “One of the distinctive characteristics of dark tourism is the type of visitors such sites attract, which include survivors and victim‘s families returning to the scene of death or disaster. These types of visitors are particularly prevalent at sites associated with Second World War and the holocaust. For many survivors returning to the scene of death and atrocity can achieve a therapeutic effect by resolving grief , and can build understanding of how terrible things came to have happened. This can be very emotional experience”.

Dr. Kuznik also developed a new typology of “dark places in nature”. The typology comprised 17 types of dark places and are briefly outlined below.

* Disaster area tourism: Visiting places of natural disaster after hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic destructions, etc.

* Grave tourism: Visiting famous cemeteries, or graves and mausoleums of famous individuals.

* War or battlefield tourism: Visiting places where wars and battles took place.

* Holocaust tourism: Visiting Nazi concentration camps, memorial sites, memorial museums, etc.

* Genocide tourism: Visiting places where genocide took place such as the killing fields in Cambodia.

* Prison tourism: Visiting former prisons such as Alcatraz.

* Communism tourism: Visiting places like North Korea.

* Cold war and iron curtain tourism: Visiting places and remains associated with the cold war such as the Berlin Wall.

* Nuclear tourism: Visiting sites where nuclear disasters took place (e.g. Chernobyl in the Ukraine) or where nuclear bombs were exploded (e.g., Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan).

* Murderers and murderous places tourism: Visiting sites where killers and serial killers murdered their victims (‘Jack the Ripper’ walks in London, where Lee Harvey Oswald killed J.F. Kennedy in Dallas)

* Slum tourism: Visiting impoverished and slum areas in countries such as India and Brazil, Kenya.

* Terrorist tourism: Visiting places such Ground Zero (where the Twin Towers used to be) in New York City

* Paranormal tourism: Visiting crop circle sites, places where UFO sightings took place, haunted houses (e.g., Amityville), etc.

* Witched tourism: Visiting towns or cities where witches congregated (e.g., Salem in Massachusetts).

* Accident tourism: Visiting places where infamous accidents took place (e.g. the Paris tunnel where Princess Diana died in a car accident).

* Icky medical tourism: Visiting medical museums and body exhibitions.

* Dark amusement tourism: Visiting themed walks and amusement parks that are based on ghosts and horror figures (e.g., Dracula).

Looking at these different types quickly I reached the conclusion that I would class myself as a ‘dark tourist’ as I have engaged in many of these and no doubt reflects my own interest in the more extreme aspects of the lived human experience.

Ashworth, G., & Hartmann, R. (2005). Introduction: managing atrocity for tourism. In G. Ashworth & R. Hartmann (Eds.), Horror and human tragedy revisited: the management of sites of atrocities for tourism (pp. 1–14). Sydney: Cognizant Communication Corporation.

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Smith, V. L. (1996). War and its tourist attractions. In A. Pizam & Y. Mansfeld (Eds.), Tourism, crime and international security issues (pp. 247–264). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Stone, P. R. (2006). A dark tourism spectrum: Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Tourism, 54 (2), 145–160.

Strange, C., & Kempa, M. (2003). Shades of dark tourism: Alcatraz and Robben Island. Annals of Tourism Research, 30 (2), 386-405.

Tarlow, P.E. (2005). Dark tourism: the appealing dark side of tourism and more. In M. Novelli (Ed.), Niche tourism – Contemporary issues, trends and cases (pp. 47–58). Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Tunbridge, J.E., & Ashworth, G. (1996). Dissonant heritage: The management of the past as a resource in conflict. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Mark Griffiths, Ph.D., is a chartered psychologist and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit in the Psychology Division at Nottingham Trent University.

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Embracing ‘virtual dark tourism’ could help heritage sites at risk of degradation – expert explains

Assistant Professor in Digital Humanities, Trinity College Dublin

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Nicole Basaraba does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Trinity College Dublin provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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Do you believe in ghosts? If so, there is a whole genre of digital storytelling to explore on YouTube. My recent research (which identified more than 60 dedicated channels) has shown that there is a fast-growing audience on YouTube for paranormal investigations that are filmed like a virtual tour of a range of “dark” heritage sites – places with rumoured hauntings or a tragic history.

Dark tourism allows people to understand tragic events, and potentially experience a catharsis of emotions related to the deaths at a site or even help people respond to collective trauma. For example, memorials dedicated to COVID deaths have become a place for people to reflect.

The COVID lockdowns brought travel to a standstill. During this period, many museums around the world took the opportunity to create virtual tours, and many would-be tourists explored 360-degree street views that served as silent “virtual tours” .

Outside of museums, visitors also have an interest in learning about the history and stories at heritage sites which are places that contain cultural, historical or even natural significance. Commonly known heritage sites include the Unesco world heritage sites – and many nations have their own lists of heritage sites such as archaeological ruins, cathedrals or monasteries and national parks.

Dark tourism is considered a subset of heritage tourism, because many dark tourism sites are also heritage sites. For example, Leap Castle in Ireland is a heritage site with history dating back to the 1500s while also being renowned as one of the most haunted castles in Europe.

Many heritage sites are also currently at risk for a variety of reasons, including climate change, a lack of funding to maintain their infrastructural integrity, vandalism, or the impacts of mass tourism.

My paper argues that using the interest in virtual dark tourism could be one way for these heritage sites to mitigate some of these challenges.

Some people view this interest in dark sites as a kind of voyeurism and the ethics of monetising entry or tours at sites of death and tragedy have been questioned. Despite the controversies, dark tourism has a long history of attracting public interest and there are other benefits, too.

My primary case study, the YouTube channel Sam and Colby , has amassed more than 10 million subscribers and over 1 billion views.

These two US-based content creators have published hundreds of YouTube videos exploring haunted places, including infamous private homes. This includes locations such as The Conjuring House in the US which dates to circa 1736 (famous for its paranormal activity), multiple castles associated with dark stories like Bran Castle in Romania (the home of Dracula in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel) and many hotels including the Grade II listed building, The Ancient Ram Inn in England, known as the most haunted building in England.

This style of digital storytelling combines typical YouTube content creation techniques, such as breaking the fourth wall (talking directly to the camera), handheld-style filming and comedic interludes to break the tension with conventions seen more in documentary films, such as b-roll (supplemental or alternative footage intercut with the main action) animations, dark lighting and music and a tour-guide style narrative arc .

Why take virtual dark tours?

Not all tourists interested in dark sites are willing to take the associated risks to their health and safety associated with exploring old buildings or to experience the potentially high levels of fear of physically visiting these haunted locations. Therein lies the appeal of a virtual dark tourism experience on YouTube.

For example, while the Museum of Partisan Glory in Odesa – an underground museum in Ukraine – is safe for visitors, paranormal YouTubers ventured deep into the former mining tunnels in 2021 escorted by a local guide despite the risks involved. The catacombs are largely unmapped and could result in explorers getting lost and there are precarious underground conditions.

Similarly, the Saratoga County Homestead (a former hospital opened in 1913 as a tuberculosis sanitarium that is now privately owned and attracts those who believe its haunted), was abandoned during the YouTubers’ 2021 paranormal investigation of the property. It was in a state of disrepair and could pose physical risks to visitor safety as well as charges of antisocial behaviour or illegal trespassing.

Most paranormal investigation teams on YouTube gain access to private properties with permission from the owners. Some explore abandoned buildings after dark without conducting paranormal investigations (this sub-genre of urban exploration is called urbex). Some paranormal investigation YouTube channels even have disclaimer statements noting that they do not illegally trespass and they advise viewers not to visit some of the more dangerous locations.

YouTubers are continuing to conduct paranormal investigations to challenge their own belief systems and fears, to better understand the history and happenings at dark sites (including heritage-listed places) and to share this with others through digital storytelling.

This genre has expanded to a network of at five to six paranormal investigation teams who are collaborating and producing similar virtual dark tours at a variety of locations across the globe. As the audience for this virtual dark tourism content continues to grow, heritage sites at risk may benefit from developing narrative-focused virtual tours or by partnering with influential YouTubers.

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Inside the Controversial World of Slum Tourism

People have toured the world’s most marginalized, impoverished districts for over a century.

Hundreds of shanty towns line the riverbanks, train tracks, and garbage dumps in the Filipino capital—the most jammed-packed areas in one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Around a quarter of its 12 million people are considered “informal settlers.”

Manila is starkly representative of a global problem. According to the United Nations , about a quarter of the world’s urban population lives in slums—and this figure is rising fast.

Rich cultural heritage brings visitors to Manila, but some feel compelled to leave the safety of the historic center sites to get a glimpse of the city’s inequality. Tour operators in the Philippines —as well as places like Brazil and India —have responded by offering “slum tours” that take outsiders through their most impoverished, marginalized districts.

Slum tourism sparks considerable debate around an uncomfortable moral dilemma. No matter what you call it—slum tours, reality tours, adventure tourism, poverty tourism—many consider the practice little more than slack-jawed privileged people gawking at those less fortunate. Others argue they raise awareness and provide numerous examples of giving back to the local communities. Should tourists simply keep their eyes shut?

Around a quarter of Manila's 12 million people are considered “informal settlers."

Rich cultural heritage brings visitors to Manila, but some feel compelled to leave the safety of the historic center sites to get a glimpse of the city’s inequality.

Slumming For Centuries

Slum tourism is not a new phenomenon, although much has changed since its beginning. “Slumming” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1860s, meaning “to go into, or frequent, slums for discreditable purposes; to saunter about, with a suspicion, perhaps, of immoral pursuits.” In September 1884, the New York Times published an article about the latest trend in leisure activities that arrived from across the pond, “‘Slumming’ will become a form of fashionable dissipation this winter among our Belles, as our foreign cousins will always be ready to lead the way.”

Usually under the pretense of charity and sometimes with a police escort, rich Londoners began braving the city’s ill-reputed East End beginning around 1840. This new form of amusement arrived to New York City from wealthy British tourists eager to compare slums abroad to those back home. Spreading across the coast to San Francisco, the practice creeped into city guide books. Groups wandered through neighborhoods like the Bowery or Five Points in New York to peer into brothels, saloons, and opium dens.

Visitors could hardly believe their eyes, and justifiably so. “I don’t think an opium den would have welcomed, or allowed access to, slummers to come through if they weren’t there to smoke themselves,” Chad Heap writes in his book Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Nightlife , 1885–1940 . Recognizing the business opportunity, outsiders cashed in on the curiosity by hiring actors to play the part of addicts or gang members to stage shoot-’em-ups in the streets. After all, no one wanted the slum tourists to demand a refund or go home disappointed.

Smokey Tours does not allow participants to take photos, but this policy proves difficult to enforce.

The city of San Francisco eventually banned such mockery of the poor, the New York Times reported in 1909: “This is a heavy blow to Chinatown guides, who have collected a fee of two dollars each. The opium smokers, gamblers, blind paupers, singing children, and other curiosities were all hired.”

Tours also brought positive results, as Professor of History Seth Koven highlights in his research of slumming in Victorian London. Oxford and Cambridge Universities opened study centers in the late 19th-century to inform social policy, which was only possible by seeing the underprivileged neighborhoods firsthand.

Popularity waned after World War II with the creation of welfare and social housing—then rose again in the 1980s and 1990s as those state provisions declined and labor demands increased.

Presenting Poverty

Plastic arrives from all over India to the dark alleys and corrugated shacks of Dharavi in Mumbai —the second-largest slum on the continent of Asia (after Orangi Town in Pakistan ) and third-largest slum in the world. Ushered around by the company Reality Tour and Travel , tourists see a thriving recycling industry which employs around ten thousand to melt, reshape, and mould discarded plastic. They stop to watch the dhobiwallahs , or washermen, scrub sheets from the city’s hospitals and hotels in an open-air laundry area.

In a TripAdvisor review, one recent participant from Virginia appreciated the focus on community. “It was great to hear about the economy, education and livelihood of the residents,” she writes. “The tour group doesn't allow photography or shopping which I think is really important. It didn't feel exploitative, it felt educational.”

One traveler from London commented on the extremity of the scene. "Had to stop after about 20 minutes into it due to the overbearing nature of the surroundings. The tour is not for the faint hearted. I would've liked a few more disclaimers on the website to warn us about the nature of it." Another guest from the United Kingdom expressed disappointment over the so-called family meal. “This was in the home of one of the guides and, whilst his mum made lunch a delicious meal that we ate in her house, she didn’t eat with us so it wasn’t really what I had expected from a family lunch (or the photos promoting such on the website).”

Smokey Tours enters the Manila North Cemetery, inhabited by some of Manila's poorest people.

Children jump from grave to grave in the city’s largest cemetery.

Reality Tours hopes to challenge the stereotypical perception of slums as despairing places inhabited by hopeless people. The tour presented slum residents as productive and hardworking, but also content and happy. Analyzing more than 230 reviews of Reality Tour and Travel in her study , Dr. Melissa Nisbett of King’s College London realized that for many Dharavi visitors, poverty was practically invisible. “As the reviews show, poverty was ignored, denied, overlooked and romanticized, but moreover, it was depoliticized.” Without discussing the reason the slum existed, the tour decontextualized the plight of the poor and seemed only to empower the wrong people–the privileged, western, middle class visitors.

With good intentions, the company states that 80 percent of the profits benefit the community through the efforts of its NGO that works to provide access to healthcare, organize educational programs, and more. Co-founder Chris Way spoke to National Geographic after his company surged in popularity from the sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire . “We do try and be as transparent as possible on our website, which does allay many people’s fears.” Way personally refuses a salary for his work.

No Two Cities Alike

The main question should be: Is poverty the central reason to visit?

Other cities take different approaches to slum tourism. In the early 1990s, when black South Africans began offering tours of their townships—the marginalized, racially-segregated areas where they were forced to live—to help raise global awareness of rampant human rights violations. Rather than exploitation inflicted by outsiders, local communities embraced slum tourism as a vehicle to take matters of their traditionally neglected neighborhoods into their own hands.

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Some free tours of favelas in Rio de Janeiro provided an accessible option to the crowds that infiltrated the city during the World Cup and Summer Olympics, while most companies continue to charge. Tour manager Eduardo Marques of Brazilian Expeditions explains how their authenticity stands out, “We work with some local guides or freelancers, and during the tour we stop in local small business plus [offer] capoeira presentations that [support] the locals in the favela. We do not hide any info from our visitors. The real life is presented to the visitors.”

Smokey Tours in Manila connected tourists with the reality facing inhabitants of a city landfill in Tondo (until 2014 when it closed) to tell their stories. Now the company tours around Baseco near the port, located in the same crowded district and known for its grassroots activism. Locally-based photographer Hannah Reyes Morales documented her experience walking with the group on assignment for National Geographic Travel. “I had permission to photograph this tour from both the operator and community officials, but the tour itself had a no photography policy for the tourists.” With the policy difficult to enforce, some guests secretly snapped photos on their phones. “I observed how differently tourists processed what they were seeing in the tour. There were those who were respectful of their surroundings, and those who were less so.”

All About Intention

Despite sincere attempts by tour operators to mitigate offense and give back to locals, the impact of slum tourism stays isolated. Ghettoized communities remain woven into the fabric of major cities around the world, each with their individual political, historical, and economic concerns that cannot be generalized. Similarly, the motivations behind the tourism inside them are as diverse as the tour participants themselves. For all participants involved, operators or guests, individual intentions matter most.

The Baseco neighborhood is located on the Pasig river near the city port, but lacks access to clean drinking water.

Better connections between cities allow more people to travel than ever before, with numbers of international tourists growing quickly every year. While prosperity and quality of life have increased in many cities, so has inequality. As travelers increasingly seek unique experiences that promise authentic experiences in previously off-limits places, access through tours helps put some areas on the map.

Travel connects people that would otherwise not meet, then provides potential to share meaningful stories with others back home. Dr. Fabian Frenzel, who studies tourism of urban poverty at the University of Leicester, points out that one of the key disadvantages of poverty is a lack of recognition and voice. “If you want to tell a story, you need an audience, and tourism provides that audience.” Frenzel argues that even taking the most commodifying tour is better than ignoring that inequality completely.

For the long-term future of these communities, the complex economic, legal, and political issues must be addressed holistically by reorganizing the distribution of resources. While illuminating the issue on a small scale, slum tourism is not a sufficient answer to a growing global problem.

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30 Dark Tourism Destinations and How to Visit

By: Author Zachary Friedman

Posted on Last updated: March 1, 2024

Categories Travel Destinations

Home » Travel » Travel Destinations » 30 Dark Tourism Destinations and How to Visit

Many of us have a natural morbid curiosity. Death, disasters, atrocities, and destruction fascinate us. Every year, millions of people travel to some of the darkest and most tragic sites on earth to satisfy that curiosity as well as to gain a deeper understanding of the events that took place there. This is called dark tourism. In this guide, we’ll outline some of the most popular dark tourism destinations and explain how to visit them. We’ll also explain exactly what dark tourism is and talk a bit about the ethics, controversies, and motivations of dark tourism.

Personally, I’m a big fan of dark tourism. Over the years, I’ve visited many of the dark tourism sites on this list. In this guide, I’ll share my experience.

Table of Contents

• Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, Poland
• Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Site, Ukraine
• Choeung Ek Killing Fields and S-21, Cambodia
• September 11 Memorial and Museum, New York
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum, Japan
• Kigali Genocide Memorial, Rwanda
• Pompeii, Italy
• Slave Castles, Ghana
• Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
• Alcatraz Island, San Francisco
• Suicide Forest (Aokigahar), Japan
• Fukushima, Japan
• Robben Island, South Africa
• Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• The Colosseum, Rome
• Mount St. Helens, Washington
• Anne Frank House and Museum, Amsterdam
• Various Nuclear Test Sites
• The Catacombs of Paris
• Warsaw Ghetto, Poland
• Perm-36 Gulag, Russia
•   Cremations on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India
• WWII memorials and museums in Berlin, Germany
• Communist Leader Mausoleums
• Somme Battlefield, France
• Verdun Battlefield, France
• D-Day Beaches and Memorials in Normandy
• Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland
• Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam

What is Dark Tourism?

Dark tourism is a relatively new term for a form of tourism that involves travel to a site where death, tragedy, disaster, violence, atrocity, or suffering took place. This could include sites of genocide, assassination, natural disaster, war, terrorism, man-made disaster, etc. Usually, dark tourism sites have some kind of historical significance. They could also be the site of a recent or ongoing tragic event. Dark tourism is also called black tourism, morbid tourism, and grief tourism.

A few of the most well-known and popular dark tourism sites in the world include the ruins of Pompeii, Auschwitz concentration camp, the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, the Paris Catacombs, Gettysburg, Ground Zero, and the 9/11 memorial in New York. In each of these sites, death, suffering, tragedy, or disaster took place.

Most people visit dark tourism sites for educational purposes. These sites usually have interesting histories. Some people visit because these sites pique a morbid curiosity. Others just want to witness large scale destruction and damage. Everyone has their own motivation.

There are different types of dark tourism as well. For example, dark tourism and heritage tourism are sometimes closely related. For example, someone may choose to visit Holocaust sites to learn about the events that their ancestors experienced. Descendants of slaves may choose to visit slavery heritage sites. Some consider this a form of dark tourism as well.

To consider someone a dark tourist, they must visit the site for dark tourism purposes. Some sites have a dark element but aren’t exclusively visited for dark tourism purposes. For example, if you visit Mount St. Helens to go for a hike, you’re not a dark tourist. If you visit to learn about the volcanic eruption and the damage it caused, you are a dark tourist.

Dark Tourism Destinations

1. auschwitz-birkenau memorial and museum, poland.

Located outside of Krakow, Poland, Auschwitz was the largest and most deadly of the Nazi concentration camps. Between 1.1 and 1.6 million men, women, and children were murdered here during the Holocaust. Auschwitz is one of the largest mass murder sites in the world.

Today, the site symbolizes genocide and the evil acts that humans inflict upon one another. It also acts as a valuable education tool to help prevent atrocities such as the Holocaust from happening again.

Auschwitz is actually a series of 40 concentration camps rather than one large camp. Auschwitz I is the older and smaller camp where political prisoners were held. Here, you’ll see a terrifying exhibition of some of the inmates’ possessions including piles of suitcases, shoes, and human hair.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is located a couple of miles down the road, is a much larger concentration camp and extermination camp. Here, you’ll find the ruins of the infamous gas chambers, barracks with wooden shelves where prisoners slept, and the train track which was used to haul thousands of people into the camp.

Auschwitz has become a mass tourist site seeing over 2 million visitors per year and over 60 million visitors since the site opened in 1947. This is probably the world’s biggest and most well known dark tourism site. The Auschwitz Memorial is free to enter but you should book in advance. Only a limited number of tickets are available per day because the site is so popular.

2. Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Site, Ukraine

On April 26, 1986, the world’s worst nuclear meltdown took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Pripyat, Ukraine. This disaster caused the death of around 4,000 individuals from radiation-related illness as well as the displacement of over 300,000.

The area is still not safe for people to inhabit, even though some have moved back into their villages anyway. In fact, scientists believe it could take 20,000 years before the exclusion zone is completely safe. The radiation has dissipated enough for tourists to make short visits on guided tours.

Several tour companies offer day trips and multi-day trips to Chernobyl from the nearby city of Kyiv. During the tour, you’ll see the radiation-contaminated Red Forrest and eerie abandoned buildings including the famous Pripyat Amusement Park and a Kindergarten. You’ll also learn about the impact the disaster had on the region.

Keep in mind that there is still a risk of radiation poisoning when visiting the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Radiation levels are still hazardous in much of the zone. Your guide will explain the safety precautions you must take and guide you through the areas that are safe enough to visit.

Chernobyl is one of the world’s most famous and popular dark tourism sites. The recent HBO miniseries, Chernobyl, greatly increased the popularity of the area. Following the release of the show, tourism increased by 30%.

Note: Currently, it’s not possible to visit this site. Hopefully, it will be possible to visit again in the near future.

3. Choeung Ek Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21), Cambodia

The Khmer Rouge regime came into power after the Cambodian civil war ended in 1975. The new government was called the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Their leader was prime minister Pol Pot.

Immediately following the end of the war, the Cambodian genocide began. From 1975 to 1979, between 1.7 and 2.5 million people were killed at 300 sites throughout the country. These sites are known as killing fields.

The most famous of these killing fields is Choeung Ek, which is located about 11 miles outside of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. It is estimated that around 17,000 men, women, and children were killed at this site. Many were killed violently with knives, scythes, bats, and bayonets. This is the main memorial for the Cambodian genocide.

At this site, you’ll see a memorial Buddhist stupa made of glass. Inside the stupa, there are 5,000 human skulls. Many of the displayed skulls are catastrophically damaged, showing the brutal manner in which the victims were killed. The site also includes a mass grave that contains the remains of almost 9,000 people that were exhumed from the surrounding area. Human bones still litter the entire site. Occasionally fragments wash up after heavy rain.

Another famous Cambodian Genocide site is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or S-21. This museum is located in Phnom Penh. Originally, this site was built as a secondary school but was converted into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. Around 20,000 people were imprisoned here during Pol Pot’s reign. Many were tortured and killed. Here, you’ll see prison cells, photos of victims, as well as an exhibit that documents the events of the Cambodian genocide.

4. National September 11 Memorial and Museum, New York

This New York City memorial and museum was built to commemorate and honor the 2,977 people who died in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks as well as the six people who died in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. The memorial sits on the site where the twin towers once stood.

The main memorial, called Reflecting Absence, consists of two 1-acre pools that occupy the exact footprints where the Twin Towers stood. Each pool features a large waterfall. Bronze parapets with the name of each victim etched in surround the pools. The September 11 Museum, located underground, contains thousands of images, artifacts, recordings, and videos. The exhibit tells the complete story of the events of 9/11.

This site is fairly controversial. Partly for the high price of entry ($24) but mostly for the fact that the remains of over 1000 victims were placed in a tomb in the bedrock under the museum. Many people find this disrespectful. Even so, the 9/11 Memorial is one of the world’s most popular dark tourism sites. Over 6 million people visit this memorial per year.

5. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum

This memorial and museum commemorate and honor the city of Hiroshima and the 140,000 people who died when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city on August 6, 1945. It also memorializes the world’s first nuclear attack. The aim is to educate people about the danger of nuclear weapons as well as to promote peace.

The atom bomb, codenamed “Little Boy,” detonated 600 meters above the busiest part of downtown Hiroshima. The explosion essentially leveled the area except for a few ruins. This event marked the beginning of the end of WWII. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. The park was built on the site of the bombing. Today, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park contains a number of monuments as well as a museum and a lecture hall.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is the main feature of the park. The museum educates visitors about the events leading up to the bombing as well as the catastrophic effect the bomb had on the city. You’ll see photos and artifacts from the bombing. A major section of the museum is dedicated to the stories of the victims and survivors.

The A-Bomb Dome is the second most important site in the park. This is the ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. Today, it’s just a shell of a building. This building is significant because it is one of the only buildings that survived the blast. Most structures in Hiroshima were built from wood and burned up in fires that the bomb started. This building was also just 150 meters from the hypocenter of the blast. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A few more significant points of interest in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park include Children’s Peace Monument, Peace Flame, Peace Bells, Peace Pagoda, Gates of Peace, and Atomic Bomb Memorial Mount. You could easily spend half a day wandering around the park viewing the various monuments and memorials.

3 days after the bombing of Hiroshima on August 9, 1945, The United States bombed the city of Nagasaki in a second nuclear attack. Today, you’ll find a number of memorials and museums including the Atomic Bomb Museum, Peace Park, Oka Masaharu Memorial Peace Museum, and more.

6. Rwanda Genocide Sites (Kigali Genocide Memorial and Murambi Genocide Memorial)

In 1990, a rebel group of Tutsi refugees called the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda from Uganda. This started the Rwandan Civil War. President Juvénal Habyarimana signed peace accords in 1993. The following day, the president was assassinated. Genocidal killings of Tutsi people began soon after and the civil war resumed.

The Rwandan genocide lasted from April 7 to July 15, 1994. During that time 500,000-1,000,000 people were killed. This includes about 70% of Rwanda’s Tutsi population. The genocide ended when the RPF captured Kigali and gained control of the country. The government and genocidaires were forced into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Today, there are a number of genocide memorials located throughout the country. The largest and most visited is the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. The remains of an astonishing 250,000 people are interred at this site. The attached museum includes three exhibits. The first documents the events of genocide from start to finish. The second exhibit is a memorial to the children who died. It includes photos and details about their lives, things they liked, and the way they died. The third exhibit covers genocide around the world.

The Murambi Genocide Memorial (Murambi Technical School), located in southern Rwanda is one of the darkest dark tourism destinations on the planet. Here, around 50,000 Tutsi men, women, and children were murdered by Hutu Interahamwe militiamen in April of 1994.

The Tutsis were told that they could safely shelter at the school and that the French military would protect them. This turned out to be a trap. After being starved for several days to weaken them, they were attacked and killed. Only 34 people survived the attack and escaped. At Murambi, the remains of 800 people are displayed partially decomposed and preserved by lime.

7. Pompeii, Italy

This ancient Roman city was wiped out when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Historians estimate that about 2,000 people died in the disaster. The thick layer of ash and pumice that covered the city preserved this little slice of ancient Rome.

At the ruins, you can see beautifully preserved artwork, pottery, casts of people who died, houses, an amphitheater, and more. Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of Italy’s most popular tourist destinations with over 2.5 million visitors per year.

Some people question whether or not Pompeii is actually a dark tourism site due to the age of the site. After all, the eruption occurred nearly 2000 years ago. In my opinion, Pompeii is absolutely a dark tourism site due to the large scale death and destruction that happened here. The age of the site is irrelevant.

8. Slave Castles, Ghana (Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle)

During the colonial period of West Africa, the British, Dutch, and Portuguese built around 40 castles or forts along the Gold Coast. The Europeans originally used these castles as trading posts for timber or gold.

During that time, African slaves were in high demand in the Americas. The European traders quickly found that the slave trade was more profitable.

They modified their forts to hold as many slaves as possible. Usually in an underground dungeon. African slavers would capture slaves inland then sell them to the Europeans who lived in the castles on the coast. The slaves stayed in the castles until they were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Living conditions for the slaves were horrible. Slavers shackled and packed the slaves into the castle’s dungeons. There was very little light or ventilation. There was no water or sanitation so the floors were covered in waste. Many became ill. The slaves lived in these conditions for up to three months before being shipped across the Atlantic.

Today, dark tourists visit these castles to learn about the horrors of the slave trade. Two of the most significant castles to visit include Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle. Both are located in Ghana. Guided tours are available.

Elmina Castle was the first European trading post and is the oldest European building in Sub Saharan Africa. The Portuguese built the castle in 1482. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, you can see the famous ‘Door of No Return’ where slaves exited the castle before boarding ships to Brazil and other Portuguese colonies. You’ll also see the dungeon where the slaves were held as well as the living quarters for the European slavers, who lived on the upper floors of the castle.

Cape Coast Castle was built by Swedish traders in 1653. Over the years, the castle changed hands multiple times until it came into British possession. Here, you can see the dungeons where slaves were held and cannons that were used to defend the fort. In 2009, President Obama visited Cape Coast Castle during his visit to Ghana.

9. Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic

This small Roman Catholic chapel is located in a cemetery in a suburb of the city of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic. Here, you’ll find the remains of 40,000-70,000 people. Initially, the remains were moved from the cemetery into the basement of the chapel to solve an overcrowding problem that was caused by the plague in the 14th century.

In 1870, a local artist named František Rint rearranged the piles of bones into artwork. The most impressive piece is a massive chandelier in the center of the chapel that is made entirely from human bones. Supposedly it contains at least one of every bone in the human body.

Another interesting piece is a large coat of arms made from bones. In the corners of the chapel, you’ll find large stacks of bones. There are cabinets filled with damaged skulls of those who were killed violently in war. The artist also signed his name in bones.

You can visit Selded Ossuary as a day trip from Prague. It’s easy to visit independently by train. Organized tours are available as well. The chapel is pretty small. It only takes 20 minutes or so to see the whole thing. The place gets pretty crowded as it receives over 200,000 visitors per year.

10. Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, San Francisco

Also known as The Rock, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a maximum-security prison from 1934-1963. It is located on an island in the San Francisco Bay, 1.25 miles offshore. During the 29 years that the prison operated, some of the hardest criminals of the day served time here including the infamous Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Henri Young, and ‘the Birdman of Alcatraz’, Robert Stroud.

For punishment, prisoners were sent to solitary confinement, known as ‘the hole’ at Alcatraz. These inmates got one shower and one hour of exercise per week. Almost equally punishing for some, the prison sits close enough to the mainland that prisoners could see people going about their lives on the outside.

Today, Alcatraz is San Francisco’s most popular tourist attraction with up to 1.5 million visitors per year. The National Park Service manages the island. After arriving at the island by boat, you can take a tour of the prison. You’ll see the prison cells, learn about the dark history of the island, and hear stories of former inmates. Much of the prison remains the way it was while the prison was in operation.

11. Suicide Forest (Aokigahar), Japan

This forest, located to the Northwest of Mount Fuji, is famous for being one of the most popular suicide site in Japan. In 2003, a record was made when 105 bodies were found in the forest. In 2010, over 200 people attempted suicide here with 54 of those being successful.

The most common methods of suicide used are hanging and drug overdose. Because the suicide rate is so high here, Japanese officials installed a sign at the entry to the park which urges suicidal people to seek help.

Part of the reason for the popularity of this forest as a suicide site is that the area has long been associated with death in Japanese culture. The forest is said to be haunted by the yūrei, which are spirits that can’t leave our world.

Here, visitors can roam about the many trails that wind throughout the 30 square kilometer forest. This is an excellent place to enjoy the solitude of the dense forest. Tours are available as well.

Some visitors come here to see if they can spot a body. As you can imagine, this is a very controversial form of dark tourism. For example, YouTuber Logan Paul was criticized for filming a video of a man who had recently committed suicide here in 2018.

12. Fukushima, Japan

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake off the east coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that flooded the reactors at Fukushima nuclear power plant and caused an electrical grid failure. The reactors lost their cooling which led to three nuclear meltdowns at the plant. 154,000 people had to be evacuated. Many were never able to return to their homes.

Today, there is a 20 km exclusion zone surrounding the nuclear plant to protect people from radiation exposure. In 2018 tours to visit the exclusion area began. In 2020, The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum opened. On the tour, you’ll see abandoned structures and witness the effects that the disaster had on the region.

13. Robben Island, South Africa

Robben Island, located in Table Bay, north of Cape Town, was used as a prison from the colonial times of the late 1600s until 1996. The prison gained notoriety during the apartheid era of South Africa. It held political prisoners between 1961 and 1991.

The most famous prisoner was political revolutionary, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. He served 18 of his 27-year imprisonment on Robben Island before his release in 1990. in 1994, South Africa elected Mandela as the first president. A total of three former inmates went on to become South African presidents including Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma.

Conditions in the prison were incredibly harsh. Prisoners were held isolated from one another in small cells. The prison was segregated by race. Food rations were small and communication with the outside world was limited. Prisoners were also forced to do hard labor in a lime quarry located on the island.

Today, Robben Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a South African National Heritage Site. The only way to visit Robben Island is on a guided tour. The tour leaves from Cape Town and lasts for about 3.5 hours. The guides are all former prisoners. They take you around the prison and share their first-hand stories about their time there. You’ll see the lime quarry where the prisoners were forced to work as well as Nelson Mandela’s prison cell.

14. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service surprise attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The goal of the attack was to prevent the United States Navy fleet from interfering with the Japanese military plans to expand throughout Southeast Asia. If Japan crippled the United States fleet was crippled, they could invade and conquer US and British held territories such as the Philippines, Guam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, as well as other small islands of the Pacific.

The Japanese launched a massive attack with 353 aircraft which took off from six aircraft carriers. They sank 4 of the 8 battleships stationed at Pearl Harbor. They seriously damaged the other four. 188 aircraft were also destroyed in the attack 159 were damaged. The attack killed 2,403 Americans and injured 1,178. The attack also damaged or destroyed a considerable amount of the base’s infrastructure including a power station, piers, various buildings, and more.

The most significant loss was the battleship USS Arizona. It suffered a direct hit to an ammunition magazine which exploded and caused the ship to sink almost instantly. 1,000 sailors sank with the ship.

The attack on Pearl Harbor dragged the United States into World War II. The day after the attack, Japan declared war on the United States. The next day, the United States declared war on Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy both declared war on the United States.

Today, there are a number of museums and memorials at Pearl Harbor that commemorate the attack. The main site is the USS Arizona memorial. This memorial straddles the sunken ship and is accessible only by boat. Inside, you’ll see a number of exhibits including one of the ship’s anchors, a shrine with the names of all of those who died as well as some plaques with information about the attack. There is also an opening in the floor where you can view the deck of the ship underwater. Onshore, there is also a museum that outlines the events leading up to the attack and the attack itself.

Nearby, you can also view the USS Missouri Memorial, USS Utah Memorial, USS Oklahoma Memorial, Pacific Aviation Museum, and USS Bowfin Museum.

15. The Colosseum, Rome

Built in Ancient Rome between 72-80 AD, the Colosseum is one of the oldest and most recognizable dark tourism sites. At the time, it was the largest amphitheater ever built with a capacity of 50,000-80,000 spectators. The Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, hosted a number of dark and violent events including gladiatorial events, executions, animal hunts, and battle re-enactments.

The most famous of these events were the gladiatorial contests. People and animals brutally battled to the death for the entertainment of thousands of spectators. Most gladiators were slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war but some volunteered to seek fame and fortune.

Exotic wild animals including lions, hippos, rhinos, elephants, bears, tigers, crocodiles, etc. were brought in from Africa and the Middle East. These animals were used for hunts or battles. In some cases, people were fed to lions.

Over the course of the 400 years that these gladiatorial events took place, historians estimate that around 400,000 people died in the Colosseum. Some people consider these events the earliest form of dark tourism.

Today, the Colosseum is one of the top tourist destinations in Rome and the world. Around 7 million people visit this site per year. There are a number of guided tours available. You’ll see the underground level where the gladiators prepared to fight, the arena floor where the gladiatorial fights took place, areas where the animals were kept, and artwork.

16. Mount St. Helens, Washington

The 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens killed 57 people and caused a great deal of destruction to the mountain and surrounding area including the largest landslide in recorded history. The eruption was so violent that the mountain’s elevation decreased by 1300 feet. The top completely blew off.

Many tourists come to visit the area each year. Today, you can see tree stumps and dead trees that still stand around the blast site. There is a visitor center with an exhibition about the eruption. In the visitor center, they also have a small movie theater that shows a short documentary about the event. The surrounding state park offers plenty of hiking, camping, climbing, and other recreational activities.

17. Montserrat

This volcanic island in the Caribbean is sometimes called a modern-day Pompeii. The Soufriere Hills Volcano became active in the mid-1990s and slowly covered the former capital of Plymouth in ash. The town was evacuated in 1997 just before a major eruption covered much of it.

The volcano is still very active today, periodically spewing ash, smoke, and gasses across 1/3 of the island. Occasionally pyroclastic flows cover more of the island’s land. Travelers can hike to a lookout point to view smoke spewing from the volcano and maybe get a glimpse of Plymouth. It is also possible to view the volcano and town by boat. It is unsafe to visit the town of Plymouth at this time.

16. Anne Frank House and Museum, Amsterdam

In this famous canal house Anne Frank, her family, and four others hid from Nazi persecution for 761 days. They quietly lived in a hidden part of the house called the Secret Annex. Anne Frank is famous for keeping a diary of her daily thoughts and experiences during her days in hiding during World War II.

Sadly, Anne Frank and the others hiding in the Secret Annex were betrayed by an unknown informant and discovered by the Nazis on August 4, 1944. The Nazis split them up and moved them to various concentration camps. Anne Frank died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February of 1945 when she was just 15 years old. Anne’s father Otto, who survived the Holocaust, discovered his daughter’s diary after the war and published it in 1947.

The canal house where the two families hid is a now museum that attracts up to 1.2 million visitors per year. Here, you can walk through the Secret Annex where Anne Frank and her family hid. The original diary is on display in the attached museum. The museum also includes a permanent exhibit about the life of Anne Frank and her experience during the war.

19. Nuclear Test Sites

Since nuclear testing began in 1945, 8 countries have detonated around 2056 nuclear bombs at dozens of test sites around the world. A few nuclear test sites that you can visit include:

• Semipalatinsk Test Site (The Polygon)- Semipalatinsk was the Soviet Union’s primary nuclear test site from 1949-1991. It is located on the steppe of northeastern Kazakhstan. More nuclear weapons detonated here than anywhere else on the planet. Beginning in 2014 parts of the area have opened up for tourism. There isn’t all that much to see here outside of some massive craters and some concrete towers and bunkers that housed instruments to measure the blasts.
• Nevada Test Site- This site was the United States’ main nuclear testing site from the time it was established in 1951 until nuclear testing ended in 1992. The site is located about 65 miles to the northeast of Las Vegas. Here, you can see a number of large craters in the desert where nuclear weapons were detonated for testing purposes. Monthly public tours are offered but are often fully booked months in advance. This is a difficult place to visit.
• Bikini Atoll, Martial Islands- This was one of the United States’ main nuclear test sites. Between 1946 and 1958, 23 atomic bomb tests were performed here. The blasts turned out to be more destructive than anticipated and resulted in significant contamination to the surrounding area. Probably the biggest attraction for tourists here is Scuba diving the 10 ships that were sunk during nuclear tests. This is a risky area to visit due to the significant levels of radiation that still exist.

20. Catacombs of Paris, France

This network of underground ossuaries underneath the city of Pairs holds the remains of around 6 million people. The tunnels were originally mine tunnels. The Paris Catacombs were built to solve the problem of the city’s overflowing cemeteries. The dead were crowding the living. Starting in 1786, the city began transporting human remains from the city’s cemeteries into the underground tunnels by covered wagon during the night. The catacombs open to tourism in 1867.

Today, the Catacombs are one of the more popular tourist destinations in Paris. You can book a guided tour and wander through the labyrinth of bone filled tunnels and view the millions of bones stacked neatly throughout. Around 300,000 people visit this site per year. It is only accessible by tour.

21. Warsaw Ghetto, Poland

Ghettos were segregated neighborhoods where Jewish people were forced to live while under Nazi occupation during WWII. The largest of these was the Warsaw Ghetto. The area actually consists of two smaller ghettos with a footbridge between them. At its peak, approximately 460,000 people lived in Warsaw Ghetto.

During the Uprising the ghetto was almost completely destroyed. Today, you can visit the area and view a small number of streets and buildings that survived. The monument called ‘The Footbridge of Memory’ stands at the site of the original footbridge.

22. Perm-36 Gulag, Russia

Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviet Union built a large system of forced labor camps to imprison ‘enemies of the state.’ These included government officials, military members, and regular citizens. Anyone who was anti-communist or anti-Stalin was imprisoned. These camps were known as gulags. Millions of people were held in these camps and forced to perform backbreaking work in extremely brutal conditions.

Perm-36 is the only remaining Soviet gulag. It is located about 60 miles from the Russian city of Perm in the Western Ural Mountains. The camp operated from 1946-1987. Perm-36 is unique because it was not closed after Stalin’s death in 1953. This is one of the only gulags that was not demolished after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

When Perm-36 opened, it was used as a forced labor camp for regular criminals. In later years, the camp housed political prisoners. The prisoners were forced to do logging work. Some political prisoners lived in 24 hour closed cells. Perm 36 was considered the harshest political camp in the Soviet Union.

Today’s site operates as a museum and memorial called The Museum of the History of Political Repression Perm-36. It opened to the public in 1995. Here, you’ll see the wooden barracks that the prisoners built, various prison buildings, and an exhibit about the gulag system and the prisoners. You’ll also learn about the economic benefit that the gulag system created for the Soviet Union.

23. Cremations on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India

Varanasi is a holy city located on the Ganges river in Uttar Pradesh, India. The city has become a popular dark tourism destination for its famous Hindu cremation ceremonies that take place on the banks of the river. In the Hindu religion, people believe that cremation on the banks of the Ganges river breaks the cycle of reincarnation so they can achieve salvation. Along the river, dozens of cremations take place out in the open every day.

The bodies are placed atop piles of wood and set on fire until they turn to ash. The ashes are then scattered in the Ganges River, which is considered a holy site in the Hindu religion. Poor families who cannot afford a cremation sometimes release the entire body of their loved one in the river to decompose naturally. Some terminally ill people travel to Varanasi so they can die and be cremated in the holy city.

Tourists are welcome to view and experience these cremation ceremonies. When you arrive at the famous ghats on the bank of the river in Varanasi, you’ll clearly see the cremation sites. Just look for the smoke. You’ll see open areas with large fires and piles of wood sitting around. The cremations take place here.

For a few dollars, you can hire a guide to walk you through the cremation site and explain how the process works. There are multiple cremations taking place simultaneously at all hours of the day. You can walk right up and see the cremation and feel the heat from the fire and smell the smoke.

As you can imagine, this is a fairly controversial form of dark tourism. After all, you are essentially attending a cremation for touristic purposes as the family grieves of the loss of their loved one. Some view this as voyeuristic. It’s up to you to decide whether or not this form of dark tourism is ethical.

24. Berlin, Germany

Berlin is one of the darkest cities on earth. It was the capital of Nazi Germany, one of the world’s most evil regimes. Next, it became the most significant city in the cold war. It was also the capital of the socialist single-party regime of the former GDR. As a result, Berlin is packed with dozens of dark tourism sites. A few of the most popular ones include:

• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (the Holocaust Memorial)- This memorial is to the Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust. It contains 2,711 concrete slabs ranging in height from .2-4.7 meters. The slabs are arranged in a grid pattern over a 19,000 square meter site. Below the memorial is an information center that contains the names of 3 million Holocaust victims as well as photographs and letters. This memorial is quite controversial. Partly because it is so vague. There is no mention of Nazi Germany or the Holocaust on the memorial itself or in the official name of the memorial. People also use the site as a recreational area, sitting or standing on the pillars. Many consider this to be disrespectful. Due to its size and design, the memorial is difficult to defend from vandals.
• Berlin Wall- Between 1961 and 1989, this concrete barrier divided West Berlin from surrounding East Germany. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) constructed the wall to prevent East Germans from defecting to the west. The four-meter tall wall extended 155km (96 miles) and cut through 55 streets. Today, you can see several small sections of the wall still standing in the city. The largest is is a 1.4 km section that is part of the Berlin Wall Memorial. Here, you can see the graffiti on the west side and learn about the historical significance of the wall.
• Checkpoint Charlie Museum- Checkpoint Charlie is the most well-known crossing between East and West Berlin. The original guardhouse was preserved and today is part of the Checkpoint Charlie museum. Here, you can see exhibits about the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, and some famous escape attempts.
• Jewish Museum- Designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, the Jewish Museum is one of Germany’s best and most popular museums as well as one of Berlin’s most striking landmarks. Here, you’ll find thousands of artifacts, photos, religious objects, and archives that document the struggle of the German Jewish people from the Middle Ages to the present time. The museum also houses a massive library and hosts various events throughout the year.
• Topography of Terror Museum- This museum is located on the site of the Gestapo secret police and SS headquarters. Allied bombings destroyed the original building in 1945. After many years of delay, the museum opened in 2010. The main exhibit focuses on policing under Nazi rule. You’ll see photos, documents, short films, and artifacts that show the crimes that the SS and Gestapo committed throughout Europe. The grounds of the museum also contain some historic artifacts including a large section of the Berlin Wall. You’ll also see an excavated trench that exposes the cellar wall, where political prisoners were kept, tortured, and ofttimes executed.
• DDR Museum- This newer museum outlines life in East Berlin under communist rule with a hands-on approach. Here, you’ll see a recreation of an interrogation room, prison cell, and an apartment. You can try on clothing and watch television from the era. The exhibit covers food, music, daily life, education, architecture, and more. You’ll also learn about the mass surveillance conducted during the time. This is a private museum and is one of Berlin’s most popular.

25. Communist Leader Mausoleums

For whatever reason, communists love to embalm their leaders after they die and put the bodies on public display. A few famous mausoleums you can visit include:

• Lenin Mausoleum- This mausoleum is located in the Red Square in the center of Moscow. Inside, you can view the embalmed corpse of the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. The body has been on public display since shortly after his death in 1924. The mausoleum is open to the public and free to enter. Stalin’s body was put on display here from 1953-1961 but was removed and buried near the mausoleum.
• Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum- This mausoleum is located in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi, Vietnam. Inside, you can view the embalmed body of Vietnamese revolutionary and president Ho Chi Minh, who died in 1969. The body is kept in a dimly lit glass case which is heavily guarded by military honor guards. The mausoleum is open to the public.
• Mausoleum of Mao Zedong- This large mausoleum, also known as Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, is located in the center of Tienanmen Square in central Beijing. Here, you can view the embalmed remains of Mao Zedong, who served as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1945-1976. Interestingly, Chairman Mao wanted to be cremated. The mausoleum is open to the public.
• Kumsusan Palace of the Sun (Kim Il Sung Mausoleum)- This absolutely massive palace is located in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The building was intended to be the official residence of Kim Il Sung but was converted into a mausoleum when he died in 1994. Inside, you can view the embalmed remains of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung as well as his son and former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il. Both bodies lie inside of glass sarcophaguses. The mausoleum is open to the public. Foreigners can only enter the palace when they are on an official government tour.

26. Somme Battlefield, France

The Battle of the Somme was a WWI battle fought between the French Third Republic and British Empire against the German Empire. The battle took place between July 1 and November 18, 1916. Over three million men fought in the Battle of the Somme. One million were killed, injured, or went missing, making this the most bloody battle of WWI and possibly the most deadly battle in world history.

Several factors contributed to the massive amount of death in the battle. First, the battlefield was small. The Germans were also well prepared and trained for trench warfare. An incredible amount of heavy artillery was also used in this battle.

The Battle of the Somme ended when British Commander in Chief Sir Douglas Haig decided to stop the offensive near the Somme River. When the battle ended, the British and French armies had gained just six miles of land. Modern historians are not in agreement as to whether or not the battle was a success.

Today, there are a number of monuments, museums, cemeteries, and battle sites that you can visit in Somme. The Remembered Trail leads visitors through some of the most significant locations. It’s is a great place to start in the region. Guided tours of the area are also available.

27. Verdun Battlefield, France

The battle of Verdun lasted from February 21-December 18, 1916, making it the longest battles in World War One at 302 days. This battle was also one of the most costly with up to 1 million casualties between the French and German armies.

Today, you can view the battlefield complete with shell craters that are still visible over 100 years later. You’ll also find several memorials including an ossuary. The battlefield itself contains the remains of 100,000 soldiers. You can also visit the Verdun Memorial Museum which features artifacts from the battle as well as information about the time.

28. D-Day Beaches and Memorials in Normandy

On June 6, 1944, the Allied Forces invaded Nazi occupied France on the beaches of Normandy. This operation, known as Operation Overlord, was the largest amphibious invasion in world history. This event marked the beginning of the liberation of France and Western Europe and eventually led to the Allied victory over the Third Reich on the Western Front. The D-Day invasion of Normandy resulted in 4,000-9,000 German casualties and around 10,000 Allied casualties including 4,414 deaths.

Today, there are dozens of memorials, museums, and war cemeteries along the beaches of Normandy as well as further inland. A few of the most significant D-Day sites to visit include:

• Beach landing sites- The 50 miles stretch of Normandy beach was divided into 5 sections where the invasion took place. The beach landing sites include Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Today, you can visit each of the 5 beaches. Probably the most popular beach to visit is Omaha. Here, you’ll see German bunkers and the sculpture Les Braves which commemorates the American soldiers who died on D-Day.
• Utah Beach Museum- This museum outlines the entire D-Day invasion from the planning phase until the end of the battle. Here, you’ll see vehicles, artifacts, and photographs from the massive invasion. The museum overlooks Utah Beach.
• Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial- This cemetery, overlooking Omaha Beach, contains 9,388 graves of American soldiers who died in WWII. Mostly on D-Day.
• Overlord Museum- This museum, located near Omaha Beach and the American cemetery, documents the time period between the Allied landing and the liberation of Paris. Here, you’ll see thousands of artifacts from the invasion including tanks and cannons as well as photos and reconstructed battle scenes.
• Pegasus Bridge- 6000 British paratroopers landed here with supplies and weapons just past midnight on June 6, 1944. Their job was to secure the bridge so German reinforcements couldn’t cross. The current bridge is a reconstruction of the original, which was destroyed.
• Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy- This museum, which is located in Bayeux, outlines the military operation in detail. Here, you’ll see military equipment, artifacts, photos, and a fantastic short film about the D-Day landings.
• Caen Memorial Center- This museum outlines the battle of Normandy from the end of WWI all the way to the beginning of the Cold War. This gives you a great overview of the historical events leading up to the war and their effects on Europe and the world. Here, you’ll see letters and personal belongings from soldiers, airplanes, and a short documentary film with footage of the D-Day invasion.
• Airborne Museum- This museum, located in Sainte-Mère-Église, focuses on the paratroopers who landed in Normandy the night before the attack. Here, you’ll see photos, artifacts, tanks, and airplanes including a WACO glider and C-47 that you can enter.

29. Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland

On September 17, 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia battled Union General George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Anteteitum near Sharpsburg, Maryland. This was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War with 22,717 dead, injured, or missing. This massive loss of life took place over the course of just 12 hours.

The battle ended when Lee decided to withdraw back to Virginia. McClellan decided not to follow him. The Union claimed victory. After the battle, President Lincoln announced his Emancipation Proclamation which freed 3.5 million slaves.

Antietam is considered to be one of the most well-preserved American Civil War Battlefields. Probably because it was one of the first battlefields preserved in 1890. Today, visitors can take a self-guided tour of the battlefield or hire a tour guide. You’ll see landmarks of the battle such as the Cornfield, Dunker Church, and Burnside’s Bridge.

30. Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam

The Cu Chi Tunnels are a massive network of underground tunnels located outside of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They were used by Viet Cong soldiers for a number of purposes including hiding spots, supply routes, living quarters, hospitals, and food and weapons caches. They were famously used as a base of operation for the North Vietnamese during the Tết Offensive in 1968.

Life in the Cu Chi Tunnels was difficult. Air quality was poor. The tunnels were cramped and claustrophobic. Food and water were limited. Rodents, ants, snakes, scorpions, and spiders infested the tunnels. Diseases including Malaria and intestinal parasites were common. During heavy bombing campaigns, soldiers had to stay in the tunnels for days at a time.

Today, the Cu Chi Tunnels are a war memorial operated by the Vietnamese government. They are also a popular tourist dark tourist attraction. You can visit the tunnels on a day trip from Ho Chi Minh City. Here, you can crawl through a safe section of the tunnels, watch a short film about the war, and view some different booby traps and trap doors as well as an entrance into the tunnels. There is also a firing range where you can shoot Vietnam War era weapons including an M60 machine gun.

My Experience: Why I Enjoy Dark Tourism

My main motivation to visit dark tourism sites is education. For whatever reason, I wasn’t interested in history when I was in school. I just found it boring. Now, I love history. By visiting dark tourist sites, I have gained a deeper understanding of some of the most significant events in world history. It’s so much more real and engaging when you are standing where an event took place and exploring the landscape and looking at actual artifacts.

It’s also amazing to see how human civilization evolves over the years. For example, 2000 years ago, gladiator games were an acceptable form of entertainment. Most people would not be okay with that today. It is also interesting to see how technology, weapons, clothing, politics, and more have changed throughout the years. The world was a completely different place just 20 years ago. Times change quickly.

I also have a pretty strong morbid curiosity. Dark things simply interest me. I find it fascinating to imagine the horrors that humans have endured and overcome.

Final Thoughts About Dark Tourism

Dark tourism often gets a bad rap in the media. People get the idea that it is disrespectful, voyeuristic, sick, or even unethical. Some country’s tourism departments also try to hide their dark tourism sites because they fear a bad reputation. They may not want people to associate the country with its dark past.

The truth is that most dark tourism is simply educational. People like to visit these sites to learn about their history. They also satisfy our natural morbid fascination. There is nothing wrong with visiting dark tourist places, as long as you do so respectfully.

One important thing to remember is that dark tourism is not a new form of tourism. People have been visiting dark sites for as long as tourism has existed. For example, tourists began visiting Pompeii in the 1800s. The gladiatorial games could be considered one of the earliest forms of dark tourism. Those began when the Colosseum opened in 80 AD. People are naturally interested in these types of destinations and will continue to be.

Dark tourism is also a very broad term. Many of the world’s most visited tourism sites can be considered dark tourism sites. There is also a lot of overlap with mass tourism. Most people don’t travel exclusively to visit dark sites. Instead, they pair dark tourism with regular tourist attractions. For example, if someone is in Hawaii, they may spend a day visiting Pearl Harbor and the various memorials then go to the beach the next day. If someone visits Kyiv, they’ll probably take a day trip to Chornobyl because it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in the region. It’s common to pair dark tourist sites with other types of sites.

Hopefully, this guide helps you in planning your visit to some of the world’s best dark tourism sites.

If you’re on the fence about dark tourism, check out my guide to the ethics and criticisms of dark tourism.

Are you a dark tourist? Share your favorite dark tourism destination in the comments below!

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Zachary Friedman is an accomplished travel writer and professional blogger. Since 2011, he has traveled to 66 countries and 6 continents. He founded ‘Where The Road Forks’ in 2017 to provide readers with information and insights based on his travel and outdoor recreation experience and expertise. Zachary is also an avid cyclist and hiker. Living as a digital nomad, Zachary balances his professional life with his passions for hiking, camping, cycling, and worldwide exploration. For a deeper dive into his journey and background, visit the About page. For inquiries and collaborations, please reach out through the Contact page. You can also follow him on Facebook.

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20 Unique Dark Tourism Sites Around The World

Disclosure: Advertising and affiliate services, including Amazon Associates, help the cost of running my blog. Clicking ads or making purchases through affiliate links may, at no additional cost to you, earn me a small commission. I appreciate your support .

One of the most unique tourism trends in recent years might have to be the fascination with so-called dark tourism sites. There’s always been a curiosity when it comes to places that might have a historic connection with tragic events. But while there are many reasons for people wanting to visit such sites, dark tourism is not a bad thing.

You might argue that visiting these dark tourism sites is a way of preserving the past. Or making sure the same horrific things don’t happen again . And while you might get some mixed reactions from people about your travel plans, they are fascinating places. And I believe they are places that the world should know about.

Disclaimer: The following article has travel suggestions in both Russia and Ukraine, however was written before the current events unfolded. I have chosen to leave them in this article in the spirit of the original topic covered here, however I am in no way recommending visiting either Russia or Ukraine at this time . Please check current travel conditions for any country you plan on visiting and travel safely.

What is Dark Tourism?

Dark tourism sites are places which we can associate with death, destruction or some kind of disaster. While some might see them as morbid, you’d be surprised at how many places you’ve visited with such connotations. For example, have you ever been to the Tower of London? Full of torture chambers and stories of gruesome events. What about the Colosseum in Rome? The deadly gladiator events here were some of the most bloody spectator sports in history.

We think of them as historical sites in a way we don’t think of some of the following places in the same way. Is it because that was so long ago? Does the length of time before we start exploring these sites really make a difference in how our visiting them should be perceived?

How should I behave at dark tourism sites?

Societal rules about museums are ingrained in us from an early age. But a lot of people worry about what to do while visiting somewhere with such a dark past. How do you behave? What if you do the wrong thing?

Respect is key . Remember that these sites, while open for you to enjoy, learn and experience, are the sites of some pretty bad and horrific things . Be aware of those around you as you never know if they might have a connection to where you are.

While it’s unfair to say you shouldn’t talk or show enthusiasm, use common sense and read the room . A concentration camp is nowhere to be giggling with your friends, a memorial park is not somewhere to be shouting…you get the idea.

Unique Dark Tourism Sites To Visit

Whether you’re a big history buff or just curious in anything a little macabre, these are some dark tourism sites around the world you likely don’t want to miss. From recent tragic events to centuries-old historical happenings, you can’t deny how incredibly interesting these places are.

Alcatraz Prison – San Francisco, USA

Possibly one of the most eerie and fascinating dark tourism sites you will ever visit is Alcatraz . A prison so notorious that it still receives millions of visitors a year. Located on an island in San Francisco ‘s bay area, you now get to experience seeing it from the inside like a prisoner. So close to land but so far away.

The only way to reach Alcatraz island is by a pre-booked boat tour . The tour is popular and often sells out months in advance. There are no food or drinks allowed except at the boat dock area, so plan your day accordingly. You also have a steep walk to the prison at the top of the hill, but there are motorized vehicle transfers for those with mobility issues.

Explore the prison and the grounds with an impeccably narrated audio tour by former guards and inmates. You’ll be led through cells, the recreation areas, the kitchen and more. Learn about the riots, the escapes and the deaths that happened here, and the most famous prisoners to ever call Alcatraz home.

Gravensteen Castle – Ghent, Belgium

Contributed by Cecilie from Worldwide Walkers

Gravensteen Castle in Ghent  is a classic example of dark tourism sites in Europe. The castle was built back in 1180 and housed the Count of Flanders for many centuries until it became a court, a prison, and even a cotton factory.

It’s the dark horror stories of torture that really attract visitors to Gravensteen castle. While visiting, you’ll walk through torture rooms and see all the different tools used to punish criminals back in the Middle Ages.

Many people have died within the castle walls in the most horrific ways, which creates a dark haunted feeling to the place. It’s this uncomfortable feeling that leaves you both intrigued and distressed after your visit.

While it might sound very disturbing, the free audio guide does a wonderful job carrying out all the stories in an interesting way with respect to history. It’s a great place to learn about the history of Belgium’s city Ghent . You can even get one of the greatest city views from the castle roof.

Silver Mines – Potosi, Bolivia

Contributed by Deb from The Visa Project

While there are many landmarks to see in Potosi , a unique attraction is to visit one of these working mines. A guided tour let’s you witness the working conditions of the miners.

If you  live in Bolivia , you would come across many extreme tourist offerings but this one would probably be one of the darkest. The  Cerro Rico  mountains silver mines made Potosi a major economic center of the Spanish empire back in the colonial times.

Mining is more or less still done in 18th century style – using old tools, hand and dynamite. No modern safety equipment or protocols. Although you would be introduced to  El Diablo,  the mountain’s devil-god to who the miners offer cigarettes, liquor as well as blood of an animal slaughtered on the spot for their protection. Child labor is pretty common and you can buy dynamite in the local market!

You will be advised to chew on coca leaves to help with breathlessness if taking a tour through the mines . The miners work in really harsh and dangerous conditions and many get lung diseases afterwards. If you visit, definitely leave a generous tip for the miners.

Port Arthur Penal Colony – Tasmania, Australia

Contributed by Mark from Wyld Family Travel

Port Arthur lies at the bottom of the world in southern Tasmania Australia . Port Arthur was a British penal colony set up in Australia, designed to break prisoners both mentally and physically. To be sent here from England was being sent as far away from your home as possible.

The youngest prisoner was 11 years old and around 70,000 prisoners called Port Arthur home. Prisoners at Port Arthur endured harsh working gangs that built much of Tasmania. The Asylum at the site pays testament to the mental torture these convicts were put through with many slowly losing their minds. Prisoners were regularly flogged to break them into submission.

Port Arthur prison was opened 20 years from 1833-1853 and 7,000 convicts died there. In modern times Port Arthur is also the location for the largest mass shooting in Australian history. This was the catalyst for the strict gun rules Australia lives by now. 

Port Arthur  is today one of the most interesting places to visit when in Tasmania. The prison site has been preserved with original building and tours explaining the history of the location.

Museum of the Occupation of Latvia – Riga, Latvia

As a former Soviet occupied country, Latvia still has many historic sites linked to the KGB. One of the most interesting activities you can do in Riga is visit the Corner House. This was the old headquarters of the Soviet KGB in Latvia.

True KGB style, if you didn’t know this museum existed you might not be able to find it. A inconspicuous doorway leads into a building straight out of the 50s. Here you can find out about the KGB in the city at that time.

The museum is free or you can pay 10 EUR for a guided tour. The tour might be worth it to see parts of the museum you wouldn’t otherwise get to. Walk through the rooms where the KGB worked and to areas of the building where the prisoners would have been taken.

The storyboards depict historical stories of the KGB in Riga, Latvia , and the “criminals” they arrested, tortured and killed here. This is really one of the most unique dark tourism sites in the Baltic states.

Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Park – India

Contributed by Neha from Travelmelodies

Etched in the history of India as a dark moment, is the incident of Jallianwala Bagh. Located in the holy city of Amritsar in Punjab, it remains one of the most popular  places to visit in Amritsar . Jallianwala Bagh is a memorial park in the honor the people that were wounded and lost lives on the fateful day of 13 April, 1919.

Back in 1919, India was under the rule of British and the people of India were protesting for Independence. Over a thousand people had gathered in the Jallianwala park on the festive day of Baisakhi to silently protest the arrest of few national leaders. But General Dyer opened fire unannounced on these people killing and injuring many.

The Jallianwala Bagh now houses a museum with pictures and documents related to the event and some memorial structures in honor of the martyrs.  There is a ‘Martyrs Well’ in which some people jumped to save themselves from the bullets. There’s even a wall with bullet markings on it. 

Every evening there is a light and sound show that throws light on the unfolding of the event. It is a must visit place and is located next to the Golden temple.

Gori, Georgia

Contributed by Emily from Wander-Lush

The small city of Gori,Georgia has a rather dark claim to fame. It’s the birthplace of Ioseb Jughashvili, better known as former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

An  easy day trip from Tbilisi , Gori has become one of the most-visited places in Georgia because of its Stalin connection. The main attraction is the Stalin State Museum, a grandiose sandstone building in the center of the city.

In the yard is one of few remaining Stalin statues still standing in Georgia today. Also the small wooden house where Stalin was born in 1878, and the armored railway carriage he used to travel around the USSR.

The museum opened in 1957 and exhibits remain much the same – that is to say, very Soviet-style. It has a very selective curatorial approach with most artefacts relating to Stalin’s early years and some pretty glaring gaps. With limited information in English it’s recommended to take the guided tour for a few extra dollars.

Visiting the museum is a totally bizarre experience, but it gives an interesting insight into how Stalin’s memory is treated in Georgia today. Some people in Gori (and elsewhere in Georgia) still venerate the dictator, but the younger generations less so.

There are plenty of things to do in Gori that have nothing to do with Stalin. The magnificent Gori Castle, the old town, and the hilltop Gori Jvari church. It’s these attractions that most residents would prefer you remember Gori for.

Tham Piew Cave – Laos

Contributed by Marie from A Life Without Borders

Laos holds the unfortunate title of the most heavily bombed country on Earth. It bore the brunt of clandestine bombing campaigns waged by the USA on Laos during the 1960s and 1970s. Phonsavan  in the province of Xieng Khouang, was particularly decimated. In fact, unexploded ordnance still affects local communities to this day.

Many visitors to the region enjoy Phonsavan’s major tourist sights such as the UNESCO site Plain of Jars. But few venture off the beaten track to discover the site of one of the worst days in Lao history.

On 24 November 1968, just one single missile fired from a US fighter plane killing 374 innocent villagers taking refuge in Tham Piew Cave. Just 60 kilometers from Phonsavan city, the cave is a somber and emotional place to visit. But it is important in the turbulent history of Laos, even if little known throughout the rest of the world.

The site’s information center holds extremely confronting photographs of the immediate aftermath of that fateful day, together with the history of the Secret War in Laos. A moving statue of a man carrying a lifeless child marks the entrance to the memorial park. Walk through a peaceful forest to the mouth of the charred cave. Here visitors can leave offerings of incense at the small shrine for those who perished within.

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine

Contributed by Kami from My Wanderlust

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a well-known place all over the world. On April 26th, 1986 the biggest nuclear disaster in the world took place here, changing people’s lives forever. As a result of the catastrophe, the whole area around the power plant became a closed zone. Inhabitants of numerous towns and villages had to move away.

Today you can visit the Exclusion Zone but you need to do it with an official  Chernobyl tour . There are plenty of them departing from Kyiv daily and you can choose between day trips and multiday tours. Now, all these years after the disaster the area is safe to visit and the radiation is low.

During your trip, you will see numerous places in the zone, including the power plant itself. But the biggest highlight is the abandoned town of Pripyat. When the disaster happened it was one of the most modern cities in the former USSR, but now nature has taken over the place.

Keep in mind that even if the Chernobyl zone is a very touristy and popular place, it is also a place of great tragedy. Make sure to visit the place with respect and follow your guide’s instructions. Still, this is a fascinating place to visit and everyone visiting Ukraine should include a Chernobyl tour in their itinerary .

Catacombs – Paris, France

Contributed by Debbie from World Adventurists

Even the City of Light and Love has a dark history. One of the most fascinating places to visit is the  Catacombs of Paris . The Catacombs have a sad history, full of bones of the unknown. In the 17th century, Paris cemeteries were overflowing so badly that there was no longer space to properly bury their dead. Overflowing graves led to the solution of using the underground tunnels to house the bones.

Approximately six million people have been laid to rest underground. Today the bones are neatly stacked, including some designs made from the bones. At some points there are femurs arranged from the floor almost to the ceiling, with rows of skulls in between, or formed into shapes like a cross.

Visiting the Catacombs, it will make you really wonder what their lives were like back then, who they were, and the cause of each death. It is very humbling.

The Catacombs of Paris are extremely popular. It is more expensive, but to skip the line, you will want to buy your ticket in advance . It can also get chilly down there, so bring a light sweater with you. Allow for at least an hour and a half to wander the Catacombs once you are inside.

Lenin Mausoleum – Moscow, Russia

Contributed by De Wet & Jin, Museum of Wander

In the center of the Red Square in Moscow is a somewhat inconspicuous structure which reminds somewhat of a pyramid. But the long line of Russians and tourists is a giveaway that it is one of the most popular  things to do in Moscow .

Inside this step pyramid is where the embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin is on display. Everyone is welcome to visit and pay their respects, or simply come and look at the former Soviet leader for bragging rights.

Visitors to Lenin’s Mausoleum visitors are first searched by military personnel, and bags (and cameras) have to be deposited. There are also a few strictly enforced rules while inside the mausoleum: no talking, hands out of your pockets, no hats and the line must keep moving at all times. Disobey, and a Russian soldier will reprimand you.

The atmosphere as well as the temperature inside the mausoleum is chilling. The line moves quite slowly, so you’ll get a good look at Lenin’s body, which has been on display here for almost a hundred years.

The mausoleum is free to enter and open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10:00–13:00. Behind the mausoleum is the gravesite of former Soviet ruler, Joseph Stalin, another interesting place to see.

Tianenmen Square – Beijing, China

Dark tourism sites don’t come more secretive than that of one of the world’s biggest massacres in recent history. Tianenmen Square, the public square in China’s capital, Beijing . While most visitors to China will have heard of the Tianenmen Square Massacre, the event is so censored within China that many people don’t know the full extent of it.

In 1989 students led a 6 week long protest after the death of a pro-reform official from the Communist Party of China. The fear was that the country would fall into economic decline and that the corruption in place would become worse. As the protests continued the military were brought in and things quickly got out of hand.

There are varying reports of anywhere from 300-3000 deaths of the tens of thousands of people who protested. While the square is peaceful now, there is always a high security presence as well as airport-style check points.

The square is used for many important national celebrations and Chairman Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China here in 1949. His embalmed body is now on display in a mausoleum there.

Other than that there’s not a lot happening in the square now. However, the Imperial Palace (also known as the Forbidden City) is across from Tianenmen and is an impressive place to visit.

Bodie ghost town, California USA

Contributed by Olivia from Girl With Blue Sails

Bodie State Historic Park, once a booming California gold town, is now a notorious ghost town. It sits in a memorialized state of “arrested decay” with dilapidated buildings preserved in their state of abandonment from the late 1800’s. Walking down the dusty, dirt roads of Bodie invokes a bit of a dark appreciation and wonder about what happened to the people that lived here. 

Visitors can walk through the main streets of the town, seeing the various houses, stores, and saloons. Canned goods still on store shelves, original newspapers in the buildings, and old wooden pews still in the church. There are old forgotten cars in the grass, rusting and being overgrown by nature.  

Bodie is most popular with history buffs, photographers, and those who love to visit dark tourism sites. Plan your trip to Bodie in the morning to avoid the peak desert heat. While walking through Bodie can be a grim experience, it also provides a unique and realistic glimpse of 1800s California mining life.  

Choeung Ek Killing Fields – Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Contributed by Tasha Amy from Backpackers Wanderlust

The Killing Fields, also known as Choeung Ek Geocidal Centre, is located just a short 17 kilometer journey from Phnom Penh city center . This closeness is important considering the horrible events which occurred here between 1975 and 1979.

During this period, Cambodia was run by the Khmer Rouge Regime communist party who arrested and executed anyone they saw as a threat. This included people with education, opposing beliefs, or anyone who stood up for what was right.

Quite a few foreigners even got executed after accidentally stumbling upon Cambodia during this period. Children were trained as soldiers and those who were disobedient were killed. For a greater understanding of life under the direction of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot watch the film First They Killed My Father .

The Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh is just one of many locations across the country. Though this one is the most known due to the fact of the horrible acts performed here.

You can book a tour or visit by tuk tuk. The tuk tuk ride for the day should cost you around $12.00. Once at the Killing Fields make sure you hire the audio guide for the stories of those who lived through these events.

Nazi Rally Grounds – Nuremberg, Germany

Contributed by LeAnna from Wander In Germany

It’s no secret that Germany is riddled with a dark, difficult, and oppressing past.  However, decades after WWII, the country does a phenomenal job of walking the fine line between erasing the atrocities and showing respect as well as raising awareness of exactly just what happened. 

One such place is the unfinished Nazi Rally Grounds in  Nuremberg . These huge grounds were Hitler’s vision for an enormous epi-center and headquarters for the Third Reich. 

Walking around the lake at the site, it’s almost easy to not realize exactly what you are standing on. However, on the grounds is the Nazi Dokumentation Zentrum. Here you can see all the blueprints and plans for the grand scheme Hitler envisioned. It makes walking the grounds that much more realistic. 

The museum does an exceptional job of showing exactly how a man with such polarizing, disgusting, racist views could enchant not only an entire nation, but take over much of Europe.  

While in Germany, doing any sort of Nazi salute or tribute in public is illegal.  Therefore, this site is not flocked to by Neo Nazis, but instead is seen as a place of learning from the past. 

Guanajuato Mummy Museum – Mexico

Contributed by Shelley from Travel Mexico Solo

The Museo de las Momias (Museum of the Mummies) is one of the most popular places to visit, and  best things to do in Guanajuato City, Mexico . 

One of the most famous of Mexico’s dark tourism sites has about 100 mummified human bodies on display, in both glass cases and in the open. Most of the bodies are from older adults, but the museum also claims to have the “world’s smallest mummy” of an approximately nine-month-old child.

While not for everyone, it is the most visited place in Guanajuato City . When visiting, you’ll notice Mexican families with children of all ages. In Mexico, death is a much less taboo subject than in other countries — evidenced by annual festivals like Día de Muretos (Day of the Dead).

The story of the mummies is as fascinating (and bizarre) as seeing them in person. Between 1865-1958, Guanajuato’s government decided to start collecting a “grave tax” on buried bodies. If left unpaid by the living relatives for three years, the body was exhumed.

Located in arid Central Mexico, Guanajuato has extremely dry soil and the bodies came out of the ground incredibly well preserved. When the government ended the grave tax in 1958, they had so many mummified bodies that they created this museum.

House of Terror – Budapest, Hungary

Contributed by Marco from Nomadic Fire

Budapest is popular with both tourists and expats for stunning architecture, gorgeous scenery along the Danube river, and affordable cost of living . The city is also home to the infamous museum: the House of Terror.

This museum juxtaposes two of the cruelest regimes of the 20th century: Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Fittingly located in a building that was once the headquarters of both the Nazi and Communist secret police, the museum is an important reminder of both the crimes perpetrated by those regimes and their victims’ courage and resistance. 

Stepping into the House of Terror transports visitors back to a terrifying time in Europe’s history. The museum’s artifacts include personal items confiscated by the secret police. It also tells stories such as a family’s desperate attempt to hide a young boy and baby girl from the Nazis during the Holocaust. Although now a museum, many rooms remain exactly as they were when the headquarters were operational. This includes prison cells, rooms filled with torture devices, and a guillotine scale model.

You can spend anywhere from 45 minutes to a few hours wandering around this well-curated museum. Through exhibits of movie posters, photos, and re-created scenes.

9/11 Memorial and Museum – New York City, USA

One of the most emotional activities on a trip to New York is visiting the 9/11 museum. Built below the original location of the Twin Towers, the World Trade Center site of the 2001 disaster. Entering the museum from the street level, you descend past the twisted metal remains of the massive steel beams that once held the tower up.

The museum is a somber place which stirs up a lot of raw feelings from anyone who visits. It guides you on a journey from the history of the WTC towers to a timeline of the events of that morning.

With witness testimonials, photographs and messages left by those who didn’t make it, the museum is very hard to experience. But the exhibits also talk about what has happened since, what they have learned and why this site is so important. Outdoors, the footprints of the original towers have now been turned into two giant pools. The name of every single victim is engraved around them.

Did you know that white roses are placed at the name of any victim whose birthday it would have been that day? As dark tourism sites go, this one is especially somber given how recently the event took place. But it’s well worth a visit if you’re in New York .

Imperial Crypt – Vienna, Austria

Contributed by Martina & Jürgen from PlacesofJuma

A really cool spot and interesting dark tourism site not to be missed on any visit to Vienna is the Imperial Crypt. It is a real insider tip among  Vienna’s best attractions  and a visit is an eerie experience.

The Imperial Crypt is the final resting place of many of the most famous Habsburgs from Europe. Hidden under the Capuchin Church, it can be visited on a guided tour daily from 10:00 to 18:00.

The crypt is the final resting place of 150 members of the Habsburgs. Among the most famous are Emperor Franz Joseph I, Empress Sisi and Crown Prince Rudolf and Maria Theresa. Walking through the ten dark rooms of the imperial crypt, you travel through a 400-year-long stylistic epoch. You’ll see richly decorated coffins are sometimes even adorned with skulls.

The Habsburgs were preoccupied with their death and therefore had the sarcophagus made according to their wishes. Why not take a tour where you will get lots of information about the funeral rituals?

Auschwitz Concentration Camp – Poland

Contributed by Sean from LivingOutLau

Auschwitz is arguably one of the most tragic sites in the entire world. It was the largest of many German Nazi concentration camp and extermination center in World War II. Over 1.1 million men, women, and children, mostly Jews, lost their lives here. The collective genocide of WWII, known as the Holocaust, is one of the most horrific events in human history.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is now a site where visitors can learn more about how the events unfolded, living conditions, defenses that were set up to prevent the captives from escaping and more.

Auschwitz is more than just a popular attraction in Poland; it is a place where visitors can understand human nature. Auschwitz is the standing testimony of the terror that humans can do to each other. It warns out what happens when an ethnic group is dehumanized. A visit to Auschwitz is solemn and eye-opening.

The best way to visit Auschwitz is to take a tour from Krakow , the nearest touristy city from Auschwitz. As part of your Krakow itinerary , don’t forget to book your tour as early as possible. There are multiple languages you can choose to have the tour in and the English-speaking tours are always the first ones to run out!

Visiting popular dark tourism sites

There’s no denying that visiting many of these dark tourism sites around the world is uncomfortable. The atrocities that happened there or the stories they tell are often unfathomable. But dark tourism sites are just as important as any museum or regular attraction.

Whether or not you want to visit any (or all) of the sites on this post, you have to agree that they are truly fascinating. As long as you have good reasons for wanting to visit, and a respectful attitude towards them you will be welcomed.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. Which of these dark tourism sites are you most interested in visiting to learn more about?

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37 thoughts on “20 Unique Dark Tourism Sites Around The World”

I really appreciate this post and how you emphasized that respect is key. I so agree! I think visiting these places can be very powerful and very educational. I’ve visited four on this list, as well as a few others not mentioned, and am so grateful for those experiences to learn more and witness humanity’s dark history.

Absolutely love the unique concept of this post. I especially appreciated how you included the section on mindfulness and respect. Hope to pay many of these places a visit.

this was a great post… and while these sites aren’t for everyone, i think it’s important to connect with ‘dark’ parts of the past, so we don’t repeat those same mistakes.

It is very rare to come across such posts. I absolutely loved the concept. Keep up the awesome work.

This is such an interesting guide! I have been to a few of these places and I’ve also visited some older prisons around the world that have a dark past to them. I definitely have to visit some of these in the future. Especially the ones in Europe!

This is one of the most unique posts I’ve seen in a while! I honestly haven’t been to most of the places on this list, but I’m bookmarking it for later.

I have visited a number if these sites but never heard of the them, ‘dark tourism’ before. I can understand how the term has come about. I always leave these sites very reflective. There’s no denying they have an enormous impact on me. I have pinned the post because, in my opinion, ‘dark tourisn’ is an important aspect of world travel.

I have been to a few of them and wrote about the profound realizations I went through. Thanks for sharing a thought-provoking post.

I love how you mentioned the importance of respect when visiting these places. These places really make you think! It’s important to not forget the ‘dark’ parts of history so it doesn’t happen again.

I definitely find places that would class as ‘dark tourism’ interesting. Although to be fair, we very rarely remember the ‘good’ and ‘peaceful parts of history so I think most places could be considered ‘dark’ in one way or another! I’ve only visited Alcatraz from the places on this list but it was definitely a fascinating place and I’d love to go back. I’d like to visit the catacombs in Paris too. There’s also a lot on this list that I haven’t heard of before but I’d definitely love to check them out. Thanks for the great guide!

This list is very important given the history of these places! It’s also interesting to note the different feelings at each of them. I haven’t been to every single one, but Auschwitz, Alcatraz, 9/11, the House of Terror, Catacombs, and Gravensteen Castle (wow, I didn’t realize how many I had been to) but all of them were so uniquely dark. I think Auschwitz was my most striking and moving, though.

This is such an interesting post. It’s so heartbreaking to read through some of the dark things that have happened around the world. I believe it’s important that we visit these places to pay our respects and remember the people whose lives were drastically impacted by these places. I appreciated how you emphasized the importance of showing respect at these places. Thank you for sharing this post!

You can learn so much at these dark tourism sites. The 911 memorial has moved me to tears. I’m not sure I could visit the mummy museum.

I’ve been to Alcatraz and the Catacombs, but it was interesting to discover some new ideas from this list. And yes, mindfulness and respect are so important, particularly for several entries on the list.

As a historian I’m interested in visiting these sites, although we’ve skipped them the last years, since we found our son to young for them. I’ve been to 2 of the sites mentioned.

What a great list of dark tourism places to visit! I’ve been to many of these such as Alcatraz, Bodie, Ghent and 9/11 memorial. I’d love to visit Chernobyl and the catacombs in Paris.

What an interesting article and list of places to visit. I’ve visited a few on this list and I agree with you, visiting these places can be very educational, but we need to be respectful.

What a great post. Yes, I have been to a few of these dark tourist sites and am now adding a few more to my bucket list.

What an utterly informative and sobering post. I visited the Killing Fields in Cambodia back in 2013 but today still hold it so close to my heart.

Lenin’s Mausoleum was a surreal experience to say the least. No stopping, no taking photos, only getting a quick glance at Lenin before being ushered out. Auschwitz was another one that was really eye opening for me and a unique although sad experience.

What a fascinating post! I have never visited any of those sites other than the World Trade Center site in NYC. I would be interested in seeing several of them. sites like that are so educational and bring history to the forefront.

Thank you for this important post. I think sites of dark tourism are important for exposing atrocities of the past for many reasons. They allow us to pay tribute to those who have suffered, but more importantly, hopefully they instil in visitors the importance of playing a role in ensuring that history isn’t repeated.

I’m not sure that ‘penal tourism’ (sites such as Alcatraz and Eastern State Penitentiary) need to be included in the category of ‘dark tourism.’ My visits to S-21 and Cheoung Ek in Cambodia can’t be equated to the failings of a penal system. My visits to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Dachau in Germany, or Auschwitz in Poland can’t be compared to Alcatraz.

‘Dark tourism’ and ‘penal tourism’ are important, but… separate.

Thank you for bringing attention to this issue.

that’s a fair point, and I’m in no way comparing one of these places to another, but understand that many people also have different levels of comfort in where they might want to visit so wanted to include a wide range of places. There are certain sites (like the ones you mentioned) that are always going to be the worst of the worst with regards to history. Thanks for reading

Very cool article! Haven’t seen many like this one. I’m actually in Tasmania right now!!

I have not done a lot of tourist type things alone, but one was Alcatraz. Fascinating experience walking that prison by myself and the audio tour.

I love this! I really want to try dark tourism after I saw “Dark Tourist” on Netflix! I totally agree with you, visiting these sites is very educational and an eye opener. And yes, respect is the key. It applies to everywhere we go! I will definitely save this for my future travels! 🙂

This is an interesting list. We’ve visited some already – like the catacombs in Paris. And some – like Tschernobyl are on our bucketlist!

Great compilation! There are so many places to go for dark tourism. And I know I can’t brave to most of them. I guess I can do it with museums. Opss how I missed the Crypt museum in Vienna!

What an interesting and informative article. I’ve been to a few of these sites, as well as a few more that didn’t make your list. I think that travelling is learning- and it’s important to visit places such as these to honour, respect and learn from our past.

In a way, I am really into some aspects of dark tourism, I love things that are creepy or have a ghost story behind it. I did find a few spots on this list that interest me such as the castle in Belgium. Looks beautiful and with an interesting story!

Dark tourism is no doubt not everyone’s cuppa tea. Travel ushers understanding and these sites may serve as monuments that will remind humanity about life itself and not taking the same dark path twice.

Great post Emma, I love visiting places like these (or, in some cases, “love” would definitely not be the appropriate word, but I think they’re important to visit). The hardest place I’ve ever visited is the Killing Fields in Cambodia. Horrendous. The genocide museum in Sarajevo in Bosnia was hard-hitting too. I’d be really interested to visit that KGB museum in Latvia!

Very good topic and original. i agree in most of the places listed, indeed most of them are scenario of some of the darkest moments of humanitty. I have only one thing that I don’t understand by you choose to put Lenin Mausoleum? Independently of the personal believes of rach one, Lenin led the biggest and most sucessul revolution in history . Poeple can like it more or less but I don’t how his resting place is part of dark tourist places….If would be Stalin inside ok, but this one i don’t get it. Great work overall, I am argentinian and I really appreciate that you brought-up the story of Potosi…. Well done! Looking forward for your next post!

Thanks for reading. For this one it’s also more about the fact that you can visit the body of Lenin and that it is on display as dark tourism is focused around often morbid places. There are a few countries that have former leaders on display – Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Chairman Mao in China – and I think the idea of visiting one of these places to see an embalmed body on display is a little dark in itself

Got your point! You know that is the same guy who embalmed Lenin and Ho Chi Minh? 😁

Great post! Especially seeing these are all easily accessible, no trespassing required. I have only been to a few, but I really recommend the Nuremberg Ralley Ground and the adjacent museum. Few people visit, and it is quite eerie. Also, the 1936 Olympic Village in Berlin which is similar architecture to Nuremberg rallye grounds, it was really abandoned a few years ago, I think more touristic now.

Have definitely been to a few dark tourist sites but Chernobyl has been on my list for ages now!

One of the most eye opening museums was the Anne Frank in Amsterdam but definitely want to keep visiting some new ones.

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Dark Tourists: Profile, Practices, Motivations and Wellbeing

José magano.

1 Research Center in Business and Economics (CICEE), Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, Rua Sta. Marta 47, 5.º Andar, 1150-293 Lisboa, Portugal

2 ISCET-Higher Institute of Business Sciences and Tourism, Rua de Cedofeita, 285, 4050-180 Porto, Portugal

José A. Fraiz-Brea

3 Department of Business Organization, Business Administration and Tourism Faculty, University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain

Ângela Leite

4 Center for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Portuguese Catholic University, Rua de Camões 60, 4710-362 Braga, Portugal

Associated Data

Datasets are available upon request to the authors.

This work aims to address whether knowing what dark tourism is (or not) impacts rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourist wellbeing, as well as practices and motivations for dark tourism. A quantitative approach, based on a survey of 993 respondents, reveals that women and more educated participants know more about dark tourism; people who know what dark tourism is have visited more Holocaust museums, sites of human tragedy and natural disasters, concentration camps, and prisons; show more curiosity, need to learn and understand, and need to see morbid things. A model was found showing that gender, age, know/do not know dark tourism, and motivations (curiosity, the need to learn, the need to understand, and pleasure) explained 38.1% of a dark tourism practice index. Most findings also indicate that rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability are associated with darker practices. Greater wellbeing was not found in participants who knew in advance what dark tourism was. Interestingly, participants who visit tragic human sites present higher values in hostility and tourist wellbeing than those who do not. In summary, people who visit more dark places and score higher on negative personality characteristics have higher values of tourist wellbeing.

1. Introduction

Many people are increasingly looking for new and unique touristic experiences to satisfy a wide range of motivations. That has driven the segmentation and the emergence of increasingly specific typologies, such as dark tourism, that, in contrast with mass tourism, are characterized by a high degree of diversification and individualization. Dark tourism comprises visiting real or recreated places related with death, suffering, disgrace, or the macabre [ 1 , 2 ]. From the perspective of dark tourism places, it is important to understand what drives people to visit them to design satisfying experiences. We may think of death as an obvious motivation, often part of the site’s history, but it is not always the primary or explicitly recognized motivation for a visit. Sharpley and Stone [ 3 ] admitted that the field of motivation to visit dark tourism destinations remains an understudied area, although recent literature has provided an increasing number of empirical studies about the reasons for visiting those sites [ 4 , 5 ].

This research intends to contribute to the dark tourism literature by seeking to understand whether people know what dark tourism is and identify a differentiated sociodemographic, motivational, and tourist practice profile between people who know and do not know what dark tourism is. In addition, it aims to understand if dark tourists’ motivations for visiting dark tourism destinations explain their practices. The research approach relies on empirically exploring the motivations, practices, and sociodemographic characteristics of a sample of 933 people that participated in a survey held in Portugal.

The remainder of the text is organized as follows: firstly, a brief theoretical background is put forward, focused on the dark tourism concept and dark tourists’ motivations and practices; then, the quantitative study’s applied methods and obtained results are described; finally, the results are discussed, and conclusions and implications are drawn.

2. Theoretical Background

Despite the fact that some authors consider it one of the older forms of tourism, it has gained great popularity amongst academics from the 1990s onwards [ 3 ], confirmed by the significant volume of literature published ever since [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. However, understanding the demand for this type of tourism persists as poorly defined and theoretically fragile [ 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 ]. For a long time, places that have been the scene of wars, disasters, deaths, and atrocities have always fascinated people, motivating them to travel [ 3 , 9 ]. Sharpley and Stone [ 3 ] often use the term dark tourism as the type of tourism that encompasses traveling to sites related to death, suffering, and macabre—a globally accepted definition. However, Tarlow [ 10 ] implies the phenomenon is complex by describing it as “visits to places where noteworthy historical tragedies or deaths have occurred that continue to impact our lives”, which raises the question about the inherent motives to consume dark tourism.

2.1. Dark Tourists and Their Motivation to Dark Tourism Consumption

Stone’s (2006) idea of dark tourism goes far beyond related attractions. From this standpoint, diverse well-visited tourist sites may become places of dark tourism due to their history linked with death—e.g., suicides in the Eiffel Tower, tombs in the pyramids of Egypt, the Valley of the Kings, and the Taj Mahal, funeral art at the Cairo Museum, and terrorist attacks in Ground Zero [ 11 ]. Ashworth and Isaac [ 12 ] also suggest that all tourist places have a greater or lesser potential of being perceived as “dark.” Accordingly, the same dark tourism place can evoke different experiences in different visitors (i.e., a site one visitor sees as “dark” may not be for another); thus, the authors argue that no site is intrinsically, automatically, and universally “dark,” as, even they may be labeled as dark, they are not always perceived as such by all visitors.

Walter [ 13 ] states that most dark tourism is not specifically motivated, comprising only parallel visits inserted in a trip of a wider reach. Nonetheless, the literature indicates that tourists who visit dark places are not a homogeneous group, and neither the factors inherent to the visitation are the same. Moreover, the “darker” motivation can undertake distinctive levels of intensity. Consequently, in addition to the fascination and interest in death [ 12 , 14 , 15 ], the visit to this type of place is also motivated by personal, cultural, and psychological reasons [ 4 ] or driven by entertainment purposes [ 7 , 16 ].

The literature indicates numerous reasons to visit dark tourism sites: educational experience, desire to learn and understand past events, and historical interest [ 7 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], as self-discovery purposes [ 17 ], identity [ 7 ], memory, remembrance, celebration, nostalgia, empathy, contemplation, and homage [ 10 , 17 , 20 ], curiosity [ 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], the search for novelty, authenticity, and adventure [ 2 , 20 ], convenience when visiting other places [ 19 ], and also status, prestige, affirmation, and recognition that these visits provide [ 22 ]. To a lesser extent, the literature also mentions religious and pilgrimage reasons, feelings of guilt, a search for social responsibility, or heritage experience.

The desire to learn and understand stands out as a motive associated with sites of death and/or heritage. Whereas some visitors exhibit a considerable need for emotional experience and connection to their heritage, engaging, as Slade puts it [ 23 ], in a “profound heritage experience”, and emotionally to the “dark” space influence [ 24 ], other visitors may be knowledge-seekers, who are more interested in a knowledge-enriching experience [ 25 ] than an emotional one and look for gaining a deeper understanding. Isaac et al. [ 20 ] found that memory, gaining knowledge and awareness, and exclusivity were important motivations for dark tourists; also, “(…), consuming dark tourism may allow the individual a sense of meaning and understanding of past disaster and macabre events that have perturbed life projects” [ 2 ]. Tourists’ interest in places associated with death and tragedy may also be related to educational goals [ 9 ].

Curiosity and the need to learn and understand are entwined. Dark tourism develops curiosity and satisfies the desire for knowledge of past suffering and pain [ 26 ]. Ashworth (2004) and Ashworth and Hartmann [ 27 ] suggested three main reasons for visiting dark sites: curiosity about the unusual, attraction to horror, and a desire for empathy or identification with the victims of atrocity. Yan, Zhang, Zhang, Lu and Guo [ 24 ] refer to the curious type of dark tourist who engages cognitively by learning about the issue. From another perspective, dark tourists may feel motivated by morbid tourism [ 28 ] and show interest in specific macabre exhibitions and museums [ 29 ] and fascination with evil [ 30 ], given the morbid nature of dark tourism [ 31 ]. Other authors present yet other motives: secular pilgrimage; a desire for inner purification; schadenfreude or malicious joy; “ghoulish titillation”; a search for the otherness of death; an interest in personal genealogy and family history; a search for “authentic” places in a commodified world; and a desire to encounter the pure/impure sacred [ 18 ]. Iliev [ 4 ] concludes that although tourists visit places related to death, they may not necessarily be considered dark tourists; as already acknowledged, those sites may not be experienced as “dark” by each visitor. It is, therefore, imperative that the so-called dark tourists are considered as such based on their experience.

2.2. Dark Tourist Personality

Some authors who study dark tourism have tried to relate dark tourist practice with personality characteristics, namely with the dark triad—psychoticism, narcissism, and Machiavellianism [ 16 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. However, the nature of dark tourism, especially that related to the Holocaust, can be so complex that the personality characteristics that motivate it may be less central, so we decided to study the following characteristics: rumination in sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability.

Rumination about sadness includes “repetitive thoughts concerning one’s present distress and the circumstances surrounding the sadness” [ 35 ]. These thoughts are related to the nature of one’s negative affect, are not goal-directed nor lead to plans for solutional action [ 36 ], and are not socially shared while the rumination occurs. Thus, rumination on sadness presents a negative content, “does not facilitate problem resolution, is a solitary activity, and is intrusive if the person is pursuing either self-or situationally imposed task-oriented goals” [ 35 ].

Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow’s [ 36 ] measure of rumination focuses on ideation, contrary to expression or disclosure, but it also includes disclosing feelings to others and emotional expressiveness as components of rumination. According to Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow [ 36 ], ruminative responses are different from structured problem-solving because people only think or talk about how “unmotivated, sad, and lethargic they feel” (p. 569). Despite that, Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow’s [ 36 ] stated that ruminative responses include telling others how badly one feels. Although rumination has negative consequences, disclosure may have positive effects [ 37 ]; also, some forms of emotional expressiveness, a component of disclosure, seem beneficial [ 38 ].

Self-hatred is an “enduring dysfunctional and destructive self-evaluation, characterized by attributions of undesirable and defective qualities, and failure to meet perceived standards and values leading to feelings of inadequacy, incompetency, and worthlessness” [ 39 ]. High self-hatred is related to low self-esteem, shame, self-blame or guilt, and a mental state of agitation, raising an experience of psychological and emotional turmoil [ 39 ].

According to Derogatis and Melisaratos [ 40 ], hostility captures thoughts, feelings, and actions associated with hostile behavior. Although the hostility scale measures perceived levels of expressed hostility rather than actual levels of outwardly expressed hostility, the hostility scale is significantly associated with anger [ 41 ], and high anger is related to outward, uncontrolled, and negative expressions of anger [ 42 ].

Psychological vulnerability is the “individual’s capacity to deal with mechanisms of maintaining emotional strength, in case of a pessimistic point of view, due to the lack of social support” [ 43 ]. Psychological vulnerability is a pattern of cognitive beliefs translating to “a dependence on achievement or external sources of affirmation for one’s sense of self-worth” [ 44 ]. Psychological vulnerability is negatively associated with positive affect, self-efficacy, and social support and positively associated with negative affect, perceived powerlessness, and maladaptive coping behavior [ 43 , 44 ]. Dark tourists are subjects situated in emotionally sensitive spaces [ 45 ] that can trigger their psychological vulnerability.

2.3. Research Questions

Although research on dark tourism has increased in recent years, there are not enough studies exploring if people’s knowledge of this phenomenon and their personality traits lead to distinctive dark tourists’ motivations and behaviors. Taking into account the aforementioned motivations to visit dark tourism places, the present study intends to empirically explore if dark tourists’ personality characteristics and sociodemographic variables impact such motivations and dark tourists’ practices and wellbeing (the latter, measured as a dark tourism practice index, given the diversity of known dark tourism practices). Specifically, our research questions are: Do rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability explain the practices and motivations for dark tourism and thus explain tourist wellbeing? Does knowing what dark tourism is (or not) impact rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability, as well as practices and motivations for dark tourism and tourist wellbeing?

3. Materials and Methods

Given the research questions, the aims of the present study are as follows: (1) to find the sociodemographic differences in touristic practices and motivations for dark tourism according to two groups (those who knew what dark tourism is and those who did not know); (2) to assess the fit of the rumination on the sadness scale, self-hatred scale, hostility scale, psychological vulnerability scale, and tourism wellbeing scale; (3) to determine the differences in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to two groups (those who knew what dark tourism is and those who didn’t know); (4) to find the differences in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to practices and motivations for dark tourism; and (5) to determine variables that contribute to the dark tourism practice index. Accordingly, we hypothesize:

Participants who know what dark tourism is are younger and have more education than those who do not.

Participants who know what dark tourism is are more motivated and visit more places associated with dark tourism than those who do not.

All measures show a good fit for the sample.

Differences in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to two groups (those who knew what dark tourism is and those who did not know) will be found.

Differences in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to practices and motivations for dark tourism will be found.

Gender, age, to know/know not dark tourism, and the motivations of curiosity, need to learn, need to understand, and pleasure will contribute to explaining dark tourism practice.

3.1. Procedures

All procedures followed the Declaration of Helsinki and later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The investigation protocol included informed consent, and confidentiality and anonymity of the data were guaranteed. The research protocol was applied in person to a random sample of participants between 18 October and 17 December 2021. The participants were informed about the study’s purpose and were ensured confidentiality and anonymity of the data; they also signed informed consent. The inclusion criteria consisted of being over 18 years old, Portuguese, and having touristic experiences. The respondents were approached by two researchers and five MSc students on the University’s campuses and within their informal networks, with the questionnaire being self-administered.

3.2. Instruments

The instruments that were not validated for the Portuguese population—the Rumination on Sadness Scale (RSS) and the Self-Hatred Scale (SHS)—were first translated from English to Portuguese by two bilingual translators, one from and another not from the field of psychology. Then, a third bilingual translator from the field of psychology provided a reconciliation of the two translations. Next, a native English speaker not from the psychology field independently performed the reconciled version’s back-translation. Finally, the first translator reviewed the back-translated version of the scale and compared it with the original English version to ensure linguistic and cultural equivalence consistency.

• Sociodemographic questionnaire

The sociodemographic questionnaire included questions related to gender (feminine—0; masculine—1), age, education (no education–0; primary education—1; secondary education—2; higher education—3), marital status (no relationship-single, divorced, separated, widowed–0; in a relationship-boyfriends, married, de facto union—1), and employment status (inactive—unemployed, retired, on sick leave–0; active-student, employee, housewife, caregivers—1).

• Questionnaire about dark tourism’s practices

The questionnaire on dark tourism practices includes a question about knowledge of dark tourism (or not). In addition, it also asked participants about their tourist practices related to dark tourism (Have you ever visited…? cemeteries; holocaust museums; sites of human tragedy; concentration camps; prisons; sites of war; sites of natural disasters; stop to see accidents). All these questions are answered dichotomously (no—0; yes—1).

• Questionnaire about dark tourism´s motivations

This questionnaire includes the presentation of several reasons to visit a dark place: curiosity, the need to learn, the need to see, the need to understand, pleasure, and the need to see morbid things. All these questions are answered dichotomously (no—0; yes—1).

• Rumination on Sadness Scale (RSS)

The Rumination on Sadness Scale, an individual-difference measure of rumination on sadness, was developed by Conway et al. [ 35 ] as an alternative to the Ruminative Responses Scale of the Response Styles Questionnaire (RRRSQ; [ 36 ]). It is a unifactorial scale with 13 items. Higher ratings indicate higher levels of rumination on sadness. Cronbach’s alpha, the internal reliability coefficient, was 0.91 in the original version. Since there is no Portuguese version of this scale, it will be validated in this study.

• Self-Hatred Scale (SHS)

The Self-Hatred Scale was developed by Turnell et al. [ 39 ] to assess individuals’ levels of self-hatred. Since self-hatred is a significant predictor of suicidal ideation, this scale has the potential to be helpful in suicide risk assessment. Higher ratings indicate higher levels of self-hatred. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.95 in the original version. There is no Portuguese version of this scale, so it will also be validated in this study.

• BSI Hostility Scale (HSS)

BSI Hostility Scale (HS) is a subscale of the Brief Symptoms Inventory [BSI; [ 40 ]], whose Portuguese version is from Canavarro [ 46 ]. BSI is a 53-item measure to identify self-reported clinically relevant psychological symptoms in adolescents and adults. The BSI covers nine symptom dimensions: Somatization, Obsession-Compulsion, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Ideation, and Psychoticism; and three global indices of distress: Global Severity Index, Positive Symptom Distress Index, and Positive Symptom Total. The Hostility subscale includes five items, and higher ratings indicate higher levels of hostility. In the original version, the alpha coefficients for the nine dimensions of the scale ranged from 0.64 in the Psychoticism dimension to 0.81 in the Somatization dimension. In the Portuguese version, the alpha coefficients ranged from 0.71 in the Psychoticism dimension to 0.85 in the Depression dimension.

• Psychological Vulnerability Scale (PVS)

The Psychological Vulnerability Scale (PVS) was designed to obtain information about maladaptive cognitive patterns, such as dependence, perfectionism, need for external sources of approval, and generalized negative attributions. The PVS is a six-item scale with higher scores indicating greater psychological vulnerability. In the original version [ 44 ], Cronbach’s α coefficient ranged from 0.71 to 0.87 for different samples; in the Portuguese version [ 47 ], Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.73.

• Tourism Wellbeing Scale (TWS)

The Tourism Wellbeing Scale (TWS) was developed by [ 48 ] Garcês et al. (2018 [ 49 ]); it aims to evaluate tourism wellbeing in each destination, having been built from positive psychology variables, namely, wellbeing, creativity, optimism, and spirituality. It is a unifactorial scale with eight items. Higher ratings indicate higher levels of tourism wellbeing. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.97 in the original version.

3.3. Data Analysis

Prior to analysis, the normality of items was examined by skewness (SI) and kurtosis (KI) indexes; absolute values of SI less than 3 and KI less than 10 indicate a normal distribution of the data. [ 50 ]. All the instruments were subject to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) procedure with maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). The model fit evaluation was based on test statistics and approximate fit indexes, following the thresholds presented in Kline [ 50 ]. Thus, a non-significant model chi-square statistic, χ 2 , states that the model fits the data acceptably in the population; the higher the probability related to χ 2 , the closer the fit to the perfect fit. A value of the parsimony-corrected index Steiger–Lind root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) close to 0 represents a good fit; RMSEA ≤ 0.05 may indicate a good fit, but the upper bound of the 90% confidence interval exceeding 0.10 may indicate poor fit; also, this test should be non-significant at the 0.05 level. Values of incremental fit index (IFI), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), and the Bentler incremental comparative fit index (CFI), close to 1 (0.95 or better), are indicators of best fit; also, the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), a statistic related to the correlation residuals (SRMR over 0.10 suggests fit problems) was used; the smallest the values, the most parsimonious is the model.

Besides goodness-of-fit index evaluation, model re-specification involved analyzing path estimates, standardized residuals of items, and modification indices for all non-estimated parameters. The modifications indices (MI) provide information about potential cross-loadings and error term correlations not specified in the model and the expected change in the chi-square value for each fixed parameter if it were to be freed. Only modifications theoretically meaningful and MI > 11 were considered. Finally, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated to ascertain the model’s reliability.

Group differences were analyzed. The independent t-test was applied to compare the means of the two groups. In addition, chi-squared was used to compare distributions’ differences and Mann–Whitney test to compare ordinal data. Three measures of the effect size, Cohen’s d, the eta squared, phi, and rank biserial correlation were used according to the variables’ measurement level; interpretation followed Cohen’s [ 51 ] guidelines; the statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 28 and AMOS version 28.

The sample includes 993 participants, mainly female, in a romantic relationship, with secondary or university education, and active; the mean age is around 31 years. Statistically significant differences were found concerning age and education between the sample that had already heard about dark tourism and knew what it was and the sample that had not yet heard about it. Participants who had heard about dark tourism were significantly younger and more educated than those who had not ( Table 1 ).

Sample sociodemographic characteristics.

Notes: N = frequencies; % = percentage; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; χ 2 = qui-squared test; Φ = Phi size effect; t = t -test; Cohen’s d = size effect; p = p -value. In bold: statistically significant values.

Concerning the total sample and dark tourism practices, most people have visited cemeteries, and about a third of the sample stopped to see accidents. On the other hand, about a quarter of the sample already had other practices, except for a visit to concentration camps, which was only carried out by about 14% of the total sample. The same trend remains in the sample that has not yet heard about dark tourism and the sample that has. However, there are statistically significant differences between these two samples regarding practices related to dark tourism, being that the sample that has already heard about dark tourism visits many more Holocaust museums, sites of human tragedy, concentration camps, prisons, and sites of natural disasters than the sample that has not yet heard about dark tourism ( Table 2 ).

Dark tourism practices.

Notes: N = frequencies; % = percentage; χ 2 = qui-squared test; Φ = Phi size effect; p = p -value. In bold: statistically significant values.

As for the reasons behind the desire to visit dark places, curiosity stands out in the total sample, with the least chosen reason being the need to see morbid things. The same trend can be seen in the two subsamples. However, there are statistically significant differences between these two samples regarding motives to visit dark places, being that the sample that has already heard about dark tourism presents higher values in the motives related to curiosity, the need to learn and understand, and the need to see morbid things than the sample that has not yet heard about dark tourism ( Table 3 ).

Dark tourism motives.

Table 4 shows the descriptive statistics related to the items of the instruments used in this study: the rumination on sadness, tourism wellbeing, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability. The skewness and kurtosis values are all within the normative values, ensuring the normality of the distribution, except for item SHS3 whose values are slightly above the recommended one.

Items’ frequencies.

A confirmatory factorial analysis of the rumination on sadness scale was carried out to confirm the authors’ model [χ 2 (46) = 4.121; CFI = 0.977; TLI = 0.961; IFI = 0.977; RMSEA = 0.056; PCLOSE = 0.107: SMRM = 0.028]; however, to achieve this model fit, some correlations between errors were established ( Figure 1 ).

Model fit of Rumination on Sadness Scale.

Confirmatory factorial analysis of the self-hatred scale [χ 2 (11) = 5.118; CFI = 0.992; TLI = 0.984; IFI = 0.992; RMSEA = 0.064; PCLOSE = 0.069: SMRM = 0.015] ( Figure 2 ), hostility scale [χ 2 (2) = 4.216; CFI = 0.995; TLI = 0.976; IFI = 0.995; RMSEA = 0.057; PCLOSE = 0.317: SMRM = 0.012] ( Figure 3 ), psychological vulnerability scale [χ 2 (7) = 2.886; CFI = 0.992; TLI = 0.983; IFI = 0.992; RMSEA = 0.044; PCLOSE = 0.644; SMRM = 0.018] ( Figure 4 ), and tourism wellbeing scale [χ 2 (16) = 3.787; CFI = 0.979; TLI = 0.964; IFI = 0.980; RMSEA = 0.053; PCLOSE = 0.339: SMRM = 0.029] ( Figure 5 ) were carried out to assess the models’ adjustments. Despite finding good fits for all models, some correlations between errors were established to achieve such fits. Thus, hypothesis H3 is confirmed.

Model fit of Self-hatred Scale.

Model fit of Hostility Scale.

Model fit of Psychological Vulnerability Scale.

Model fit of Tourism Wellbeing Scale.

There are no differences in the values of rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing concerning knowing what dark tourism is or not ( Table 5 ).

Rumination on sadness (RSS), self-hatred (SHS), hostility (HSS), psychological vulnerability (PVS), and tourism wellbeing (TWBS) frequencies and differences between those who know dark tourism and those who do not.

Notes: α = Cronbach’s alpha; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; MR–mean rank; U = Mann–Whitney test; p = p -value; r = rank-biserial correlation.

Differences were assessed regarding the values of rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to dark tourism practices. Being that only statistically significant results are presented, it was found that participants who visit cemeteries have significantly lower values of self-hatred and psychological vulnerability than participants who report not visiting cemeteries ( Table 6 ). Furthermore, those who visit tragic human sites present higher values in hostility and tourism wellbeing than those who do not. Those who visit sites of war present higher values in self-hatred than those who did not. Those who visit site of natural tragedies also present higher values in hostility and tourism wellbeing. Lastly, those who stop to see accidents present higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing than those who do not stop ( Table 6 ).

Rumination on sadness (RSS), self-hatred (SHS), hostility (HSS), psychological vulnerability (PVS) and tourism wellbeing (TWBS) frequencies and differences according to dark tourism practices.

Notes: α = Cronbach’s alpha; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; MR–mean rank; U = Mann–Whitney test; p = p -value; r = rank-biserial correlation. In bold: statistically significant values.

Differences were also assessed concerning the values of rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to dark tourism motives. Those participants who identified curiosity, need to see, and need to understand as reasons to visit dark places in the context of tourism presented higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing than those who did not identify curiosity as a motive ( Table 7 ). Concerning the motive “need to learn”, it was found to be a statistically significant difference in tourism wellbeing, being that those who identified the need to learn as a motive to visit dark places in the context of tourism present higher values in tourism wellbeing and self-hatred than those who did not. Those participants who identified the need to see as a reason to visit dark places in the context of tourism presented higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability than those who did not identify the need to see as a motive ( Table 7 ). Those participants who recognized the need to understand as a reason to visit dark places in the context of tourism present higher values in rumination on sadness, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing than those who did not identify the need to understand as a motive ( Table 7 ). Concerning the motive “pleasure”, it was found a statistically significant difference in tourism wellbeing; those who recognized pleasure as a motive to visit dark places presented higher values in tourism wellbeing than those who did not. Lastly, those participants who identified the need to see morbid things as a reason to visit dark places presented higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability than those who did not identify the need to see morbid things as a motive ( Table 7 ).

Rumination on sadness (RSS), self-hatred (SHS), hostility (HSS), psychological vulnerability (PVS), and tourism wellbeing (TWBS) frequencies and differences according to dark tourism motives.

After creating a new variable, an index about practices related to dark tourism, based on the individual items, we carried out a multiple linear regression in which the dependent variable is the index, and the independent variables are the motivations, with the intent to find the variables that explain the touristic practice. It was found that gender, age, know/know not dark tourism, and motives (curiosity, need to learn, need to understand, and pleasure) explain 38% of the touristic practice ( Table 8 ).

Variables that contribute to the dark tourism practice index.

Notes: R 2 = R squared; R 2 Adj. = R squared adjusted; B = unstandardized regression coefficients; EP B = unstandardized error of B; β = standardized regression coefficients; ** p < 0.001.

5. Discussion

The aims of the present study were to find the sociodemographic differences in touristic practices and motivations for dark tourism according to two groups (those who knew what dark tourism is and those who did not know); to determine the differences in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to two groups; to find the differences in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing according to practices and motivations for dark tourism; and, at last, to determine variables that contribute to a dark tourism practice index. To this end, we carried out a cross-sectional study that included questionnaires related to sociodemographic aspects, motivations to visit dark tourism places, practices of dark tourism, the rumination on the sadness scale, the self-hatred scale, the hostility scale, the psychological vulnerability scale, and the tourism wellbeing scale.

Concerning the participants’ profiles, those who had heard about dark tourism were significantly younger and more educated than those who had not. These results confirm hypothesis H1. These results corroborate those of Millán, et al. [ 52 ] who found a profile of dark tourists in Cordoba between 26 and 40 years old and having university studies. Dark tourism is a niche market [ 53 ] and also is itself a trend [ 54 ], and young people are more available and attentive to new trends [ 55 ]. In addition, more educated people seek more information and have superior technological skills [ 56 ]. Significant differences between the two samples regarding practices related to dark tourism were found, being that the sample that has already heard about dark tourism visits much more Holocaust museums, sites of human tragedy, concentration camps, prisons, and sites of natural disasters than the sample that has not yet heard about dark tourism. These results confirm hypothesis H2. According to Iliev [ 4 ], “if tourists do not experience a site as dark, then they cannot be called dark tourists”, so the author proposed a more apparent distinction of the “dark tourists” based on experience. Ashworth and Isaac (2015) also stated that any tourist site has a greater or lesser potential of being perceived as “dark.” Besides, “darkness cannot be viewed as an objective fact because it is subjectively and socially constructed since (different) people in various (cultural or social) contexts understand and experience dark tourism in different ways” [ 57 ]. In fact, we may ask “who makes the association of ‘darkness’ to a place? Is the label ‘dark tourism’ applied by those offering (and commoditizing) the visitor experience? Alternatively, is any “dark” significance to be evaluated and decided upon by the tourists themselves?” [ 58 ]. “Dark tourism consumption can no longer be derived as an ordinary activity where humans might engage in for “fun”, but rather as part of a quest for a deeper experience, especially in our inherent fear of death” [ 4 ].

The subsample that has already heard about dark tourism presents higher values in the curiosity, the need to learn and understand, and the need to see morbid things motives than the sample that has not yet heard about dark tourism. These results also confirm hypothesis H2. In fact, dark tourists are very interested in understanding historical events; they are psychologically moved by the need to be in contact with authentic experiences by looking at the other’s death as if it were their own death [ 59 ]. One of the motivations that drive dark tourists is the possibility of re-creating the same emotions victims experienced, followed by the authenticity issue [ 60 ]. “Many dark tourists are motivated by the desire and interest in cultural heritage, learning, education, understanding about what happened at the dark site” [ 4 ].

There are no differences in the values of rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing concerning knowing what dark tourism is or not. Therefore, hypothesis H4 cannot be confirmed. These results apparently seem to contradict the relationship between the dark triad of the personality (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and the practice of dark tourism [ 16 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. That relationship, studied by those authors, reflects the practice of dark tourism and not the knowledge about it (which is the subject of our study), although there is hardly any knowledge without practice. Concerning tourism wellbeing, these results may question Kidron [ 61 ] who said that dark tourism generates wellbeing and thus assume that dark tourists show wellbeing despite dark practices. However, our results do not show greater wellbeing in the participants who knew in advance what dark tourism was in relation to the others.

Participants who visit cemeteries have significantly lower values of self-hatred and psychological vulnerability than participants who report not visiting cemeteries. Visiting a cemetery can fulfill different functions, such as visiting a dark place or the social and cultural function of honoring the dead. Probably, our results reflect this last function to the detriment of the first and this conformity to cultural and social practices is in accordance with lower values of psychopathology [ 62 ], namely rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability. This result partially confirms hypothesis 5.

Those who visit sites of war present higher levels of self-hatred than those who did not. Furthermore, those who visit natural tragedies sites present higher values in hostility and tourism wellbeing than those who do not. This result reflects the relationship of this tourist practice with the above-mentioned dark triad [ 16 , 32 , 33 , 34 ] and is in line with Kidron [ 61 ], who suggested wellbeing in dark tourists. At last, those who stop to see accidents present higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing than those who do not stop. Again, this result reveals the relationship between psychopathology and tourist wellbeing that needs to be further explained, although some authors suggest that psychopathology leads to less tourism wellbeing [ 63 ]. This result partially confirms hypothesis 5.

Participants who identified curiosity as a reason to visit dark places in the context of tourism presented higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing than those who did not identify curiosity as a motive. Curiosity has been a central reason pointed out in the literature for tourism in general [ 64 ] and, specifically, for dark tourism [ 15 , 17 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 65 , 66 ]. Curiosity is a complex construct, which can be seen as something positive, but it can also contain darker aspects of the personality, namely morbid curiosity, and this fact explains its relationship with, on the one hand, wellbeing, and, on the other hand, with rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability. This result partially confirms hypothesis 5.

The participants who identified the need to learn, the need to understand as motives to visit dark places in the context of tourism present higher values in tourism wellbeing and self-hatred than those who did not. The need to learn and understand are also central reasons for tourism in general and their relationship with wellbeing does not seem specific to dark tourism [ 67 ]. This result partially confirms hypothesis 5.

The participants who identified the need to see as a reason to visit dark places in the context of tourism presented higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, psychological vulnerability, and tourism wellbeing. This result partially confirms hypothesis 5. Similarly to the need to learn, the need to see correlates with wellbeing but with psychopathology. Perhaps this need to learn motivation is correlated with the touristic practice of seeing morbid things [ 68 ].

The participants who recognized pleasure as a motive to visit dark places presented higher values in tourism wellbeing than those who did not. This result partially confirms hypothesis 5. Dark tourism conforms with the pleasure of tourism in general (Yanjun et al., 2015); wellbeing derives from the emotional experience of dark tourism as a motor for transforming the self [ 69 ].

The participants who identified the need to see morbid things as a drive to visit dark places presented higher values in rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability. The need to see morbid things may be a specific motivation for dark tourism [ 1 , 70 ] and not tourism in general. To that extent, the relationship between this motivation and rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability is justified. This result partially confirms Hypothesis 5.

The reasons to visit dark places-curiosity, the need to see, the need to understand, and pleasure are positively and significantly correlated with all places associated with dark tourism. Gender, age, know/know not dark tourism, and motives (curiosity, the need to learn, the need to understand, and pleasure) explained 38.1% of the practice index variance, thus confirming H6. These results mean that motivations to visit dark places are associated with the touristic activity itself and may contradict those of Buda [ 71 ], that claims more emotional and psychoanalytical explorations through the concepts of the death drive [ 71 ], desire [ 72 ], and unconsciousness and voyeurism [ 73 ]. In fact, dark tourists are not altruistic persons [ 14 , 60 ]. Moreover, Jovanovic, Mijatov, and Šuligoj [ 32 ] found that Machiavellianism was related to the preference for dark exhibitions, psychopathy to the preference for visiting conflict/battle sites, and sadism was negatively related to the preference for fun factories and dark tourism sites. However, the “darker” motivation may present different levels of intensity; besides the fascination and interest in death [ 15 ], these visits are also motivated by personal, cultural, and psychological reasons [ 4 ] and/or by entertainment purposes such as entertainment-based museums of torture [ 7 , 16 ]. One of the most curious outcomes of this study is the association of motivations to visit dark tourist sites and self-hatred; the fact that the authors have not found any study that could explain such a result suggests this association exists in the context of dark tourism and not of tourism in general. The dark nature of this type of tourism can be attractive to tourists with less positive personality traits such as self-hatred.

6. Conclusions

The results of this study add new knowledge to this area of expertise as it allows us to understand the association between motivations and practices related to dark tourism. This study also identified the main motivations to visit dark places-curiosity, the need to see, the need to understand, and pleasure, being, interestingly, all internal motivations and, thus, contradicting the literature that, in addition to these motivations, also identifies external motivations. Most findings also indicate that the rumination on sadness, self-hatred, hostility, and psychological vulnerability personality dimensions are associated with dark practices (e.g., the need to see morbid things). Lastly, people who visit more dark places and score higher on negative personality characteristics have higher values of tourism wellbeing. These findings are in line with the literature, which suggests that dark tourism generates negative and positive wellbeing (or even ambivalence). As such, dark tourists, even presenting negative personality characteristics, and also because of them, show tourism wellbeing in their practices and motivations.

The fact that this study was held in a specific sample in Portugal may be considered a limitation; future lines of research could extend it to other countries and age segments.

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, J.M., J.A.F.-B. and Â.L.; methodology, J.M.; formal analysis, J.M. and Â.L.; writing—original draft preparation, J.M.; writing—review and editing, J.M., J.A.F.-B. and Â.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, as no medical research involving human subjects has been carried out, including research on identifiable human material and data, as indicated by the terms of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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