2. Dark Tourism
 Sites historically associated with death and tragedy.
Lennon. J (1996)
 “Negitive sightseeing” MacCannell, (1989)
 Visitation to places where tragedies or historically
noteworthy death has occurred and that continue to
impact our lives. Tarlow, (2005)
 “Places you wouldn't’t bring your nan” Joly, (2011)

3. Categories of Dark Tourism
Dark Tourism
Public
enactments
Individual
or mass
deaths
Memorials
or
internment
s
Symbolic
representation
s
Re-
enactments
or
simulation
Seaton, (1996)

4. Historical

5. Contemporary

6. The Dark tourist
“Visitors have long been fascinated with sites associated with suffering and
death” Wight, (2006)

7. Motivations of the dark
tourist
“The closer the relationship the stronger the experience”
Insecurity
 Gratitude
 Humility
 Superiority
Tarlo (2005)
Romanticism
Compassion
Mysticism
Morbid curiosity
Seaton (1996)

8.  “If the motivations of the dark tourist are simply to be
entertained then those who suffered and are
suffering become a thing of spectacle, a thing of
disgrace”.(Damms, 2005)

9. What is ethical in Dark
Tourism
Stalin World
“If you’re a fan of
former soviet
statues, snail shell
art and emus, this
is the place for
you” Trip Advisor
Each visitor upon encountering dark
tourism sets the parameters for the level
of engagement with the issues , and the
extent to which the narrative is ‘morally
acceptable’ is similarly personalised.
(Lenin 2007)

10. Deontological vs Teleological
In Dark Tourism
Deontologist
 Process Based
 Human Dignity
 Universality
Teleologist
 Outcome based
 Egotism
 Utilitarianism
Kantianism
• The motivations of the product,
Education, remembrance
• The enjoyment of the
stakeholders, providers and
tourists
Utilitarianism
• The consequences of the
product
• The enjoyment of the
individual,

11. Ethics
Dark Tourism Spectrum
Ethics in Dark tourism

12. Dark Tourism; The ethical
dimension
 “Is it ethical to develop, promote and offer dark
tourism as a tourism product?” (Sharpley, 2009)
1. Consuming tourism alongside the grieving.
2. Interpreting the impossible Auschwitz
3. Commodification of tragedy(exit through the gift
shop)
4. Disaster Tourism, going back too soon

13. Consuming tourism
alongside the grieving.

14. The commodification of
tragedy
 “The rights of those whose death is commoditised and
commercialised through dark tourism represent and important
ethical dimension deserving consideration” (Lise, 2004).

15. Interpreting the impossible

16. Disaster tourism
Going back too soon
New Orleans Southern China

17. I was here
The work of Ambroise
Tezenes and John
Lennon
 “complex interrogations of
how countries reckon with
their past crimes, of the
commodification of tragedy,
and of the human impulse
to look upon death and
disaster.”
New Yorker

18. Conclusion
 The dark tourist
 What is appropriate, ethical.
 The responsibility of remembering, to whom we in
trust memory.
 Ethical issues in dark tourism, tourists and grievers,
commodification, ethical interpretation and disaster
tourism.

19. Recommendations
 The ethics of the tourist dictates the ethics of the
product.
 The story teller has responsibilities, the narrative should
be more important that the product.
 The wider media had implications on the product.
 Authenticity is crucial for the experience.
 The dark tourism product should be aware of culture
differences.