Dark tourism : can sites of death and disaster be tourist destinations ?

Among the categories of tourism, one which is still mysterious and controversial: travel to sites related to death, atrocity and disaster; called Dark Tourism. This phenomenon exists for a long time but seems to be fashionable today. But why is it successful ? What can attract people in the contemplation of such a depressing thing? From now on, can we visit and consider all sites related to death or disaster as tourist sites? Nowadays, a lot of opportunities are provided to people in term of leisure and it seems that few things are prohibited or limited. Nevertheless, even if it is accepted, it is not as simple as it seems. The theories developed are then supported by an empirical case study conducted on visitors of a former WWII concentration camp situated in France : the Struthof. This research shows that things are not always what it seems to be...

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Field Value
Source Euro-Asia International research conference
Author Selmi, Noureddine, Tur, Camille
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 10, 2026, 16:38 (UTC)
Created May 10, 2026, 16:38 (UTC)
Identifier hal-00835167
Language en
contributor Groupe Sup de Co La Rochelle
coverage Hiroshima, Japan
creator Selmi, Noureddine
date 2010-09-02T00:00:00
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harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2026-02-26T00:00:00
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