1. Dark Tourism Key Terms Dark tourism shops Sites of Dark Tourism
Knowledge Organiser
“Dark tourism should be banned”
Dark Tourism
Dark tourism shops
Sites of Dark Tourism
Rio De Janeiro
Key Terms
Tourism
Visiting places of interest for a holiday.
Dark tourism
Travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy.
Memorial
A statue or structure established to remind people of an event.
Slum
An overcrowded unplanned urban area inhabited by incredibly poor people.
Chernobyl
A city in Northern Ukraine near the border of Belarus. It was evacuated in 1986 due to a nuclear disaster.
Auschwitz
A place in Southern Poland used to kill Jewish people and minority groups during WWII.
Money raised from items sold can often go to supporting charities and help people to remember a learning experience. When people buy items from dark tourism sites it can also help develop empathy and an appreciation of life. However, it also commercialises the dead and some suggest makes a mockery and attraction of the pain and tragedy they suffered. Visitors can also choose not to pay for official items in the shop and damage the sites by taking away their own souvenirs of the experience.
Rio De Janeiro is a city located in Brazil in South America. The city is one of the places in the world which offers slum tourism. Slum tourism is a type of tourism that involves visiting impoverished areas. It can contribute to a change in the representation of the slums and its people and slum tourism can be a legitimate way to fight poverty. The tours can also help tourists to better understand the world and become more compassionate. Opponents argue that it’s exploitative of poor people and the consumption of poverty and the basic human rights of the local residents to dignity and privacy are often undermined. Tour companies are also where all the money goes.
Why do people visit?
Auschwitz
Chernobyl
Auschwitz is in the South of Poland in Europe. Auschwitz is a concentration camp where over 1.1 million Jewish and minority groups were killed during WWII. Allowing tourists to visit the site can be seen as commercialising the horror of what happened there, and some argue that you do not have to visit the site to honour the dead. However, tourists argue that seeing the site in person brings history to life and develops empathy as well as providing an education of the history of WWII. Tourism also helps to create jobs in the area. However, some visitors to the site are not respectful of what happened and remove items to take home, as well as graffiti beds and walls.
Self interest
Alcatraz prison operated for 29 years in which time no prisoners successfully escaped. To visit the site today you have to book over 3 months in advance.
Ensure lessons are learnt
The Cambodian Killing Fields are to remember to deaths of almost 25% of the population (2 million people) during the Khmer Rouge regime.
Empathy
Over 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz during WWII. The visitors can get an idea of the awful conditions of the camp.
Keeping memories alive
Ground Zero in New York commemorates the 2753 people who were killed in 9/11.
Pay respect to the dead
Over 425,000 people were killed during the Battle of Normandy. There are now huge cemeteries over the battlefield for the troops who were killed or missing in action.
Education
The Kigali Genocide Memorial commemorates the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and includes a visitor centre for people to learn about the events that lead up to the genocide.
Pripyat is an abandoned city in the Zone of Alienation in Northern Ukraine. The city is 3km away from Chernobyl and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. It was the closest to the explosion and received the largest dose of radiation, causing the area to become unsafe for human habitation. Before the disaster over 50,000 people lived in Pripyat.
Chernobyl being a dark tourism site provides jobs for tour operators and guards, however the radiation in certain areas is still dangerously high. The site is also not maintained and can be dangerous for tourists to visit. It does help people learn about the dangers of nuclear power and remember the 31 people who initially lost their lives due to the disaster.