It is a term for touristic attractions that mainstream travelers wouldn’t go for…. Like visiting Pripyat near Chernobyl, in Ukraine. Or Alcatraz, in California, or the Catacombs of Paris 😉 I hope this makes it clearer 🙂
Hey there, Alice 🙂 I gave a brief definition to Carol Anne, above… And Wayne explained it very well, below. It’s funny, because I came with the question after watching the first episode of ”The Dark Tourist” on Netflix… If you’re looking for a new series, I think you might enjoy it. The host is a New-Zealand journalist traveling to all kinds of places, some disturbing, but others really interesting. If you try it, let me know what you think 🙂
yep, me too, never heard of it but just the word “DarK’ sounds too ominous to me.
I found this on Wikipedia Dark tourism (also Thana tourism (as in Thanatos), black tourism, morbid tourism, or grief tourism) has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy.[1] More recently, it was suggested that the concept should also include reasons tourists visit that site, since the site’s attributes alone may not make a visitor a “dark tourist”.[2] The main attraction to dark locations is their historical value rather than their associations with death and suffering.[2][3] Holocaust tourism contains aspects of both dark tourism and heritage tourism.[4]
Dark tourism deals with the philosophical interrogation on death. Visitors who are interested in these spaces manifest their intention to understand others’ pain or simply educational goals. Dark tourists imagine often their own finitude through the figure of the Other. Dark tourism helps to enhance the recipient capacity of society as well as giving a lesson to next generations
That is a thorough and very interesting explanation Wayne 🙂
I’ve always felt like it was a little (or a lot in the case of some people) wrong to be interested in these unusual destinations… But now I think that when you have the right mindset and don’t seek them for their gore or aweful side, it can be quite a life lesson.
I have done 2 out of your 3 examples, Cyranny, but didn’t really view it as ‘dark’ st the time(s).
Frankly, in terms of observing the horrors of mankind, I don’t think it gets much darker than Las Vegas.
I have a feeling you’ve visited Alcatraz and the Catacombs, but I might be wrong. And if you’ve been in Pripyat… I definately need to know more about that trip!
Québec’s motto, as it can be read on our cars’ licence plates, is ”Je me souviens” (I remember). And I think that in order not to repeat them, we have to remember our big mistakes, as mankind. What better way to do that, than visiting the dark corners of the world?
With that said, I’ll take your words regarding Las Vegas… I haven’t been brave enough to fly to Sin City yet mouahhahahahahahaha
Yeah. I’ve skipped Pripyat.
All of that stuff is in the past. Another life.
My own motto might be, ‘Je suis une mémoire’ (though my French is dreadful – I can’t really remember it).
And as for Vegas …. if it was all about sin, I’d be fine with it – I love sin.
But it’s actually all about selfishness, sadness and stupidity – it’s a monument to the confidence trick that we call capitalism.
So yes, it is certainly dark tourism at its finest. It’s a bit like the catacombs except that a certain proportion of visitors will become forever entombed there.
What is dark tourism? Is it taking a tour in the dark, or doing dark and spoooooky things, like… the catacombs in Europe (Paris, maybe?)
In either case, yes. I’ve taken many tours where we went places at night. Also, I’ve been to many places other people would find creepy. In school, they took us to a cemetery. No real reason, just, why not? My family and I went to Pompeii where they showed us a dog that will forever be frozen in place next to his owner, children, a young teen pulling bread from an oven, among other things. We went and saw Robben Island Prison. I’ve also gone to some of the even darker stuff. I’ve gone to almost every Holocaust museum that has ever been created, including in Israel (except the one in Berlin, Germany, the walking tour walked us past it, but not to it, and it was closed the next day). I’ve been to Dachau and Auschwitz. I love dark twisted stuff like that. It’s the best record of what was that ever has been. The happy things aren’t real; these things are. These “dark” things are all over the world, and I have gone to see many of them. I hope to one day be able to do that again before I’m 900 years old.
Probably – without realizing it. When we were in Ghana, we visited Cape Coast and they made it very clear how awful the experience would have been for people who were captured and sent into horrific conditions to be shipped off on boats across the Atlantic.
I have visited some sites that were known as the location of terrible tragic event, but it was not as a tourist, it was more to do with the voluntary work we were doing in the area.
Cyranny's Cove 
what is that, I’ve never heard of it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a term for touristic attractions that mainstream travelers wouldn’t go for…. Like visiting Pripyat near Chernobyl, in Ukraine. Or Alcatraz, in California, or the Catacombs of Paris 😉 I hope this makes it clearer 🙂
LikeLike
same here, never heard of it
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey there, Alice 🙂 I gave a brief definition to Carol Anne, above… And Wayne explained it very well, below. It’s funny, because I came with the question after watching the first episode of ”The Dark Tourist” on Netflix… If you’re looking for a new series, I think you might enjoy it. The host is a New-Zealand journalist traveling to all kinds of places, some disturbing, but others really interesting. If you try it, let me know what you think 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ok thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
yep, me too, never heard of it but just the word “DarK’ sounds too ominous to me.
I found this on Wikipedia Dark tourism (also Thana tourism (as in Thanatos), black tourism, morbid tourism, or grief tourism) has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy.[1] More recently, it was suggested that the concept should also include reasons tourists visit that site, since the site’s attributes alone may not make a visitor a “dark tourist”.[2] The main attraction to dark locations is their historical value rather than their associations with death and suffering.[2][3] Holocaust tourism contains aspects of both dark tourism and heritage tourism.[4]
Dark tourism deals with the philosophical interrogation on death. Visitors who are interested in these spaces manifest their intention to understand others’ pain or simply educational goals. Dark tourists imagine often their own finitude through the figure of the Other. Dark tourism helps to enhance the recipient capacity of society as well as giving a lesson to next generations
LikeLike
That is a thorough and very interesting explanation Wayne 🙂
I’ve always felt like it was a little (or a lot in the case of some people) wrong to be interested in these unusual destinations… But now I think that when you have the right mindset and don’t seek them for their gore or aweful side, it can be quite a life lesson.
Thank you for your comment 🙂
LikeLike
I have done 2 out of your 3 examples, Cyranny, but didn’t really view it as ‘dark’ st the time(s).
Frankly, in terms of observing the horrors of mankind, I don’t think it gets much darker than Las Vegas.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a feeling you’ve visited Alcatraz and the Catacombs, but I might be wrong. And if you’ve been in Pripyat… I definately need to know more about that trip!
Québec’s motto, as it can be read on our cars’ licence plates, is ”Je me souviens” (I remember). And I think that in order not to repeat them, we have to remember our big mistakes, as mankind. What better way to do that, than visiting the dark corners of the world?
With that said, I’ll take your words regarding Las Vegas… I haven’t been brave enough to fly to Sin City yet mouahhahahahahahaha
LikeLike
Yeah. I’ve skipped Pripyat.
All of that stuff is in the past. Another life.
My own motto might be, ‘Je suis une mémoire’ (though my French is dreadful – I can’t really remember it).
And as for Vegas …. if it was all about sin, I’d be fine with it – I love sin.
But it’s actually all about selfishness, sadness and stupidity – it’s a monument to the confidence trick that we call capitalism.
So yes, it is certainly dark tourism at its finest. It’s a bit like the catacombs except that a certain proportion of visitors will become forever entombed there.
LikeLike
What is dark tourism? Is it taking a tour in the dark, or doing dark and spoooooky things, like… the catacombs in Europe (Paris, maybe?)
In either case, yes. I’ve taken many tours where we went places at night. Also, I’ve been to many places other people would find creepy. In school, they took us to a cemetery. No real reason, just, why not? My family and I went to Pompeii where they showed us a dog that will forever be frozen in place next to his owner, children, a young teen pulling bread from an oven, among other things. We went and saw Robben Island Prison. I’ve also gone to some of the even darker stuff. I’ve gone to almost every Holocaust museum that has ever been created, including in Israel (except the one in Berlin, Germany, the walking tour walked us past it, but not to it, and it was closed the next day). I’ve been to Dachau and Auschwitz. I love dark twisted stuff like that. It’s the best record of what was that ever has been. The happy things aren’t real; these things are. These “dark” things are all over the world, and I have gone to see many of them. I hope to one day be able to do that again before I’m 900 years old.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably – without realizing it. When we were in Ghana, we visited Cape Coast and they made it very clear how awful the experience would have been for people who were captured and sent into horrific conditions to be shipped off on boats across the Atlantic.
I have visited some sites that were known as the location of terrible tragic event, but it was not as a tourist, it was more to do with the voluntary work we were doing in the area.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for teaching me about this.
LikeLike