Scenes of horror such as concentration camp memorials attract many people. Is that reprehensible? Tourism researcher Albrecht Steinecke on the dark side of travel.
Mr. Steinecke, more and more people are visiting places that make you shiver. What do travelers want in places of suffering?
The vacationers are becoming more and more experienced, also internationally. You therefore have a need for experiences and impressions beyond the beaten path. You are looking for new unusual sights.
Are greed for sensation and morbid lust the predominant motive?
That is a prejudice against this so-called dark tourism. In an abundance of studies it has long been clear that voyeurism or malicious pleasure play a negligible role. Above all, you want to stand in places where terrible events have happened or people have suffered cruel fates. Beyond that, however, it is about information about the events and about commemorating the victims, so serious motives. And it has been shown that even with people who come out of pure curiosity, a kind of catharsis happens because they are touched by the suffering on site and leave these dark places differently than they entered.
What does dark tourism mean exactly?
This term encompasses all forms of dissonant sights or types of travel that are not part of the standard repertoire of sightseeing destinations. Essentially, this includes concentration camp and genocide memorials, cemeteries, prisons, battlefields or the sites of natural disasters. Dark tourism is actually part of cultural tourism, and there, as there, there is a distinct hierarchy of sights. The main attractions are the state museum Auschwitz-Birkenau with 2.2 million visitors annually, the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima with 1.5 million and the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris with 3.5 million visitors.
Dark tourism encompasses all forms of dissonant sightseeing
Disaster tourism is one of them. Chernobyl, for example, is becoming a popular travel destination. Is it also about a thirst for adventure?
In the beginning, yes. We are talking about a memory life cycle. In the case of the ghost town of Pripyat, the Urban Explorers came first, that is, people willing to take risks. In the initial phase, there is often spontaneous mourning from relatives and friends in such places, then interest groups emerge who advocate the institutionalization of commemoration, information centers and memorials are set up. With increasing duration, the places of remembrance change their function. The horrors evaporate, as can be seen, for example, at the Hermannsdenkmal in the Teutoburg Forest. It actually reminds of the Varus Battle in the Roman Empire, but is now just a popular destination.
And is Chernobyl at the beginning of this development?
Yes, but a plethora of tours to the site are already on offer and that will only increase. I was there myself a few years ago, it’s impressive, a ticking time bomb. In many dark places, however, the events took place a long time ago.
Dark tourism is not a modern phenomenon. What did the historical forms look like?
The forerunners include the Roman gladiator fights and public executions from the early Middle Ages to modern times, which often had the character of a public festival. And of course the morgues, above all La Morgue in Paris, where water bodies from the Seine were presented to the public to enable identification. It was described as a destination in travel guides early on and developed into a tourist attraction as early as the 19th century.
“When people take selfies in Auschwitz, for example, they have certainly reached their limits.”
Since when has tourism research been dealing with the topic?
The phenomenon has been around for a very long time, but it has only gained importance in recent years because more and more holidaymakers are visiting such locations and sometimes positioning themselves to generate income, but also to get political and moral messages to be able to announce.
In places of suffering and horror, such as concentration camp memorials in particular, the focus is on memory, mourning and education, in others, such as some prison museums, the horror factor is more important. Is there a moral evaluation of the goals?
Not for me as a scientist. These are different categories in a dark-light spectrum. It is interesting that the visitor structure changes with increasing duration. Initially, mostly survivors and relatives of the victims traveled to the former concentration camps. Today, visitors often visit these sites without personal reference, but out of historical interest and to commemorate the victims. And then sometimes behaviors arise that are rightly offensive. When people, for example, balance on the iconic rails in Auschwitz and take selfies, they have certainly reached their limits.
And what if people travel to floodplains or to areas destroyed by earthquakes?
At first glance, this also appears morally reprehensible, for example, after the great floods in New Orleans, there were relatively early bus tours through the destroyed parts of the city. But the few studies that have examined this topic have shown that these guests also felt sympathy or empathy and donated afterwards. And after the earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy, the residents were initially appalled by the disaster tourists, but then realized that they were also bringing money and drawing attention to the need. This put pressure on political decision-makers to press ahead with reconstruction. In any case, disaster tourism is only a marginal area of dark tourism.
For weeping tourists: There are tissue dispensers at Ground Zero in New York
The focus is on memorials and memorials. Some – such as the 9/11 Memorial in New York – rely heavily on dramatic staging. In New York there are even extra handkerchief dispensers because it is assumed that visitors will cry. Does such an emotional address make sense?
That is an unanswered question. Examples from the USA, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia show that those responsible there are more likely to rely on emotional overwhelm. In German memorials, on the other hand, factual information is in the foreground.
As tourist destinations, the places of horror compete with each other. Does that mean that spectacular presentations have to outbid each other?
No, it is more about the question of how new communication and information technologies should be used, for example to address the generation of digital natives who have a need for clear, lively and moving information. How far you go towards this is a tightrope walk.
Is there a risk that, with increasing tourism, the suffering of such dark places will be trivialized?
That cannot be prevented entirely. Those responsible for the institutions are only in control of the memorial sites. Excesses, for example with t-shirt and souvenir sales and some horrors, tend to settle in the area. This can be seen, for example, in Alcatraz, the famous prison island in San Francisco, where sometimes bizarre souvenirs are sold at Fisherman’s Wharf, although factual information is provided on site. Regardless of kitsch and discussions about taste, one must also see that most people feel the need to take a memento with them when they have visited a place, which is why these products are offered.
Dark Tourism: The market is growing in Asia, Africa and South America
Auschwitz now has more visitors than Neuschwanstein. And the commemoration of the atomic bombing has become an important economic factor in Hiroshima. Where are the limits of marketing?
They’re hard to pull. It is important that there is always a reference back to the content and the victims. But trivialization phenomena are simply unavoidable, because tourism consumption creates many desires among other providers and producers. This creates jobs and generates income. Tourism is an important economic sector.
Does that also apply to slum tourism, which is becoming increasingly popular with long-distance travelers?
It is one of the problematic forms of dark tourism. The market is growing in Asia, Africa and South America, with homeless tours partly also in Europe, and is very controversial. The key question is whether the local population will benefit or whether it will just remain a show and the money will flow to external companies. So far, studies especially from South Africa have come to the conclusion that such offers tend not to benefit people in the townships. You do not have the necessary know-how and capital to organize and market the tours.
What attracts tourists to the slums?
On the one hand, they want to distinguish themselves from the average tourist who only visits the usual sights and feel good about it. On the other hand, they really want to get an impression of the living conditions, although it is part of the conception of the tours that more positive aspects such as social projects and kindergartens are shown. This often does not adequately portray people’s precarious situation.
Dark Tourism: The business of fearfulness as a commercial fringe
Instead, poverty is presented in a dose that is tolerable to taste.
Yes. But the question of who benefits is a fundamental problem in tourism.
Some dark places no longer correspond to their own history, but are perceived according to their media image, which is shaped in films, series or computer games. How can this be explained?
In these cases, one speaks of hyperreal places where historical events mix with media images and a kind of new reality arises. The authentic character threatens to take a back seat. An extreme example is the former Jewish quarter in Krakow, where the film “Schindler’s List” was filmed. The desire to visit this ghetto sparked tourism that created a neo-Jewish world with kosher restaurants, klezmer music and museums, even though the district was not the authentic location of the ghetto.
Sometimes the horror turns into pure leisure fun. In horror worlds, guests can stick their heads in the guillotine or hang around in torture chambers. What do you make of it?
I see this business of fearfulness as a commercial fringe area. Many providers have – albeit simplified – references to the city’s history, some visitors say that they have learned something despite the rudimentary information. These offers can therefore not only be dismissed as banal attractions. But whether they even belong to dark tourism is disputed by some colleagues.
Tourists use Dark Tourism to help fund historical facilities
Even worse scenarios are conceivable. In dystopias in literature and film, perverse excesses of dark tourism up to manhunt are described. Do you deal with that?
Such warnings about political, social or ecological undesirable developments are always reminders not to let things get that far. This is not yet an issue for tourism science. Dark tourism is currently facing other challenges.
Which are they?
In some places the tourism industry is finding it difficult to integrate the actually existing dark places into its product range. This dissonant cultural heritage does not seem to fit the desired image of a “healthy” holiday world. This is an ambiguous topic, because many people in charge of dark places are skeptical of the tourist development because they fear it will become trivial. Many of these visitor magnets developed even though neither the destinations nor those responsible in the memorials advertised them. Tourists always have a bad image. Nevertheless, it should be noted that they also contribute to the funding of the facilities.
Dark Tourism: It is important to present different viewpoints of interest groups
How will this conflict be resolved in the future?
When designing places of remembrance, it is important to present different points of view of interest groups and to involve the victims and the population appropriately. When places attract an audience of millions, the economic, social and ecological consequences must also always be taken into account, i.e. the question of sustainability, which is becoming increasingly important for all areas of the tourism industry.
Do you expect dark tourism to continue to grow?
Unfortunately it is the case that more and more places of suffering, terror and death are being produced in the world: through armed conflicts, through man-made catastrophes and destructive natural events. And these are all new potential targets.
The interview was conducted by Regina Seipel
