IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/touman/v61y2017icp275-301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism

Author

Listed:
  • Light, Duncan

Abstract

This paper reviews academic research into dark tourism and thanatourism over the 1996–2016 period. The aims of this paper are threefold. First, it reviews the evolution of the concepts of dark tourism and thanatourism, highlighting similarities and differences between them. Second it evaluates progress in 6 key themes and debates. These are: issues of the definition and scope of the concepts; ethical issues associated with such forms of tourism; the political and ideological dimensions of dark tourism and thanatourism; the nature of demand for places of death and suffering; the management of such places; and the methods of research used for investigating such tourism. Third, research gaps and issues that demand fuller scrutiny are identified. The paper argues that two decades of research have not convincingly demonstrated that dark tourism and thanatourism are distinct forms of tourism, and in many ways they appear to be little different from heritage tourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Light, Duncan, 2017. "Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 275-301.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:61:y:2017:i:c:p:275-301
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2017.01.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517717300092
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.01.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kang, Eun-Jung & Scott, Noel & Lee, Timothy Jeonglyeol & Ballantyne, Roy, 2012. "Benefits of visiting a ‘dark tourism’ site: The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 257-265.
    2. Tribe, John & Liburd, Janne J., 2016. "The tourism knowledge system," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 44-61.
    3. Dunkley, Ria A., 2015. "Beyond temporal reflections in thanatourism research," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 177-179.
    4. Zhang, Honglei & Yang, Yang & Zheng, Chunhui & Zhang, Jie, 2016. "Too dark to revisit? The role of past experiences and intrapersonal constraints," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 452-464.
    5. Buda, Dorina Maria, 2015. "The death drive in tourism studies," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 39-51.
    6. Isaac, Rami K., 2015. "Every utopia turns into dystopia," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 329-330.
    7. Tucker, Hazel, 2016. "Empathy and tourism: Limits and possibilities," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 31-43.
    8. Podoshen, Jeffrey S., 2013. "Dark tourism motivations: Simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 263-271.
    9. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Andrzejewski, Susan A. & Venkatesh, Vivek & Wallin, Jason, 2015. "New approaches to dark tourism inquiry: A response to Isaac," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 331-334.
    10. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Venkatesh, Vivek & Wallin, Jason & Andrzejewski, Susan A. & Jin, Zheng, 2015. "Dystopian dark tourism: An exploratory examination," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 316-328.
    11. Roxanna Magee & Audrey Gilmore, 2015. "Heritage site management: from dark tourism to transformative service experience?," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(15-16), pages 898-917, November.
    12. Vicky Katsoni & Anastasia Stratigea (ed.), 2016. "Tourism and Culture in the Age of Innovation," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 1, number 978-3-319-27528-4, December.
    13. Hyde, Kenneth F. & Harman, Serhat, 2011. "Motives for a secular pilgrimage to the Gallipoli battlefields," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1343-1351.
    14. Yan, Bing-Jin & Zhang, Jie & Zhang, Hong-Lei & Lu, Shao-Jing & Guo, Yong-Rui, 2016. "Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 108-121.
    15. ., 2014. "Introduction to Part III," Chapters, in: Common Innovation, chapter 15, pages 133-134, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Wilson, Erica & Hollinshead, Keith, 2015. "Qualitative tourism research: Opportunities in the emergent soft sciences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 30-47.
    17. Chambers, Donna & Buzinde, Christine, 2015. "Tourism and decolonisation: Locating research and self," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-16.
    18. Yankholmes, Aaron & McKercher, Bob, 2015. "Understanding visitors to slavery heritage sites in Ghana," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 22-32.
    19. Matthew Winsor Rofe, 2013. "Considering the Limits of Rural Place Making Opportunities: Rural Dystopias and Dark Tourism," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 262-272, April.
    20. Dunkley, Ria & Morgan, Nigel & Westwood, Sheena, 2011. "Visiting the trenches: Exploring meanings and motivations in battlefield tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 860-868.
    21. Nawijn, Jeroen & Isaac, Rami Khalil & van Liempt, Adriaan & Gridnevskiy, Konstantin, 2016. "Emotion clusters for concentration camp memorials," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 244-247.
    22. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Hunt, James M., 2011. "Equity restoration, the Holocaust and tourism of sacred sites," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1332-1342.
    23. R. Powell & J. Kennell, 2016. "Dark Cities? Developing a Methodology for Researching Dark Tourism in European Cities," Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, in: Vicky Katsoni & Anastasia Stratigea (ed.), Tourism and Culture in the Age of Innovation, edition 1, pages 303-319, Springer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tan, Xiaoyuan & Ying, Tianyu & Mariska, Dini & Liu-Lastres, Bingjie & Ye, Shun & Kim, Hany, 2022. "Residents' involvement in disaster tourism as a practice: The Case of an Islam destination, Aceh," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Luisa Fernanda Tribiño & Leonardo Garavito, 2018. "Debates contemporáneos sobre turismo, tomo IV. Ética y buen vivir. Rflexiones actuales para la planificación y gestión del turismo," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Administración de Empresas Turísticas y Hoteleras, number 29, August.
    3. Kozłowski, Maciej & Brzozowska-Rup, Katarzyna & Piotrowska-Piątek, Agnieszka, 2021. "Information and Communication Technologies in food and accommodation sector in EU countries: Sticker or challenge for tourism development?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    4. Georges Harb & Charbel Bassil, 2020. "Terrorism and inbound tourism: Does immigration have a moderating effect?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 26(3), pages 500-518, May.
    5. Ioana Prodan, 2021. "Indonesia €“ A Goldmine Of Dark Tourism Destinations," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 136-139, July.
    6. María Luisa Galán Otero & Nancy Rocío Rueda-Esteban, 2019. "Debates sobre el turismo, tomo V. Turismo en territorios de posconflicto: Una oportunidad latente para la reparación social," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Administración de Empresas Turísticas y Hoteleras, number 31, August.
    7. Brida, Juan Gabriel & González Rosas, Erika Lourdes & Seijas Giménez, María Nela, 2023. "Dark satisfaction in Guanajuato’s Mummies Museum visitors," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 15-24.
    8. Martini, Annaclaudia & Sharma, Nitasha, 2022. "Framing the sublime as affect in post-disaster tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Armand Faganel, 2018. "Global Diversities in Safeguarding the Cultural Heritage," MIC 2018: Managing Global Diversities; Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Bled, Slovenia, 30 May–2 June 2018,, University of Primorska Press.
    10. Reddy, Maharaj Vijay & Boyd, Stephen W. & Nica, Mirela, 2020. "Towards a post-conflict tourism recovery framework," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Virginija Jureniene & Martynas Radzevicius, 2022. "Peculiarities of Sustainable Cultural Development: A Case of Dark Tourism in Lithuania," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-25, June.
    12. Pablo Altaba & Juan A. García-Esparza, 2021. "A Practical Vision of Heritage Tourism in Low-Population-Density Areas. The Spanish Mediterranean as a Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, May.
    13. Anne M. Blankenship, 2018. "Jewish Tourism in Berlin and Germany’s Public Repentance for the Holocaust," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 11(2), pages 117-126.
    14. María de-Miguel-Molina, 2020. "Visiting Dark Murals: An Ethnographic Approach to the Sustainability of Heritage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, January.
    15. Andreia Schneider & Silvia Anghel-Vlad & Lucia Negruţ & Gheorghe Goje, 2021. "Tourists’ Motivations For Visiting Dark Tourism Sites. Case Of Romania," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 140-150, July.
    16. Yanting Cai & Gang Li & Chang Liu & Long Wen, 2022. "Post-pandemic dark tourism in former epicenters," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(1), pages 175-199, February.
    17. Virgili, Sandrine & Delacour, Hélène & Bornarel, Frédéric & Liarte, Sébastien, 2018. "‘From the Flames to the Light’: 100 years of the commodification of the dark tourist site around the Verdun battlefield," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 61-72.
    18. Farkić, Jelena & Kennell, James, 2021. "Consuming dark sites via street art: Murals at Chernobyl," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Jihye Min & Birendra KC & Seungman Kim & Jaehoon Lee, 2020. "The Impact of Disasters on a Heritage Tourist Destination: A Case Study of Nepal Earthquakes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-12, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leask, Anna, 2016. "Visitor attraction management: A critical review of research 2009–2014," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 334-361.
    2. Yan, Bing-Jin & Zhang, Jie & Zhang, Hong-Lei & Lu, Shao-Jing & Guo, Yong-Rui, 2016. "Investigating the motivation–experience relationship in a dark tourism space: A case study of the Beichuan earthquake relics, China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 108-121.
    3. Zhang, Honglei & Yang, Yang & Zheng, Chunhui & Zhang, Jie, 2016. "Too dark to revisit? The role of past experiences and intrapersonal constraints," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 452-464.
    4. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Yan, Grace & Andrzejewski, Susan A. & Wallin, Jason & Venkatesh, Vivek, 2018. "Dark tourism, abjection and blood: A festival context," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 346-356.
    5. Brida, Juan Gabriel & González Rosas, Erika Lourdes & Seijas Giménez, María Nela, 2023. "Dark satisfaction in Guanajuato’s Mummies Museum visitors," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 15-24.
    6. Luisa Fernanda Tribiño & Leonardo Garavito, 2018. "Debates contemporáneos sobre turismo, tomo IV. Ética y buen vivir. Rflexiones actuales para la planificación y gestión del turismo," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Administración de Empresas Turísticas y Hoteleras, number 29, August.
    7. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Venkatesh, Vivek & Wallin, Jason & Andrzejewski, Susan A. & Jin, Zheng, 2015. "Dystopian dark tourism: An exploratory examination," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 316-328.
    8. Podoshen, Jeffrey S., 2013. "Dark tourism motivations: Simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 263-271.
    9. Weaver, David & Tang, Chuanzhong & Zhao, Yanzhi, 2020. "Facilitating sustainable tourism by endogenization: China as exemplar," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Metod Šuligoj, 2019. "Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside: An Electronic Media Perspective," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 12(2), pages 121-132.
    11. Alejziak Wiesław, 2019. "A Scientific Explanation and Understanding of Epistemological Issues in Tourism Research (A Study Based on the Theories of Kurt Lewin and John Tribe)," Turyzm / Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 29(2), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Virgili, Sandrine & Delacour, Hélène & Bornarel, Frédéric & Liarte, Sébastien, 2018. "‘From the Flames to the Light’: 100 years of the commodification of the dark tourist site around the Verdun battlefield," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 61-72.
    13. Nogués-Pedregal, Antonio-Miguel, 2019. "Anthropological contributions to tourism studies," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 227-237.
    14. Chen, Xiaoqing, 2017. "A phenomenological explication of guanxi in rural tourism management: A case study of a village in China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 383-394.
    15. Everingham, Phoebe & Peters, Andrew & Higgins-Desbiolles, Freya, 2021. "The (im)possibilities of doing tourism otherwise: The case of settler colonial Australia and the closure of the climb at Uluru," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    16. Gillen, Jamie & Mostafanezhad, Mary, 2019. "Geopolitical encounters of tourism: A conceptual approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 70-78.
    17. José Magano & José A. Fraiz-Brea & Ângela Leite, 2022. "Dark Tourists: Profile, Practices, Motivations and Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, September.
    18. Luna-Cortés, Gonzalo & López-Bonilla, Luis Miguel & López-Bonilla, Jesús Manuel, 2022. "The consumption of dark narratives: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 524-534.
    19. Tribe, John & Liburd, Janne J., 2016. "The tourism knowledge system," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 44-61.
    20. Yan, Grace & Kloeppel, Mark & Li, Xiang (Robert), 2017. "Producing Extreme Metal festivals: An analysis from Lacan's gaze," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 579-589.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:61:y:2017:i:c:p:275-301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/tourism-management .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.