Dark Tourism Literature Review

Chapter One
Literature Review
1.1 Origins and Evolution of Dark Tourism
Dark Tourism (Foley & Lennon, 1996), the most common phrase used to describe visiting historical sites relating to mass death and atrocities, has roots in the scholastic works and terminology of black spot tourism (Rojek ,1993), thanatourism (Seaton, 1996), dissonant heritage tourism (Tunbridge & Ashworth, 1996), and morbid tourism (Blom, 2000).
Seaton 's term "thanatourism" is also well-known within literature as it refers to the origins of this dark type of tourism. Thanatoptic tradition -dates back to the Middle Ages- refers to the contemplation and interest in death. Additionally, Seaton (2009) highlights the fact that thanatourism is entrenched in the Christian

For this reason, the Roman Colosseum is considered one of the early dark tourism attractions. In further support of his argument, Stone also cites public hangings in the Medieval Times which acted as a symbol of penalty procedures and ,at the same time, a show for a variety of visitors (Stone & Sharpley, 2008). The purpose of witnessing the execution of two criminals is suggested by Boorstin (1964) to organize the first guided dark tour.

1.2 Definitions of Dark Tourism
A phenomenon which is described by Seaton (1996: 240) as “travel to a location wholly, or partially, motivated by the desire for actual or sym¬bolic encounters with death, particularly, but not exclusively, violent death, which may, to a varying degree be activated by the person-specific features of those whose deaths are its focal objects”.
Stone (2006: 146) defined it as “the act of travel to sites associated with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre”. Additionally, the Institute for Dark Tourism Research (IDTR) introduced another definition for dark tourism to be described as “the act of travel to sites, attractions and exhibitions of death, disaster or the seemingly macabre”. (IDTR, 2015)
The definition of dark tourism has expanded to include not only sites of actual death, but also the events connected to death, atrocities,

Some people visit the battlefield sites in remembrance of the soldiers, yet other visitors -usually from a different age group- go as a part of school excursion or a normal day trip.
A study done by Liyanage et al. (2015) aimed at understanding the relation between dark and urban tourism clarified that one of the key motivations for visiting dark tourism attractions can be its proximity to a vital city which usually offers easy-accessibility.
An endeavor via empirical research using interviews tried to discover tourists ' motivations for visiting the Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz. Thurnell-Read (2009) found out that some of them visit it because it is a well-known attraction. Others were interested by the historical background of the camp.
1.5 Dark Tourism Experiences
Sites associated with death and disasters offer not only an emotional tourist experience but also an educational experience via learning more about the historical events which took place in these sites (Kang et al.,