The Benefits and Costs of Dark Tourism Development - Essay Example

Costs and benefits of black tourism development Name: Institution: Introduction The development of dark tourism is embedded on the eagerness with which people would like to visit sites associated with grief or some element of tragic occurrences. The development incorporates research that is conducted ethically to comprehend the social scientific attractions to these sites of death, disaster and macabre (Stone 2006). The development also revolves around the driving factors and the motive that attracts a tourist to the sceneries. There are elements of some gruesome past events that attract tourist to these otherwise cruel venues. The sceneries alone do not meet the threshold for declaring one a dark tourist and that is the reason why we have to take an insight into the factors that pushes one to arrive at the decision to visit such places which otherwise have an element of threat to the would be tourist (Stone 2006). The major push factor is highly likely to be inherent in the historical value more than it is to the connection that these sites have with death and suffering. A vivid understanding of the dark heritage is also a precursor to this study. This is due to the close correlation that exists between dark heritage and dark tourism (Cummins 2011). The field of dark tourism is loaded with controversial issues pertaining to how matters that trigger fear like death, disaster and possibly macabre acquires repackaging to be consumed in the modern tourist economy. However, death related tourist sites may be classified as dark: fun factories, exhibitions, dungeons, resting places, shrines conflict sites and camps of genocide (IDTR 2008). Of great concern is also the commodification of death by the modern society on issues like commemoration, memorial activities as well as secular pilgrimage. Dark tourism does not present issues of death per se, the commercialization of death and disaster is viewed as a contemporary mediation between the living and the dead (IDTR 2008). This school of thought includes visits to former battlefields, slavery homes, prisons, cemeteries, torture chambers, museum exhibitions, visitor attractions which are macabre themed, holocaust sites and even visits to natural and man-made disaster locations (Rami and Erdinç 2013). This presents a diversion from the solely death orientation to a broader view of dark tourism. Dark tourism has existed for substantial past; it has been in existence ever since the inception of leisure driven travel. For instance, in the ancient times dark tourism could have been a contributor to the attendance of the roman gladiatorial games, or spectator events during medieval executions (Beech 2000). Also to mention the undertaking of morgue tours in Europe during the 19th century and the visits to the battlefields as it happened in the aftermath of the Waterloo or Gettysburg conflicts (Cummins 2011). The interest of the media has also been in the increase in the concept of dark tourism. The combination of the words dark and tourism has elicited headlines. This paper envisages unveiling the appropriate development and management of the dark tourism and dark heritage. It also carries an insight to the promotion of the tourist sights, their attractions and exhibitions as well as endeavoring to understand the experiences of the dark tourists. The benefits and costs analysis will push us to carry out a thorough cost benefit analysis of dark tourism development. The costs will not only be concerned with the economic costs but also the social costs. Ten great sites for dark tourism There are places where suffering took place. Efforts have been made to tumble murder scenes, redevelop temples that witnessed mass executions and the paving of chemical disasters the wickedness associated with them cannot be erased. Some of these sites include the following: Lizzie Borden house where Abby Borden and her husband were brutally murdered in 1892. At the time the fact that a woman could commit murder was inconceivable. This made this case very popular with the media. This house is renowned as Lizzie Borden bed and breakfast museum. Dark tourists visit the home where the two murders were executed and possibly spend the night in the very murder scenes. The second one of glaring magnitude is the serial killer Dorothea Puente’s home. This home was used by Dorothea who befriended older men targeting to fleece them off their benefits. She murdered the elderly to remain with their social security checks. She used one room to drain the bodies of fluids and subsequently burry them in the front and back yards of the compound. This building today is part of the sites owned by the old city association. Tourists pay an estimated $30 to view the home which was sold to a family and modeled. Thirdly is the case of the remains of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s home in which seventeen young men met their brutal death. His victims were mostly brutalized and cannibalized. Their bodies were stored in containers and his refrigerator. Explanations by the tour guides were mostly drawn from research of the crime records and the records from the court proceedings (Cummins 2011). Local residents protested the placement of the site on the promoters’ website. Their basis of resistance was based on the fact that the tours came up too soon after the murders. The fourth site is the Los Angeles museum of death. This museum is home to collections of serial killer artwork. It hosts artworks associated with murderers Charles Manson and john Wayne. There are replicas which range from death masks to videos of the death scenes (Gerard Corsane 2005). Exhibits that were dedicated to cults and serial killers boost the sale of tickets. The fifth is the Missouri state penitentiary which is the bloodiest forty seven acres in America. It is the site of a former prison which was operational between 1836 and 2004 (Gerard 2005). Prior to its decommissioning, it was renown as penal facility in the Midwest. The congestion in the cells culminated in frequent deaths among the inmates. Tours are given today taking guests through the housing units, the gas chamber where forty murder convicts met their death. One case was executed using lethal injection. The sixth is the Kigali genocide memorial center in Rwanda (Ntunda 2015). The center is located at a site where an estimated two hundred and fifty thousand victims were buried. It was enacted on the tenth anniversary of the genocide. There are eight mass graves at the site, burial chambers and audio visual accounts collected from the survivors of the ordeal (Ntunda 2015). The seventh dark tourism site is the case of Hiroshima peace museum (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum website 2014). The bomb hit an area estimated at about a mile radius. The death toll was approximated at over seventy thousand people. A similar population was severely injured. Destruction to facilities like hospitals and staff was also an aftermath. The survivors are referred to as hibakusa which means explosion affected person. This memorial park in honor of the victims was established in 1955.it is estimated that the museum records visits of up to one million annually. The belongings of the victims are displayed at the park ("Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum website 2014). The eighth major site of black tourism is Pompeii which is situated in Italy. It came up as a result of deaths that were brought about by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which buried the city of Pompeii in volcanic ash (Parker 2006). The scenery hosts voids that were left by the decomposing bodies which the engineers injected with plaster to create the forms of the victims. It has been a tourist attraction for close to two hundred and fifty years (Denis et al 2015). The ninth bizarre site is the democratic people’s republic of North Korea’s Pyongyang city modeled from soviet type blocks where only the North Koreans with special permits can live or visit. Tourists to this site are closely monitored and their cell phones confiscated (Cummins 2011). This is out of the belief that millions of people have died in the northern Korean state from starvation and in camps of forced labor. The state prefers to portray to the tourists only positive image. The tenth site of dark tourism would be the Pripyat, Ukraine which is the best example of a post-apocalyptic city (Pitta 2015). The explosion of April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant emitted radioactive particles into the air over Russia and Europe killing thirty one people and leaving many people with bouts of long term effects like cancer (Pitta 2015). The residents of Pripyat were not evacuated until a day after the disaster. They experienced severe headaches and vomiting. Upon their evacuation they were instructed to collect only personal effects that would last three days. They were never allowed to return and their building and personal effects like clothing and bicycles are still where they were left (Pitta 2015). Organized tours visit designated of the disaster with instructions not to carry anything into and out of the area. Upon departure scanning is conducted for the radiation levels. Costs of the development of dark tourism The costs of black tourism are varied and entail both economic and social costs. The economic costs would include the costs of revamping the sites so as to be attractive and not just depict the horrific incidences that took place at the venues. Other costs are incurred in developing tourist companies that have very comprehensive knowledge about the areas to be visited. Appropriate and up to date infrastructural means should be put in place. In the cases of war torn places, accessibility which is likely to have been interfered with must be replenished to enhance ease of reach to these venues (Rami and Erdinç 2013). The costs of acquiring the necessary gadgets to carry out the inspection of the clients who visit radiation prone also add to the costs at these sights. There are also costs incurred in the preservation of the ruins of the massacre. Social costs Sad memories elicited to the families, friends and relatives of the victims. The disaster victims and their close relations do not take kindly the witnessing of their grief by tourists. They also envy the travel companies profiting from their plight. In October 2012 the residents of a New Orleans neighborhood who were severely affected by the hurricane revolted against tourism having been peaceful since the disaster in 2005. The perception of those closely affected is that other people are making fortune from their grief. Conducting tourism soon after the incidences hamper the cleanup efforts, it is viewed as a considerable lack of respect for the suffering by the local people. Some disrespectful and unsympathetic tourists erode the purpose of the memorial sessions (Rami and Erdinç 2013). If tourists dress normally and do not act like tourists, then it may not sanitize the purpose and experience of the memorial (Stone 2005). Tourist preparation concerning the terrifying sites to be visited may need the intervention of psychologists. This will prepare the tourists to contain themselves in the event of coming face to face with horrific realities. Benefits Tourism that seems to be of a memorial nature often succeeds in providing education because of the manner in which they are managed (Van & Geetha, 2015). The tourists get to know the proceedings that could have led to the event and may use this for scholarly matters (Rami and Erdinç 2013). The locality which hosts the site gets revenue from the supportive services that are offered to the tourists and tour firms. The spending and taxes that are paid by the tourists boost the economy of the hosting states. Dark tourism also exposes the host communities to the rest of the world, thereby enhancing inter-societal relations and cohesion. Resistance In order to evade resistance, the site developers should try to appease the local communities, through active involvement in the entirety of the whole process. This is based on the emotional attachment that the local communities have with the deceased. Very hurried arrangements may lead to rebellion. For instance, The Sri Lankan army attracted criticism when they planned to open a holiday home on a site where tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the civil war. The claim was that it was a glorification of the deaths that took place. The peace building is fragile due to the oppressive nature of the government. Demerits of dark tourism It brings back death that occurred in the past to public realm and discourse. This makes present absent death. Secondly it may aid the social neutralization of death hence reducing the dreadfulness that death brings. Thirdly it aids the reconstruction for the individuals in reflexivity and institutional sequestration which provides ample time to perceive moments of mortality from rather safe distance and environment. Conclusion To the present times, the academic literature is still eclectic and fragile in theory. The comprehension of both the production and consumption of the dark tourism concept remains obscure if not limited. This is propagated by the relationship between dark tourism and the cultural conditions of our society as well as the view of the institutions of our society today. There is need to develop more institutions that complement the workings of the institute for dark tourism research which targets illuminating the activities of dark tourism. This will strengthen the view of the correlation between life and death. Strengthening of such institutions will facilitate the emboldening of the processes that bridges the gap between consumerism, heritage and tourist experience. Such institutions will come up with an insight on dynamics with which people are drawn to the sceneries with images of death and also the manner of behavior while visiting such sites. They will also go a long way in enacting the relationship between dark tourism, societal culture, the politics of the day, ethical issues as well as moral interconnectivity. Disaster tourism can be avoided altogether. Countries that have just emerged from civil conflict or have experienced mass deaths and devastation should be handled with care because of the high probabilities of getting to the way of the aid providers. The impact of these tours is partly a factor of how they are managed. If the local people are involved through the development process, wield control of the tourism product and the benefits are channeled principally into rejuvenating those communities then the local community may view it as a positive thing. The present communication systems like twitter and other social media sites spreads information at very terrific speeds and people would want to struggle to see what actually happened. Dark tourism is not always detrimental, neither is it beneficial always. The persistent ethical question is on the basis of whom is benefitting. It is critical to assess the context in which one is entering and the possible ways of viewing your presence by the survivors of the tragedy. Tourist operators who are driven by greed may exploit the macabre. They may desecrate a particular place for their gain. So there is need to appraise on who gains what and how ( Van & Geetha, 2015). It remains obscure whether dark tourism is demand or supply driven. This call for more research in this area to come clear on this fact that is associated with loses of lives. Thorough research on this matter will call for acceptance of the intrinsic threat inherent in the fact that death is imminent and every human being is mortal. References "Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum website". Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2014. Beech, J. C (2000). Holocaust and Genocide Studies 18:234–255. Cummins, J. (2011). 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