Dark Tourism: Is it ethical?

Is dark tourism non-ethical or educational?

Transcript

00:00A lot of people are now looking for more cultural experiences and within that comes oftentimes

00:06dark tourism. So people are looking to do things that are a little bit different and

00:10to learn different things as well. To have tourists who are not entirely paying respect

00:15can cause issues, can cause resentment towards the tourists. So it is really important that

00:21we sort of, we do have that almost code of conduct.

00:25Places like Alcatraz and the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum in Rwanda are considered dark

00:30tourism hotspots. It's said that problems tend to arise in these areas when tourists

00:36aren't respectful of the sensitivity. And notorious examples of this include people

00:41taking selfies outside places like Grenfell Tower and Auschwitz.

00:45I think it's about being sensitive because there is actually so much to gain from visiting

00:49dark tourism sites. And even sort of the more light-hearted ones like I mentioned before

00:54the London Dungeons, that is supposed to be a fun day out for families. Your children

00:58go there. And I think there's also sort of a timeline aspect associated with it quite

01:05often. The longer ago it took place, the less offense it tends to have on people. Whereas

01:12I've heard people saying that Wuhan is the next big dark tourism destination. And that

01:17is still very, very close in people's minds. So people are more affected by things that

01:22happened to themselves or close relatives. When there's things like disasters, like there

01:27are a lot of people after Hurricane Katrina that went to the site to go and see and take

01:31pictures. There were still people suffering and grieving and picking up the pieces.

01:36Just need to make sure that when people visit, and if you are a tour operator or a travel

01:41organization who is facilitating dark tourism, it's really important. And I think it's all,

01:47it's a moral obligation really that they do educate the tourists and let them know some

01:51of the do's and the don'ts and maybe put in a ban on selfie sticks or whatever it might

01:55be to prevent that sort of offensive behavior from taking place.