Dark tourism: Why people are visiting sites of military attacks, war zones and disasters

There is a disturbing trend of people travelling to the sadder places of the world: sites of military attacks, war zones and disasters. Dark tourism is now a phenomenon, with its own website and dedicated tour guides. People visit these places to mourn, or to remember and honour the dead. But sometimes they just want to look, and sometimes they want to delight in the pain of others.

Of course, people have long visited places like the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, the site of the Twin Towers destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, Robben Island Prison, where Nelson Mandela and others spent many years, and more recently, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But there are more recent destinations, connected to active wars and aggression.

Since the Hamas military attacks of October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, celebrities and tourists have visited the related sites of the Nova music festival and the Nir Oz Kibbutz in Palestine/Israel.

The kibbutz tours, guided by former residents, allow people to view and be guided through houses of the dead, to be shown photographs and bullet holes. Sderot, the biggest city targeted by Hamas, is offering what it describes as “resilience tours”, connecting tourists with October 7 survivors.

Similar places are visited in Ukraine. The “popular” Donbas war tour, for instance,...

Read more