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Dark Tourism: The Attraction

of Death and Disaster

Article in Annals of Tourism Research October 2002

DOI: 10.1016/S0160-7383(02)00015-4

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1188 PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW

Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 11881189, 2002

Printed in Great Britain
0160-7383/02/$20.00

Dark Tourism: The Attraction of

Death and Disaster
By John Lennon and Malcom Foley. Continuum (The Tower Building, 11
York Road, London SE1 7NX, UK. <www.contniimbooks.com>) 2000, viii+184
pp (figures, photos, references, index) $24.95 Pbk. ISBN 0-8264-5064-4.

Wayne William Smith

Walkerston Tourism Recovery Partnership, Canada

Dark Tourism explores a form of tourism that has been under-researched,

particularly in North America. The authors suggest that dark tourism is far
from just visiting sites where atrocities have occurred but rather, is both pro-
duct of circumstances of the late modern world and a significant influence
upon those circumstances (p. 3). They argue that politics, sociology, and
current technologies are just as important in creating dark tourism sites as
the events that occurred at the sites themselves. The book examines several
such sites, including how they have been interpreted and are presented to
tourists and how history has shaped those interpretations through media,
political forces, and social change.
Chapters three, four, and ten are dedicated to the Holocaust and the sites
around the world that keep the memory alive. These chapters present several
intriguing discussions about the appropriate ways in which to interpret this
tragedy. One of the more thought-provoking sections is a discussion of how
Auschwitz had been interpreted by the Polish Communist regime versus how
it is viewed today. During the Communist era, the regime used the atrocities
at Auschwitz to portray themselves as noble saviors of the victims of a Fascist
regime with little mention of the Jews. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, how-
ever, interpretation at the site has changed dramatically to more historically
accurate representation of the events. This shift has occurred with assistance
from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and historical groups worldwide.
While the discussion of the interpretation issues is poignant, that of local
residents perceptions of these sites and the perceptions of tourist behavior
could have also been carried on as important topics, but were left largely unde-
veloped.
Chapter five examines the understanding of the German occupation of
(English) Channel Islands during World War II. The local tourism officials
responsible for developing site interpretation chose to focus on the positive
elements of what happened during that period while dark elements are
ignored (p. 66). For instance, it is argued that the celebration of the German
Underground Hospital Museum ignores the high numbers of Hitlers collab-
orators on the island. The selective perception of the occupation of the islands
is evidence of the island residents willingness to remember only the positive
and a desire to distance themselves from the unpleasant aspects of the occu-
pation. Surprisingly, connections are made between the arguments of the resi-
dents in Germany and Poland wishing to forget the atrocities of that period
and the Channel Islanders ability to skew the message of what happened
 PUBLICATIONS IN REVIEW 1189

during World War II into a positive framework. The lack of discussion of the
impacts of geography, media interest (there were no movies made about the
Channel Islands), and sociological changes in the communities around the
two sites in influencing how the two sites are interpreted is a missed opport-
unity.
Chapter six discusses the Kennedy assassination and the sites commemorat-
ing it. It contends that the assassination and the US preoccupation with JFK
is largely media-based. The description of JFK in the book as a television
president is as true in his death as it was in his life. Certain televised images
are firmly embedded in peoples minds even if they were not alive at the time
of the assassination, thanks to the ongoing media preoccupation with JFK.
The discussion builds on these thoughts by describing how media images are
used at the memorial sites to evoke the emotions and to enable a greater
understanding of the historical context in which the Kennedy assassination
took place. This chapter also compares the memorial sites dedicated to the
memory of JFK. It creates a matrix that compares sites in terms of pro-
duction (celebration of Kennedys achievements) and consumption
(reverence of his memory expressed through tourists behavior). The matrix
offers some useful insights into the different ways dark tourism sites are
developed.
Chapter seven looks at World War I and II battlefields. There is a frank
discussion of Pearl Harbor and the US Park Services philosophy towards visi-
tation to the USS Arizona sites. In particular, the internal discussions by the
Park Service whether or not blame for the attack should be placed during
interpretive sessions is illuminating. Eventually, education won out over emo-
tion. The powerful messages that are portrayed at the commemorative site
have been carefully crafted to avoid stirring feelings of anger. The chapter
also discusses war sites in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and
Belgium. One particularly useful aspect of this chapter is a discussion of the
development of motor coach tours for veterans and historians.
Overall, this book would be suitable for a third or fourth year university
issues course. Despite thin coverage of certain issues, the book challenges the
reader to think about how tourism development is shaped by political, media,
and sociological forces, and about how societys understanding of the signifi-
cance of certain tourism sites is also shaped by those forces. The authors pos-
ition themselves as defenders of historical truth and against the commodifi-
cation of dark tourism sites. This position opens the possibility of debate
about whether publicly designating any site as a commemorative one inevitably
turns it into a commodity. This book is a valuable resource and reference
for the concept of dark tourism. The descriptions of the sites covered are
provocative and powerful. The authors also remember to set their discussions
in the context of the local communities that act as hosts to those drawn by
the darker side of human history. They have revealed dark tourism to be a
significant topic on which more research is needed to cast light. A

Wayne Smith: Walkerton Tourism Recovery Partnership, PO Box 1344, Walkerton

N0G 2V0, Canada. Email <wrtp@bmts.com>.

Assigned 1 March 2001. Submitted 29 October 2001. Accepted 12 November 2001.

PII: S0160-7383(02)00015-4

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