Dark Tourism, Challenges, Opportunities and Limitations: Present and Future

Dear Colleagues，

Over recent years, dark and thana tourism have established as important niches globally. In essence, dark tourism has captivated the attention of many subdisciplines such as geography, sociology, anthropology and political science (only to name a few). In the fields of tourism research, dark tourism has occupied a central position in academic conferences and events, as well as in publications located in top-tiered journals. The proliferation of this topic has invariably led scholars to critically discuss the nature of dark tourism. Dark tourism seems to encompass many things, and this makes operational definitions very difficult. Similar phenomena (in different niches), which include dark tourism, post-disaster tourism, mourning or grief tourism, or trauma tourism, allude to a new form of tourism where the “Other's pain” is gazed and consumed by the tourist. The morbid taste plays a leading role in dark tourism consumption. At the same time, the phenomenon defies the apollonian sense of beauty that historically marked classic tourism. As a result of this, dark tourism theorists have been grounded into conceptual gridlock. In this context, some pungent questions surface: What is dark tourism? What do dark tourists look for? What are their motivations? What is the future of dark tourism in an ever-changing (uncertain) world? What is the best methodology to study dark tourism issues?

The present Special Issue invites theoretical and empirical papers that focus on dark tourism as the primary object of scrutiny. The call is extended to professional researchers in tourism and social sciences interested in dark tourism and thana tourism. 

Prof. Dr. Maximiliano Korstanje
Guest Editor

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• thana tourism
• dark tourism
• tourism crisis