Research Symposium

BIO

Hi there! I am Joshua Liebman, a second-year at Florida State. I grew up in Singapore and Malaysia and moved to Daytona Beach when I was eleven. I love history and Asian studies so working with Dr. Buhrman has been such a pleasure and joy. My hobbies include rock climbing, strategy games, soccer, and horseback riding.

The Ethics of Dark Tourism

Abstract

Tourism has been and continues to be a major economic factor for communities.

Through research on historical memorials and disasters, the question of visitor movement and motivation emerged. A fledgling concept, Dark Tourism, has been proposed to explain the reasoning behind tourist movement to sites famous because of tragedy and disaster.

Tourism to sites such as the Catacombs of Paris and Auschwitz is notorious for the “dark” motivations of their visitors. To understand whether Dark Tourism is ethical, this investigation will cross-examine literature on Dark Tourism. Data collected and the conclusion from this research will not only help with optimization of tourist sites, but also to allow the audience to answer a subjective question, is Dark Tourism ethical?

Keywords: Tourism, Ethics, Travel