Dark Tourism: Death as a new tourism business in Spain

Abstract

This research has analysed the phenomenon of dark tourism from its very beginning, its evolution, its embryonic commercialization and even the concept of experiential tourism as a revolution in the tourism industry. The objectives were to reel off the product and the profile of the dark tourism consumer, to know the possible stigmatization of the dark tourist and the feasibility of the exploitation of such typology in Spain. To do so, a double methodology was used: firstly, a qualitative one in the form of interviews with a professional group made up of a varied cast of writers, researchers and professionals and, secondly, a quantitative one in the form of a survey and survey-experiment to a heterogeneous and representative sample of tourists and travellers. The results obtained were highly significant, 66.3% of people surveyed imagine the possible proliferation of a dark tourism industry in Spain, although they point out different types of blockages such as legal, cultural or ethical for their commercialization. The existing literature began to take shape in the late 1990s, but it involved a false idea of heterogeneity in activity. Therefore, this research creates a single spectrum of intensity and new categories and subcategories by unifying and complementing Seaton, Fennon, Foley and Stone’s classic ones. The main conclusion drawn from such research is that dark tourism can be a catalyst for changes, since it is capable of using dormant endogenous resources for development and territorial transformation in volatile, critical or turbulent times in the Spanish tourism industry.

Keywords: Thanatotourism, dark tourism, dark profile, dark spectrum, dark categories, dark resources