War tourism
War tourism is recreational travel to active or former war zones for purposes of sightseeing or historical study. The term may be used pejoratively to describe thrill-seeking in dangerous and forbidden places. In 1988, P. J. O'Rourke applied the pejorative meaning to war correspondents.[1]
Early warfare
Crimean War
During the
American Civil War
The
Late 19th century
Thomas Cook began promoting tours to the battlefields of the Second Boer War before the conflict had ended. A variety of other travel agents advertised the easily accessible and picturesque battlefields of Tugela and Ladysmith. Groups of tourists also closely followed the Franco-Prussian War visiting the battlefields shortly after the fighting was over. The above were criticized by Alfred Milner, The Observer and Punch.[5]
One of the first travel agents, Henry Gaze, created a tour which included the battlefield of Waterloo in 1854. Waterloo was also a destination of an 1886 Polytechnic Touring Association tour, during which schoolboys and teachers visited the site for educational purposes. According to the 1913 Thomas Cook travel guide, the rising popularity of Waterloo as a tourist attraction led to the appearance of numerous charlatans claiming to have participated in the battle. The guide also highlighted the booming trade of relics and souvenirs related to the engagement.[6]
World War I
Despite the criticism war tourism continued to develop following the pace of the tourism industry in general. At the beginning of World War I it became evident that following the end of the war, the related battlefields would attract considerable attention from potential tourists. Although instances of war tourism during the Great War have been documented, they remained limited due to opposition by the French authorities.[7]
Following the end of the war, previous instances of trophy hunting were replaced by
A large number of battlefield guides were produced by a variety of travel agencies further fueling the rise of war tours. A 1936 study brought to light the fact that the majority of war tourists during the period were driven by curiosity or were paying homage to their deceased relatives.[10] Today, WWI battlefield tourism attracts tens of thousands of tourists to former war zones on the Western Front and in the Dardanelles for example.[11]
World War II
Following the end of World War II former battlefields created new war tourist destinations. Saipan, as well as other battlefields of the Pacific, became a place of pilgrimage for Japanese veterans who reburied and erected monuments to their fallen comrades.[12]
Modern warfare
Foley and Lennon explored the idea that people are attracted to regions and sites where "inhuman acts" have occurred. They claim that motivation is driven by media coverage and a desire to see for themselves, and that there is a symbiotic relationship between the attraction and the visitor, whether it be a death camp or site of a celebrity's death.[13]
21st century
Former security professional Rick Sweeney formed War Zone Tours in 2008, while another of the companies operating in this market was begun by a former The New York Times journalist Nicholas Wood.[14] Sweeney is part of a group of tour guides who take tourists to countries that have experienced or are mired in conflict. A tourist on a trip to Baghdad in 2010 might have paid up to $40,000.
In 2014, war tourism was reportedly on the increase
In
In 2022, Canadian politician Dominic Cardy vacationed in Ukraine.[23] He visited sites that had experienced Russian bombing and damage and shared multiple images and videos to his personal X (Twitter) account.[24]
In 2021, British internet personality 'Lord' Miles Routledge visited Afghanistan during the Fall of Kabul, and has since returned multiple times. He was captured and detained by the Taliban for several months. He shared photos, Livestreams, videos, and stories from Afghanistan online as well as later recounting his experience in interviews and a book.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-87113-240-6.
- ISBN 9780415674331.
- ^ Burgess, Jim (2011-03-10). "Spectators Witness History at Manassas". Civil War Trust. Ground Magazine, Spring 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ^ Kamlin, Debra (15 July 2014). "The Rise of Dark Tourism". The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ^ Lloyd 1998, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Lloyd 1998, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Lloyd 1998, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Lloyd 1998, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Lloyd 1998, pp. 29–34.
- ^ Lloyd 1998, pp. 29–31.
- .
- ^ Stingl, Miloslav (1989). Priklyucheniya v Okeanii [Adventures in Oceania] (in Russian). Moscow: Pravda. pp. 370–384.
- ^ Lynch, Paul; Causevic, Senija (2008-10-21). "Tourism development and contested communities". Revue Électronique des Sciences Humaines et Sociales. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ "War Tourism Is A Disturbing Trend On The Rise In Israel". Carbonated Tv.[dead link]
- ^ Griggs, Mary-Beth (16 July 2014). "People are Traveling to War Zones for Tourism". Smithsonian. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ^ "'Dark tourism' in strife-torn areas on the rise". CBC News. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- ^ "War Matador". Eye on Palestine Art and Film Festival. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Taub, Ben. "War Tourists Flock to Syria's Front Lines". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ "The Rise of Dark Tourism". The Atlantic. 15 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ "22دانشجوي جانباخته حادثه انديشمك -خرمآباد" [22 students who died in Andishmak-Khorramabad accident]. Tabnak (in Persian). 26 March 2006. Archived from the original on 29 March 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ "تصادف اتوبوس راهيان نور و جان باختن 27 تن دیگر" [Rahyan Noor bus accident and 27 other people died]. Tabnak (in Persian). 6 April 2007. Archived from the original on 4 April 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ "مرگ ۲۶ نفر در سانحه رانندگی در ایران" [26 people died in a traffic accident in Iran]. BBC Persian (in Persian). 20 October 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Fradette, Réal (1 September 2022). "Le ministre néo-brunswickois Dominic Cardy se rendra bientôt en Ukraine" [New Brunswick minister Dominic Cardy to visit Ukraine soon]. Radio Canada (in French). Retrieved 13 September 2022.
- ^ Cardy, Dominic [@DominicCardy] (September 11, 2022). "All clear in Kyiv but Russian attacks to the east, hitting the power grid. Kyiv ignored the sirens. There's a feeling of calm resilience here. Two revolutions and a grinding war later, these people are done with Russia. We have to help Ukraine silence the sirens forever" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 April 2024 – via Twitter.
Bibliography
- Lloyd, David W. (1998). Battlefield Tourism. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 978-1-85973-179-6.
Further reading
- Evanno, Yves-Marie, and Vincent, Johan (eds.), Tourisme et Grande Guerre. Voyage(s) sur un front histoirque méconnu (1914-2019) (Ed. Codex, 2019)
- Lennon, John; Foley, Malcolm (2004). Dark tourism (Reprinted. ed.). London [u.a.]: Thomson. ISBN 978-0826450647.
- Lisle, Debbie. "Consuming danger: reimagining the war/tourism divide." Alternatives (2000): 91–116. in JSTOR
- Weaver, David Bruce. "The exploratory war‐distorted destination life cycle." International Journal of Tourism Research 2.3 (2000): 151–161.
- Winter, Caroline. "Tourism, social memory and the Great War." Annals of Tourism Research 36.4 (2009): 607–626. online
External links
- Kamin, Debra (July 15, 2014). "The Rise of Dark Tourism". The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- War Zone Tours
- WW2 War Tourism
- HA - War Tourism in Bosnia&Herzegovina