Dark
tourism seems to be a way of tourism that is growing vastly among tourists. Due
to recent events, this also has become a pretty large part of popular tourism
in Groningen.
Dark
tourism is a concept that describes a way of tourism that is focused on, for
example, death, atrocities, disaster and emotions (Lennon & Foley, 2000; Ryan, 2005; Sharpley & Stone, 2008).
This could explain why more and more tourist agencies offer tours to war zones
and places of disaster, like Palestine or Ground Zero in New York. Places like
this are attractive to many tourists because of the feelings and emotions they
bring up.
As you might know from
recent events, the multi-talented artist David Bowie passed away on the 10th of
January. As you might also know, there is a travelling art exhibition that
exhibits all of David Bowies paintings, pieces of art and many of his original
clothes and attributes. It just so happened to be that this art exhibition was
in Groningen at the time of Bowies death (coincidence?). At the day of Bowies
passing, the Groninger Museum was supposed to be closed, as it was a Sunday,
but after the news had arrived in Groningen, the museum board decided to open
the doors for many grieving fans. After his death, the demand for tickets has
rocketed sky-high, so much that the museum has already extended it's opening
hours and elongated the exhibition by four weeks to meet the demand.
This is a clear case of
dark tourism in Groningen. Chances are that, if Bowie hadn't died, the museum
wouldn't have had as much visitors. So many people want to take a look at pieces
of the legend that was David Bowie, and even more decided they wanted to do
that that after he had died. Pretty dark, right?
|
David Bowie (RIP) source:detorenbommelerwaard.nl |
sources:
Lennon, J. J., & Foley, M. (2000). Dark
tourism. London: Continuum
Ryan, C. (2005). Dark tourism: An introduction. In C. Ryan, S. Page & M.
Aiken (eds), Taking tourism to the limits: Issues, concepts and managerial
perspectives (pp. 187-190). Oxford: Elsevier.
Stone, P., & Sharpley, R. (2008). Consuming
dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 35 (2), 574–595.
doi:10.1016/j.annals.2008.02.003
http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4512/Cultuur/article/detail/4224467/2016/01/14/Groninger-Museum-kan-extra-toeloop-Bowiefans-prima-aan.dhtml
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/01/28/david-bowie-is-langer-in-groninger-museum