Atrocity sites draw crowds of tourists

ROBIN BARTON reports on the modern way to beat traveller's ennui.

A macabre modern tourist phenomenon, ranging from tours of Los Angeles by hearse to day trips to Auschwitz, is analysed in a new book, Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster (Continuum).

The authors, Professors John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, of Glasgow Caledonian University, travelled the world and found many examples supporting the notion that "touristic interest in recent death, disaster and atrocity is a growing phenomenon."

"A Schindler's List tour triggered the research because it was such a peculiar set-up," said Lennon. The film's director, Steven Spielberg, was not allowed to film in Auschwitz, so a replica was built which, because it was more accessible than the actual concentration camp, became popular with tourists.

Auschwitz itself is a well-established stop on tourist itineraries, with an estimated 750,000 visitors a year. A further 900,000 visit Dachau.

One UK operator offering day trips to Auschwitz is Transun. "We are led by client demand," said a spokesman, "and we saw a chance to do something different."

In the US it is common for the deaths of public figures to be commercially commemorated. There is a Cadillac tour along the route taken by President Kennedy through Dallas, with a recorded soundtrack of clapping and cheering until, outside the school book depository, shots ring out and the car speeds tourists to the hospital.

Lennon visited the sixth-floor museum inside the depository on Elm St. "The marketing director told me that they weren't going to do anything tacky. When I reached the gift shop, they were selling mugs emblazoned with crosshair gunsights."

Britain, too, has sites of "dark tourism." After the Dunblane massacre the council had to ask tour operators to stop sending coaches to the town. The same happened in Lockerbie, and 25 Cromwell St in Gloucester, home of Fred and Rosemary West, was demolished for this reason. There is a "Tour of the Troubles" in Ulster.

"I was interested in finding a link between these "fatal attractions" and looking at the way tourism commodifies tragedy," said Lennon. "Capitalism is driven by opportunity, but this level of tragedy must not be compromised."

- INDEPENDENT

* Continuum Publishers