Manishree Mondal, PhD – Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Midnapore College (Autonomous), West Bengal, India
Ahmad Albattat, PhD – Associate Professor & Program Leader, School of Global Hospitality and Tourism, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Marco Valeri, PhD – Professor, Organizational Behavior, Faculty of Economics, Niccolò Cusano University, Italy
Pankaj Kumar Tyagi, PhD – Professor, School of Hotel Management & Tourism, Chandigarh University, Punjab, India

Series: Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing Studies
BISAC: SOC002010; TRV000000; SOC057000
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52305/ETYL6222

This book emerges as a pivotal moment in the field of dark tourism studies. The phenomenon that originated in the 1990s as a specialized academic exploration centered on Holocaust tourism and battlefield visitation has evolved into a comprehensive multidisciplinary domain. This field now engages with essential enquiries regarding societal processes of remembrance and forgetfulness, the commoditization of trauma, and the motivations behind the growing participation of individuals in experiences related to suffering. The collective expertise of the contributors, encompassing legal scholars, cultural theorists, psychologists, anthropologists, tourism economists, linguistics, geographers and media studies specialists, illustrates that dark tourism transcends simplistic categorizations such as “thana tourism” or “grief tourism.” This book demonstrates its significance as a critical lens for analyzing the dynamic interplay between contemporary society and its historical, technological, ethical, and collective memory frameworks on outstanding geographical landscapes within the context of a globalized environment.

This book has five comprehensive sections which are outlined as follows. Section I establishes the intellectual groundwork of dark tourism studies by examining its conceptual underpinnings, pedagogical evolution, and emerging theoretical models. Section II raises critical questions about representation, memory, ownership of narrative, and the legal implications of commodifying sites of suffering. In Section III, the intersection of technology, storytelling, and virtual engagement are explored by analyzing online content, film representations, digital inequalities, and social media dynamics. Section IV highlights the cultural, historical, and geopolitical contours of dark tourism as practiced and perceived across diverse locations. Finally, Section V addresses these critical themes by examining the sector’s impact on sustainable development, marketing strategies, urban–rural disparities, and comparative evaluations with other tourism models like ecotourism.