Does emotional engagement matter in dark tourism? Implications drawn from a reflective approach

ABSTRACT

Despite the burgeoning research in dark tourism, there is still no universal acceptance of its definition. Past research is criticised for focusing on the motivation rather than the nature and consequences of the dark tourism experience, specifically their phenomenological and contextual basis. This study contributes to the field by adopting a reflective autoethnographic approach for providing a better understanding of dark tourism experiences. The study critically reflects on the researcher’s immersive experiences at three USA dark sites (Ground Zero, Gettysburg and Ellis Island). The findings reveal that emotional engagement (type and intensity of emotions elicited during the dark tourism experience) plays an important role in probing and helping visitors to generate meaning through their dark tourism experiences. The study expands the literature on dark tourism experiences by proposing an adapted dark tourism typology framework whereby emotional engagement is used as an explanatory theoretical concept to better identify and understand the nuanced types of dark tourism experiences. In addition, by adopting a multi-disciplinary and experienced-focused approach, the study also contributes to dark tourism research by providing a theoretical underpinning and practical evidence on the sources and processes helping visitors to generate meaning, which is deemed central to immersive dark experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Dark tourism
• emotional engagement
• storytelling
• experiences
• autoethnography
• meaning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marianna Sigala

Marianna Sigala is Professor at the University of South Australia and Director of the Centre for Tourism & Leisure Management. She is an international authority in the field of technologies in tourism and services management with numerous awarded publications, research projects, keynote presentations in international conferences. She is the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management. In 2016, she has been awarded the prestigious EuroCHRIE Presidents’ Award for her lifetime contributions and achievements to tourism and hospitality education.

Effie Steriopoulos

Effie Steriopoulos is a Lecturer of Event Management at William Angliss Institute, Melbourne (Australia). Her research activities focus on transformative experiences and their influence on consumer behaviour. She is interested in transformational experiences especially when storytelling and emotions are involved. Effie also conducts research in experiential marketing where brands are used to influence consumer based brand loyalty. Her recent research on study abroad and international trips reflects the role of the educator in creating successful knowledge based experiences. She has substantial teaching experience having taught in undergraduate tourism and event management courses such as marketing and communication; event evaluation and innovation; the event industry and conference and convention management.