Bone Chapels: who might be interested in visiting and why?

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to better understand the various segments of tourists that want to attend dark exhibitions such as the Capuchin Crypt in Rome (a chapel of bones). The findings supported four motivational variables based on a sample of 383 people and quantitative analysis: ‘reflecting on death and mortality’, ‘learning and curiosity’, ‘dark fascination’, and ‘prestige’. Additionally, five tourists categories were discovered: ‘dark contemplative tourist’, ‘dark history tourist’, ‘dark passive tourist’, ‘dark enthusiast tourist’, and ‘dark occasion tourist’. The most motivated visitors are ‘dark enthusiast tourists’. This is the first study on this type of dark attraction, and the findings allow for a better understanding of tourist motivations and segmentation, as well as the enhancement and management of appealing dark tourist locations.

KEYWORDS:

• Dark tourism
• dark site
• dark exhibition
• dark tourist
• motivation
• tourist’s segmentation

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Amélia Machado Carvalho

Maria Amélia Machado Carvalho is an Invited Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Accounting and Administration, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. She is interested in dark tourism and tourists' motivations, experiences, and behaviors.