Assessing the impact of selfie-taking tourists on local tour guides in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: a netnographic analysis of a dark tourism location

ABSTRACT

Self-portrayed photographs, more commonly known as selfies, are a modern way of expressing oneself at popular tourist destinations. Selfies enable individuals to be seen by others on the web. There has been fierce debate about whether taking selfies is appropriate from an ethical standpoint at tourist places with darker and more sensitive histories. This study, a first of its kind, is a multi-method analysis of tour guides’ emotions towards selfie-taking tourists in the dark tourism location of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. As a phenomenon that has been introduced fairly recently, extant research has addressed the consequences selfies have on dark touristic sites, but no current study has considered the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The methods used to evaluate the current situation are netnography and one-on-one, in-depth interviews with Chernobyl tour guides. Findings show that there has been a degree of conflict between tour guides and tourists who take selfies. Performance of emotional labor is detected amongst some tour guides. Interestingly, this result emerged more during interviews than from data mining in the online community. Managers of the site of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are advised to look into ways of implementing a more responsible tourist behavior structure.

KEYWORDS:

• Chernobyl
• selfies
• dark tourism
• multi-method analysis
• netnography

Introduction

Social media has grown to be a part of our everyday lives. Not only has it shaped the way we interact with one another, but it also changed industries to become more responsive to their online presence. Notably, the tourism industry has been revolutionized by the influence of social media. The desire to travel is no longer satiated by the basic service of a hotel or restaurant. Travel must now create a memorable and shareable experience that can be shown to others online. This phenomenon has contributed to establishment of the new ‘experience economy’ trend (Pan, 2019). In the hospitality industry, where guests’ experiences are already the core of the business, the trend has forced holiday destinations and companies to be more innovative with their service offerings and target niche customer segments (Hovi, 2011).

A particular sector of the travel industry, called dark tourism, has started to gain a steady interest among travelers, especially with the help of social media, as it has reached a wider audience (Faiola, 2017). The definition of dark tourism is travel-related activities to places with notable historical significance associated with death and tragedy (Foley & Lennon, 1996). The most popular dark tourism sites have faced hardships of war, terrorism, genocides, natural disasters, or nuclear catastrophes. Dark tourism locations exist primarily to educate people about the historical value they hold and to keep the memory of the past alive (Bishara, 2020). Often this purpose reflects on people’s desire and motivations to travel to dark places as they want to understand the events that took place, avoid past mistakes, and pay respect to others who suffered or even died (Iliev, 2021).

Dark tourism has risen to fame recently through popular culture such as literature, television, and now via social media posts. However, the fine line of appropriate social media posts is hard to distinguish as it is subjective to each person, or the society affected by them. One notable element of social media posts, the self-portrait photograph or selfie, sometimes called the macabre selfie for the ones taken at dark locations, has sparked a vociferous debate (Faiola, 2017). Some argue that taking selfies is a way of expressing oneself in the current context or showing ‘I was here’; however, this study aims to understand whether selfies taken by tourists create emotional conflict with host representatives. The study focuses on the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) site, an area with a 30-kilometer radius, in Pripyat, Ukraine, and the people presenting the site as tour guides.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) accident is often considered the worst nuclear disaster caused by human error (Gorskaya, 2021) and has become a relatively new ‘dark tourism’ destination. Although the zone was off limits for almost three decades, due to the growing interest, there were 124,000 visitors in 2019 at CEZ (Statista Research Department, 2021). As of today, it is worth mentioning that travel to the area has declined if not prohibited due to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia (Boechat, 2023). Additionally, the social media has contributed to the widespread mass interest in the site. Indeed, many travel bloggers, vloggers, and influencers have shared their visits to the exclusion zone, while others have sparked controversy by neglecting specific safety rules in their posts (Lock, 2019).

The motivations to study this phenomenon are, firstly, the rapid growth and spread of social media. For instance, 2.74 billion people are currently on Facebook, making it the most popular and reachable social media channel globally (Tankovska, 2021). Secondly, Chernobyl's tremendous interest and attention are caused by selfies taken by visitors at the site. There are also currently 29,000 posts tagged with #Chernobyl on Facebook alone (Facebook, 2021). Thirdly, this research will have an opportunity to expand on how local tour guides perceive selfie-taking tourists and what emotions they trigger. To understand how significant the impact of selfies is on Chernobyl, qualitative research in the form of a netnography can be implemented to study an online group forum dedicated to CEZ to gain a ‘better understanding of the profile of visitors who are offended by this practice’. This aims to follow up Wight’s suggestion ‘to carry out descriptive research to arrive at a better understanding of the profile of visitors who are offended by this practice’ (2020, p. 10). Additionally, one-on-one, in-depth interviews (IDI) with tour guides into potential conflicts with tourist behavior that is influenced by social media are conducted.

Literature review

Defining morality within dark tourism

Destinations that have faced unfortunate events, either caused by natural disasters or humanity, have in one way or another received a tremendous amount of recognition, or notoriety, that it is almost impossible to ignore. After becoming a part of history and local heritage, people's curiosity towards these lugubrious locations has increased. Moreover, the need to experience ‘otherness’ or foreign grounds with unconventional backgrounds has grown markedly in recent years (Seaton, 2009, p. 84). Pilgrimages, which represent a form of heritage tourism, were the first ‘dark tourism’ journeys, where religious motivations were the sole purpose of travel (Collins-Kreiner, 2015).

These religious destinations became increasingly macabre and were fueled by people’s spiritual curiosity about the afterlife. The atmosphere of death exuded by these grim settings has shaped these locations into their current form, spawning a new form of travel (and academic research): dark tourism. The theoretical concepts of dark tourism (also known as thanatourism from the Greek Thanatos, which is the personification of death) were first brought to the public eye roughly in the late 1990s to separate it from heritage tourism (Foley & Lennon, 1996; Seaton, 1996). As a general term, heritage tourism is categorized as places with historical significance passed on by people and stories to the present (National Trust for Historic Presentation, 2010). For a visitor, it becomes a heritage experience when the site mirrors their heritage (Isaac, 2021). Seaton (2009, p. 84) found it was, therefore, necessary to distinguish between heritage and dark tourism, where the latter's objective is to understand the ‘otherness’ or fascination with death.

Despite the site being beneficial in many senses, some societies cannot get past the initial trauma and are uncomfortable with the constant reminder of the past by visitors (Kim & Butler, 2015; Leshem, 2018). Leshem (2018) found that tour guides or operators, who play a crucial role in presenting the dark sites, most likely suffer ‘secondary trauma syndrome’ when exposed to people who have been traumatized themselves and must develop coping mechanisms (p. 114). Yankovska and Hannam (2014) similarly pointed out that tour agents, who were present at a specific location at the time of the tragic event or disaster, in this case during the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion, have continuously been forced to describe their personal experience to entertain guests or visitors. In some cases, guides go to the extreme to illustrate the present danger of radiation for travelers, by exposing themselves to it by stepping into unsafe and contaminated areas to get the Geiger counter, an instrument to measure radiation, to signal warnings (Rush-Cooper, 2019).

Ethical considerations of selfies in macabre destinations

The ethical aspect of dark tourism has always been an issue of debate, both from the demand side (Is it ethical to visit places where people have suffered or even died?) and the supply side (Is it ethical to do business in tragic places surrounded by death?) (Heidelberg, 2015; Korstanje, 2016). Heidelberg (2015) stresses that several locations have come under criticism for making dark locations a ‘Disneyland’ (p. 76) of tragedy, or ‘Yolocaust,’ an objection to selfie-taking at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin (Potter, 2021). Regardless, dark tourism is becoming increasingly popular despite the negative noise. In Europe, ethical considerations were considered by categorizing dark locations on a spectrum between ‘darkest-lightest,’ the darker a site is, the greater the focus on educational, historical, and ethical concerns (Hovi, 2011; Romanova, 2018).

As time has passed, scholars have found it hard to distinguish between the different shades of dark and maintain ethical standards concerning all stakeholders, as one tourist might consider the dark spot to be purely for entertainment, whereas another person might classify it to embody real evil (Hovi, 2011; Seaton, 2009; Sigala & Steriopoulos, 2021). Seaton further argues that a separate entity makes the moral line considerably hazy: the media (2009).

Furthermore, events that took place closer in time are darker and considered wrong to profit from (Kim & Butler, 2015), while incidents that occurred a long time ago are lighter, and it is less of a crime to commercialize them (ibid.). Similarly, the dark–light scale can be expanded by adding the emotional engagement dimension of the visitor, as the darkest site tends to elicit the deepest emotional engagement for the tourist or person with a personal background to the site (Sigala & Steriopoulos, 2021).

Fukui (2015) and Lawther (2017) developed the notion that dark tourism sites often challenge visitors’ morality. Tourists are sometimes unaware of the consequences of their behaviors while visiting sites. Consequently, the way visitors behave at tourist places may not be appreciated by hosts and this is because, as Sharma (2020) states, tourists may perform selective moral disengagement at specific dark tourism sites, which justifies transgressive behaviors. To understand adequate behavior, Wight and Stanley (2022) suggest that beyond the demographic and cultural factors, the location and nature of the dark tourism sites also impact ‘behavioral appropriateness’ (p.10), which could contribute to fewer ethically delicate situations between hosts and guests.

The selfie, a popular tool to exhibit oneself, can be considered as a form of narcissism that has attracted considerable interest in academic circles (Canavan, 2017). Canavan explores the idea that societies become more narcissistic ‘due to various cultural influences’ and that ‘tourism may both contribute to and counteract narcissism normalization’ (2017, p. 1). Christou et al. (2020, p. 292) add on with the concept of the ‘attraction-shading effect’ which explores the tendency to privilege the selfie-taking individual, rather than the attraction itself in selfies.

The selfie, a modern form of narcissism (Canavan, 2017), can also be interpreted as identity management mediated by today’s social media (Lo & McKercher, 2015). Since visual representation is a key notion in tourism (Dinholp & Gretzel, 2016) visitors’ ‘rule-breaking’ behavior at dark tourism sites may generate a ‘public shaming’ from both hosts and guests (Wight & Stanley, 2022, p. 3). This can be justified by the fact that visitors may not have a deep reflection on appropriate behavior at the site. Bell and Lyall’s concept of ‘digital immediacy’ reinforces the idea that visitors’ experience sharing is the evidence of one’s truth that has to be in real-time (2005, p. 136), which may cause ethically delicate behaviors.

Media representation of the CEZ

One dark tourism site, the CEZ and its neighboring city of Pripyat in Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union, is especially concerned about the media's portrayal since it gained a vast amount of media recognition and attention when the disaster initially occurred and now after HBO's miniseries, ‘Chernobyl’ was released in 2019 depicting the events leading up to the nuclear accident (Parente et al., 2019). The 1986 Chernobyl disaster ‘is the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power to cause fatalities from radiation’ (The Nuclear Energy Institute, 2019, p. 1) and remained untouched due to high levels of radiation for almost 30 years until it was opened to the public in 2011 (Bakota et al., 2020). Quickly thereafter, local tour operators started selling visits for foreign and domestic tourists as demand skyrocketed. Simultaneously, scholars have become interested in conducting research on the development of Chernobyl as a touristic attraction (Bakota et al., 2020; Romanova, 2018).

Hryhorczuk (2013) conducted an autoethnographic study on Chernobyl and found it universally valuable enough to be included as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hiroshima and Auschwitz, both well-known dark tourism destinations, are already on the heritage list due to their historical significance and the impact they have had on their local heritage; especially the latter as the Japanese government is vigorously working hard to display the heritage as a symbolic site of hope and a place for learning coincidentally of not forgetting the tragic past (Jang et al., 2021). Moreover, Chernobyl's inclusion in this ‘prestige’ group would help promote ‘a place of memory’ and raise awareness of the damage caused by nuclear accidents (Bishara, 2020). Besides, being recognized as a World Heritage Site would economically enhance the location and promote a more sustainable and safer tourist experience (Hryhorczuk, 2013). Past literature has also called for a more coherent structure on qualified personnel, as currently there are no universal training standards for tour operators in Chernobyl. Both Ukrainian and foreign tourism companies work on their terms (Bakota et al., 2020).

More recently, social media has boosted dark tourism awareness, especially for sites like the CEZ (Munar & Steen Jacobsen, 2013; Parente et al., 2019). Chernobyl has become a ‘hot spot’ for tourists after being hyped unintentionally via HBO's ‘based on true events’ series, which increased public knowledge of the site via social media platforms (Parente et al., 2019). Similar examples in the past can be seen in films and literature, such as ‘Schindler's List’ (1993), ‘The Pianist’ (2002), and ‘Anne Frank's Diary’ (1952), which sparked people's curiosity to explore dark locations. In the process, European Holocaust tourism emerged (Wight, 2020). Studies show that people tend to research travel plans on social media and look up posted photos and messages online that ‘have become the new postcards’ (Munar & Steen Jacobsen, 2013, p. 16), with the majority of people highly trusting people's experiences on the Internet (Sotiriadis, 2016). However, the issue with people's naivety arises when social media is utilized in an immoral or privacy-violating way, resulting in people believing in falsified information or being exposed to insensitive material (Maitland & Lynch, 2020).

Moreover, many might agree that most of the themes in dark tourism locations are of a sensitive nature. Likewise, it is generally considered uncouth and insensitive to share online one's experiences at dark sites for entertainment purposes (Hodalska, 2017; Maitland & Lynch, 2020). The instant, unfiltered, and mobile access to death or disaster events online makes it relatively easy to consume on social media (Martini & Buda, 2020). Even before online and social platforms, dark locations, such as the Tuol Sleng S-21 Genocide Museum in Cambodia reflected and visualized the horrid past through photographic images on display (Lennon, 2017). Nevertheless, social media has become an essential tool for the tourism industry to attract potential visitors. The upside is, however, that people can learn about the history behind thanatourism sites, via – for example – video-sharing websites like YouTube, before their visit (Navickiene et al., 2020).

The ethical conflict arises, with the utilization of social media in grim locations, when it starts negatively affecting the locations by diminishing their actual existence. In the past couple of years, the public outcry on this issue can be witnessed in many different contexts, for example, the Auschwitz Memorial Museum issued a public statement on its Twitter account asking people to respect the grounds when taking pictures on the train tracks (Auschwitz Memorial, 2019).

Chernobyl faced a different type of phenomenon when tourists began removing their safety hazmat suits, which protect them from low levels of radiation, to pose for pictures, some even wearing only swimsuits (Samuels, 2019). This kind of social trend caught the eye of the creator of ‘Chernobyl’ show, Craig Mazin; he called out the inappropriate behavior and asked future tourists of the nuclear catastrophe site to remain respectful ‘for all who suffered and sacrificed’ (Guy, 2019, para. 3). Generally, ‘selfie gaze’ tourists have drawn widespread attention to their behavior, as they do not only just take part in touristic photography ‘they also artificially create it,’ especially with the rise of influencer marketing (Sigala, 2018, p. 11). To avoid pre-misconceptions of the locations, several dark tourism sites, ranging from government-run organizations to private tour operators, have been working hard to create informative and educational websites to help tourists plan their visits and make them aware of what to expect, such as rules and safety measures, before their visit (Krisjanous, 2016).

Despite the fact that hordes of visitors ‘take selfies (self-portrait pictures) at horror sites’ (Hodalska, 2017, p. 1) very little research has been done to understand the motivations behind sharing ‘macabre selfies’. Some scholars see it as a way for people to ‘feel more involved in the world’ (Maitland & Lynch, 2020, p. 9), while others believe selfie-takers are attempting to become a part of a bigger narrative or a modern way to express oneself to others (Gretzel, 2017). Iliev (2021) suggests that the personal motivations of tourists visiting sites have changed, and there is a ‘desire to show that they have been there and to promote their own image’ (p.9). Simultaneously, preserving the heritage of the CEZ is deemed essential through photographs, in this case, with selfies, as it is fading with each passing year (Duda, 2023).

There is also scant research on what interactions are generated by macabre material/selfies that are posted online, especially on social media groups and forums. There is a dilemma between the right to express oneself online (selfies as a form of free speech) and the setting's sensitivity. Some scholars previously proposed that future research should try to understand ‘the elements triggering the emotional intensity during the experience by identifying the ways in which both negative and positive emotions are elicited by various context’ (Sigala & Steriopoulos, 2021, p. 428), in this instance the circumstances of selfies in social media. Regardless, there is a substantial research gap in how much social media can be exploited without it negatively affecting the site. Dark tourism as a topic is difficult to model due to its complexity. Moreover, in the current literature, there are no relevant models that focus on the ethical aspects of social media.

For this study, the following research questions were chosen to guide the research process. First, there needs to be an understanding of what kind of emotional conflict arises between the stakeholders, the tour guides, and the tourists or people posting selfies. Secondly, what emotions do macabre selfies trigger in observers, and what are the resulting interactions (positive, neutral, or negative comments)? Finally, we attempt to ascertain how the tone and acceptance of macabre selfies or posts have changed over time.

Methodology

Based on past academic literature, it can be safely asserted that macabre selfies taken at dark tourism locations, such as Chernobyl, are the subject of debate. There is a dilemma between the right to express oneself online with selfies and the sensitivity of the setting. A qualitative research approach is more suitable for complex and sensitive topics like Chernobyl’s situation, which have no (or minimal) existing theory from previous studies on the matter (Kozinets, 2015).

The nature of this study is exploratory with the application of multiple research methods as it is trying to understand a problem that has not been clearly defined (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2012). The use of multiple research methods has provided a more coherent and exhaustive view of vaguer issues and can answer broader research questions (Davis, 2011). This research focuses on the qualitative methods of netnography and in-depth interviews (IDI).

Netnographic research and procedures

Netnography, a relatively new form of research method that was developed for the first time in 1995 and improved in 2010, involves comprehending and analyzing social interactions in environments featuring modern digital communications, for instance within the scope of social media (Kozinets, 2015). Essentially, netnography is a research approach to determining shared behaviors and norms of the online participants of an identified group in the so-called technoculture (Gambetti & Kozinets, 2022). Using traditional ethnography techniques, netnography tries to understand cultural values and meanings in online settings by gathering textual, audio-visual, graphic, and photographic online data (Bowler, 2014). Netnography is adaptable depending on which online site or group the study focuses on; it is immersive because the researcher is in a critical position when creating and collecting data; it is naturalistic as it explores genuine social interactions by actively or passively participating and observing (Kozinets, Dolbec, & Earley, 2014).

The research strategy is to directly and systematically copy, save, label, and archive raw data from an online community (Kozinets et al., 2014), in this case, from a selected Facebook group. Concurrently with the data mining process, observations of group members’ interactions with each other will be made and evaluated by using visual sentimental analysis: positive, neutral, or negative tones. Each post was categorized by its multimedia type, such as picture, video, or shared link, and whether the post contained a selfie or not. Other metrics were included in the analysis, comparatively, such as the number of likes, shares, and comments generated for each post. Some posts included more than one item, and that was taken into consideration as well. During the data analysis, common themes and discussions were extracted to form a shared culture within the group. Additionally, the different online group identities mentioned by Kozinets (2015), newbies, minglers, devotees, and insiders, will be identified for categorization on their level of interaction.

Studies have shown that when observing online and offline groups, there are differences in sharing information, and in some cases, people are more open to sharing their opinions on social media groups than in person (Kozinets, 2015). Focusing on a group dedicated to one destination, such as Chernobyl, can aid the site's management team in identifying the shared values that are associated with the location – as well as the discussions people have about the site (Kozinets et al., 2014).

There are five stages in conducting netnographic research (Bowler, 2014; Salzmann-Erikson & Eriksson, 2012): planning, identifying researchable online groups or entrée stage, data collection with upholding ethical standards, data analysis, and results in presentation. This research concentrates on the Facebook group called Chernobyl exclusion zone by Stalker's eyes, which is the most popular public group for the zone (over 24,000 members as of April 2021), making it a large-in-mass group with participants of varied backgrounds. The group was created in 2017, which is ideal for investigating due to the rich data over the years. Data for this research were gathered between April 2017 to December 2018 and February to April 2021 and a total of 346 posts during this period were taken into consideration and analyzed.

Following the ethical standards carefully is critical, especially in the delicate setting of Chernobyl. Firstly, an ethical concern arises if online groups are acknowledged as public or private information for research purposes. Nevertheless, many field scientists consider online sites with free access to be categorized as public, and therefore, researchable human subjects. Secondly, it is vital for the researcher to remain an observer, since the Facebook group covers sensitive topics; it is therefore recommended to remain objective and not influence the focus group’s culture when gathering data for the research. Thirdly, it is essential to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of group members, and thus, they will not be referenced to by their true identity.

In addition, the netnographic data collection was supported by eight one-on-one, in-depth interviews with local tour guides. These interviews provided a better view of the potential emotional conflict tour guides might experience when witnessing tourists taking selfies in the CEZ. During the interviews, a saturation point was reached as similar issues were brought up across different interviewees.

Results

Netnography findings

Shared identities in the group

When analyzing the posts in the group, the different types of member identities quickly become apparent. In the redefined study of netnography (Kozinets, 2015), it is stated that group members can share similar identities based on their level of engagement and interactions in the group, and therefore, classify to either newbies, minglers, devotees, or insiders. Newbies are a group of people with weak social contact with others and have limited interest in consuming the activity in question. In the focused Facebook group, members who do not have a deep interest in visiting the actual CEZ site or recently joined the group have only just started to develop connections with other individuals about their curiosity about CEZ. Most tourists who are freshly introduced to the site or topic like dark tourism could be placed in the newbies category.

Minglers keep active contact with other members by regularly interacting with shared content. They are the ones who have a genuine interest in Chernobyl and have visited the site once or twice. When minglers shared content with the group, they often depicted it as ‘memories from Chernobyl’ to reminisce about their travels. Some minglers would comment on others’ posted pictures, usually a well-known spot at the site, to state they remember being there or if they built fond memories there. Devotees, intensely interested in the subject but who do not interact much in the group, can be categorized as tourists who visit the site regularly, casually sharing content without interacting with others. They usually display areas in their posts that are not commonly accessible to the general public, such as pictures and videos inside of buildings. Lastly, insiders have extremely close contact with the group and its members and are in contact on a nearly daily basis with the site either by visiting it or sharing about it. Many of the insiders who work at the physical site, like tour guides, also share most of the selfie content. Some insiders were not regular visitors to CEZ but rather self-proclaimed historians who would share regular content about the history of the site, the tragedy, and the locals, journalists of some sort. Insiders are the so-called ‘stalkers’ of the group.

In general, the majority who share content on the Stalker's Eyes group are classified as devotees or insiders. Nevertheless, there are – among the thousands of group members – many newbies who do not participate in discussions or share their experiences; they are there to follow published content and learn more about the CEZ. Comparing the timeframe from 2017 to 2018 to 2021, the Facebook group has become more diverse in terms of identities, as more members have started to interact with one another and not just the handful of people who are always sharing content. Especially, the role of minglers has become more overt between the two-time frames as the overall interest has magnified towards Chernobyl in the last year.

Popular topics of discussion among members and opinions of selfies

From the analysis of the posts, the most popular type of content in terms of the interactions they generated (i.e. all likes, comments, and shares) was the photographs displaying various areas of the zone. Members posted photos of the CEZ’s most famous sites, from the city of Pripyat, the Monument Of Those Who Saved The World, the general hospital, to the missile defense radar network called Duga. The discussion was reasonably moderate regarding the locations, and small inquiries or positive affirmations were made, but when posts included radiation safety topics, such as a picture of a Geiger counter, it created considerable discussion. Some members, mostly newbies who were engaging with the group for the first time, were eager to verify the numbers and question if it was wise to expose themselves to radiation just for a post. Others, often insiders who are more knowledgeable about radiation levels, showed appreciation and admiration of the sharer. A similar type of dialogue was generated from locations that included scientific facts about the power plant, and the comments section was filled with detailed discussions on the actual physical structure of the reactors and how they operated.

The second most popular post category included posts from inside abandoned buildings. Several members were in awe of how much the buildings had deteriorated over the years; numerous people also spoke about all the items that were left behind, for instance, the local hospital still had medical supplies on display. Surprisingly, there were several posts of the group’s members cleaning or repairing the buildings, like the nursery nearby had children’s toys placed on the abandoned beds, and the response was highly positive. A few members felt nostalgic with the toys as they described it to ‘remind us about happy times’. Some even thanked the members for taking care of the site. Some members who had played video games based on Chernobyl and later visited the site were satisfied with how accurately the games portrayed the inside of buildings and shared some contrasting content on the group for others to see the difference between the video game and real life.

Nature, too, in Chernobyl, generated a considerable amount of interaction. The discussion centered mainly on animals that have become familiar to tourists, such as the wild dogs, often fed by visitors, and how much the scenery has changed in the last three decades due to it being left untouched for several years. Many group members mentioned how unrecognizable the zone is now compared to what it was like when it was inhabited, before and after the accident.

Another popular site in posts was Chernobyl's amusement park and especially the Ferris wheel. These kinds of posts included the most number of selfies. Selfies were categorized as their segment (Table 1), and they accounted for only a tiny portion of all the analyzed posts. One-fifth of all the comments on selfie-generated content were negative, roughly 40% were positive comments, and the rest had neutral-toned comments. The posts that did not include selfies generated more positive sentimental comments than posts with a selfie. However, negative-toned comments on selfie posts were still rather subtle, and a faint level of conflict amongst group members was detectable. The majority of the selfies posted were by insiders of the group who used their selfies to promote their activities, like tour guiding services, often deemed appropriate by members at the site rather than sparking controversy. Comparing over time, there were more selfie posts between the sample set of 2017 to 2018 than 2021; but more interactions, such as likes, were generated in 2021.

Table 1. Sentimental analysis of the tone of comments of group posts.

Does the post include a selfie?	Positive toned comments	Neutral toned comments	Negative toned comments	Grand total
NO	35.14%	31.03%	14.34%	80.51%
YES	6.12%	7.43%	5.94%	19.49%
Grand Total	41.26%	38.46%	20.28%	100.00%

One-on-one, in-depth interview findings

Backgrounds and experiences of tour guides

The majority of the tour guides were still actively working in the zone. Only two of them were no longer working. The gender distribution was even between females and males, and their experience levels ranged from 18 months to over 10 years. Two tour guides from the group had personal connections to the site through relatives who worked as firefighters or Chernobyl liquidators, military personnel sent to clean up the zone after the accident, or who physically lived in the zone when the accident occurred. Others were not previously associated with the site – other than their curiosity and interest in the CEZ. Overall, the educational backgrounds of the tour guides varied from working in education, and journalism to governmental positions before their tour guiding careers.

Depending on what type of company they worked or had worked for, either privately or in a government-approved tour company, or when they started working in the zone, there was a massive difference in their training and knowledge of the existing guidelines and rules of the zone. For instance, a tour guide who had recently started working in the zone for a well-known tour operator differentiated three levels of guidelines: governmental, own company, and zone administration rules. Another guide stated that different regulations were in place depending on the visited area in CEZ; if it is a case of a highly contaminated section or a wildlife sanctuary zone, they consisted of different sets of rules, and ‘it gets very confusing very quickly’. Tour guides who had started their career more than five years ago explained that guidelines had been highly unstructured compared to now. ‘There used to be much more problems … injuries or other bad consequences,’ one female tour guide said when recalling how the zone was before the regulations. In general, all tour guides were able to state universal rules that have been used over the years (certain photographs of checkpoints, CEZ police officers, or specific angles of nuclear power are forbidden).

Many tour guides were able to distinguish the changes in tourist motivations for visiting the zone. In the early years, tour guides felt people had to have a purpose for visiting the site (e.g. scientific studies or reporting a story) while now people can come and visit without displaying a valid reason. Because of this, there is no predominant visitor segment or age group: scientists, photographers, influencers, couples, dark tourism enthusiasts, history fanatics, etc. Tour guides could, nevertheless, categorize local and foreign tourists into different segments as they had to perform guided tours in either Russian, Ukrainian, or English. However, some did identify that the portion of tourists with historical or scientific interest in the CEZ had diminished over time, and the ‘mainstream’ tourist category was growing.

The exclusion zone is becoming a trendy tourist hot spot

When questioned about what might have triggered such a massive inflow of tourists in recent years, three distinctive trends frequently came up in the discussions with the tour guides. The first was the increased awareness of the relative safety of the site in terms of radiation and the physical environment. Few tour guides mentioned, however, a UN report released in 2002 that suggested the site could be opened to tourists as the exposure to radiation is the same as when traveling on an airplane (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2002). The positive publicity for the site has lowered the barriers to travel to CEZ for tourists. Also, it was remarked that when the new dome, called the New Safe Confinement, was set to be built in 2010 over the Shelter Structure (sarcophagus), which was constructed in 1986 to cover reactor No.4, ‘it made it more attractive for new visitors but less interesting for me as it covers the real reactor,’ a male tour guide mentioned.

The second trend mentioned was the increased visibility of the CEZ in popular culture and social media. Depicted in numerous movies, documentaries, video games, and literature, Chernobyl started gaining a steady fan base, and more people wanted to see with their own eyes what they had only seen on screen. Hence, one guide specified that due to Chernobyl being recognized in the public eye, some visitors’ motivations were more evident as stated: ‘I think after the TV show about Chernobyl from HBO, people became interested in themselves to see what the place looks like in real life.’ Today, the trend has accelerated with the help of international and local influencers visiting the zone and sharing their trips on social media.

The third trend divided the opinions of tour guides, as HBO's series was considered both a driving and weakening force in attracting tourists to the CEZ. Several guides argued that although the HBO series elevated Chernobyl's status in the public’s mind, it only created a minimal boost in terms of actual bookings. However, some guides claimed the series increased the domestic market share in the area since native Ukrainians wanted to learn more about the truthfulness of the events in the show.

Conflict and frustration around selfies

Tour guides have been keen observers of tourists’ behavioral changes vis-à-vis social media. Questions, particularly around the presence of selfies or selfie-taking tourists, provoked plenty of discussion amongst guides. Several tour guides described that tourists who are constantly connected to social media while on tour are less likely to pay attention to what they are saying. One guide said that there is almost a relationship between visitors who are constantly updating their online status or taking selfies and the likelihood that they will ignore or break safety rules by getting distracted.

However, the underlying question is what kind of emotions tour guides feel when they see tourists taking selfies. The findings reveal that almost everyone felt either internal conflict, frustration, or confusion around the phenomenon. ‘It was a shocking thing … for me, it was a bit strange but probably now I am used to it,’ one guide voiced the emotions they felt after witnessing some questionable tourist behaviors, especially to the ones taking pictures. There was only one guide who had no issues with selfies. Another also did not have contradictory feelings towards selfie-takers but struggled with other issues like mass tourism by stating that the whole essence of a ‘ghost town’ or the feeling of an abandoned village does not apply to the zone on the days when tourism is busiest.

The rest of the guides felt conflicted with the type of photographs tourists take. ‘People dancing, jumping around for pictures in front of monuments, I am still shocked,’ a tour guide described when talking about how they feel about selfies. The mixed feelings guides have on selfies depend mainly on the initial behavior of tourists. Some guides were able to differentiate between domestic and international tourists, as the former were acting more irresponsibly with selfies whereas the latter were more cautious with their selfie actions.

Despite selfies creating some conflict with the host representatives, universally, no one proceeded to interfere with the tourists’ inappropriate actions and ignored their frustrated feelings. Many describe thinking what they see is bizarre but insist ‘they keep an expressionless face’ so as not to alarm the tourists and try to understand their differences. However, all did agree that the most egregious selfie-related behavior was, however, still minimal.

Tour guides also were willing to modify their tours for specific selfies or photograph requests if it was feasible and along their planned route. The usability of selfies surrounded the final discussions in promoting Chernobyl as a tourist destination. More guides said, ‘Selfies are an opportunity rather than a threat because they revive the memory of the area or sustain the local heritage’. Also, another guide mentioned that selfies help in ‘spreading visibility for new tourists and bringing in funding and business to the site’. However, there is always the risk that selfies will show the CEZ in a negative light. Some guides call for more attention to enhance responsible tourism and selfies.

Discussion and recommendations

To summarize the findings of the multi-method study, netnography, and the interviews displayed somewhat complementary results regarding the acceptance of selfies in Chernobyl. In the netnographic study, due to the online group being open to anyone, the sample presented more tourists’ perspectives rather than those of host representatives, which could explain why selfies were tolerated to a greater extent in the studied group than amongst the interviewed tour guides. The interviews highlighted better the changes in tourist behavior and social media and how selfies affect the moods of tour guides. In general, selfies create a certain degree of conflict amongst people presenting the CEZ, and this is less marked online than in person.

The frustration selfies generate for tour guides derives directly from how tourists act on site. These behaviors do not mean that all selfie-taking tourists are intentionally causing harm with their behavior; only that a very insignificant number of selfies were made in these settings and that tourists are not aware of the appropriate attitude required in Chernobyl. Similarly, tour guides or group members who feel unhappy with certain tourists’ conduct do not know how to guide or advise tourists about respectful behavior. When tour guides describe having to remain cooperative and emotionless despite internally feeling appalled by tourist selfie behavior, it could be interpreted that tour guides are performing emotional labor. As a concept, emotional labor (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993) describes service providers, in this case, the CEZ tour guides, displaying expected emotions during the service encounter, when giving a tour to tourists. These expected emotions can be done through either surface acting, pretending emotions that are not felt, for instance with facial expressions, or deep acting, suppressing internal emotions to place effort into actually being explicit and inducing the required feelings. In Chernobyl, tour guides are displaying traits of surface acting as most of them have not come to terms with the imbalance of emotions, what they have to show to tourists versus how they feel. This could indicate that establishing responsible tourist behavior guidelines might ease the friction between tourists and tour guides.

The general emotions surrounding macabre selfies differed from online and offline settings. In-person, selfies were described in a more negative tone than on the Facebook group. It is interesting to notice that some shared content is online. For instance, selfies inside buildings or photos of the nuclear power plant were praised, when in fact, tour guides explained that they were illegal. This was another source of conflict tour guides had to face. When potential tourists feel inspired by the unlawfully published content that has been ‘liked’ in the Facebook group, they are disappointed when guides tell them that they are not allowed to visit certain areas or take photos of particular locations. However, through the comments of group members and most tour guides, they were ‘led to believe’ that selfies and other forms of photography contributed, first and foremost, to helping to revive history, raise awareness for others to visit the zone, and further increase tourism. Around one-third of the group’s members saw selfies as a threat; however, there is a risk that this level of discontent could escalate in the future.

Over time, awareness of taking selfies at dark sites like CEZ has increased substantially, and past literature has expressed concern about the phenomenon in terms of affecting how people present the site. Interviews indicated that most tour guides are willing to adapt their tours for selfie or photographic needs if such spots are located along the planned route or do not stray too much from the original plan. When the site was welcoming first outside visitors, there was more freedom in terms of what you could do and see, whereas now it has become more structured and somewhat complicated when tour guides have to oblige and follow multiple levels of regulations. Selfies have recently increased online interactions, and thus, engagement levels, unlike a couple of years ago with respect to the CEZ. Many tour guides agreed that this kind of development has been beneficial in maintaining the site's purpose, and now with the presence of social media, new changes should be made to preserve the essence and value of the zone.

The findings in this study mirror reasonably closely what has been researched before in other dark tourism locations in Europe (Wight, 2020). Chernobyl is becoming a popular tourist site; however, past studies – especially Iliev’s (2021) research regarding travel motivations to dark locations – do not match with the current paper’s findings about the trends that attract tourists to the site. Discussions with current tour guides revealed that the HBO series has adversely affected the CEZ; however, in reality, it has only surfaced on people's general radar and has not substantially affected tourist behavior yet. After some years, future papers could try to map out the full-on effect the series has on the site and see if it is any different from the current state.

CEZ authorities, or other administrative bodies that oversee tourism development in the zone, would be advised to review the current guidelines or create a new code of ethics relating to tourists’ behavior and safety. Both tour guides and group members have asked the site to significantly improve the safety of the physical site. Safety in terms of radiation has been well documented, but the actual physical site is deemed unsafe for mass tourism. Regarding tourists’ behavior guidelines, CEZ administrators could offer tour companies training for their guides to recognize tourists’ new forms of behavior and give them tools on how to approach tourists on the issue. Likewise, guides could also receive additional training on how to process their own emotions when facing difficult situations with visitors to find sustainable ways to conduct emotional labor. Tour guides can better enact customer expected emotions, and thus, minimize the current conflicting situations and help promote responsible tourist conduct in the long term.

Conclusion

To conclude this study, there are several layers of interpretation on how selfies affect the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. When looking specifically from the point of view of tour guides, selfies are causing feelings of discomfort and annoyance. Using multiple research method structures, the research can differentiate that the conflict is to a greater extent in-person rather than in online groups. Adopting the non-participative netnographic research method, the research objectively differentiated between the various types of members interacting and creating dialogue. One-on-one, in-depth interviews allowed tour guides to express their true feelings and concerns about the current development of CEZ tourism with a social media presence.

According to this study, Chernobyl has a significant impact on the local heritage and on the people who have lived through the different periods — from before the accident to decades later when it has stood as an isolated and abandoned vestige of Ukraine’s nuclear heritage. Therefore, they, including the tour guides with a personal connection to CEZ, are committed to preserving the location’s authenticity and do not feel it is warranted to ask foreign visitors to change their behavior with regard to taking selfies.

This paper contributes to the literature because it is the first multi-method analysis of selfie discourse in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and consists of two diverse study methods. It opens a discussion and opportunity for similar types of research in other locations that are struggling with sudden fame because of their social media presence. Future research could seek to understand the profiles and motivations of selfie-takers at dark tourism sites, for instance, in Chernobyl, which could also be done through netnography. It is also essential to consider other social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat, as selfie-generated content is a familiar sight on these platforms as well. Other types of content, such as stories or short videos on the platforms, are crucial to study as they comprise a rich amount of user-generated content, most often including selfies.

Research limitations

This study could potentially be improved in several ways in future research. A challenge that can occur when conducting a multiple-research method study is the considerable number of resources it requires, and the given time constraint has limited the scope of this research. Instead of netnography, other qualitative research approaches might reveal deeper cultural meanings regarding selfies, which create conflict amongst host members. Other approaches could provide alternative or reinforcing insights on the current state of the CEZ. Additionally, there are many more Facebook groups and sites for CEZ that can provide alternative results to the themes of conflict from selfies.

As the research was conducted remotely, on-site research might yield different results. For instance, interviewing tour guides through online channels makes it more challenging to notice behavioral or body language cues. Also, the sensitive settings, especially with CEZ still being a radioactive site, are harder to grasp from a distance. Moreover, the interview questions did not consider other factors that could cause conflict between tour guides and tourists, since the focus was solely on the impact of selfie photos.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sofia Heleena Laaksonen

Sofia Laaksonen obtained her BSc in International Hospitality Management at EHL Hospitality Business School, HES–SO University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland; her MSc in Service Management specializing in Supply Chain Management with Lund University in Sweden. Her master's thesis was awarded the “2023 Honorary Award for Best Master's Thesis in Service Management” by the department of Service Studies. Her research focuses on social and sustainable practices in the hospitality and supply chain sectors.

Peter Varga

Peter Varga, PhD, teaches EHL Hospitality Business School, HES–SO University of Applied Sciences, in Switzerland. He obtained his BA (Hons) degree in International Business Studies from the Oxford Brookes University; his MA in Sociology from the Central European University with the University of Lancaster; his Doctorate degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. His research interests lay on three main axes: sustainability and cultural intelligence in the tourism industry, food and eating habits from a cultural perspective, and sociocultural dynamics of current tourism practices in host societies. He lives with his family in the Alps.