Tales From a Female Traveller

Dark Tourism

Recently, while watching BBC world I tuned into a program on Dark Tourism which focused on the events of 9/11 and Ground Zero. The program was debating whether or not Dark Tourism is a viable learning tool, or if it is just a morbid excuse for mass entertainment.
Given my tendency towards the importance of history, I lean towards the former.
Ground Zero is the leading source of tourism in New York today and it attracts people from all over the world. Not just because they want to be a part of the band wagon, but also because it grabs at the heart of core emotional values.

I garuntee you that every single person in the western world today (and possibly even in non-western parts) will know what they were doing at the exact moment (like when Princess Di was killed) the first plane hit, that moment when they flicked on the tv, the radio or opened the newspaper when they realised that what they were witnessing was not a scene from a movie nor a hoax of some kind, but that it was horrifyingly real and happening right under our noses. Whether you are American or not, this affects, and will continue to have an effect on New York and the world for many, many years to come.

As a traveller and tourist myself, I can see the value of the world's largest ecomony and am all for the good it can bring to places, especially when those places rely soley on tourism. I believe such horrific events such as 9/11 should not be under rug swept in any aspect, but rather, should be open for remembrance and also available to teach. Things like this should not be forgotten, for to forget the past, is to repeat it in the future.

This is why places like the Killing Fields in Cambodia, Auschwitz, or even the American Civil War battlefields are immortilised with museums and re-enactments. They not only tell a story of the culture they stand in, but also of humanity. But it is up to the individual traveller to be responsible and to respect the country and culture they are travelling through. So the question is raised.. do places like ground zero encourage this? Or do they simply add to the hoardes of people who come every year and put strain on the locals?

Some would argue that to visit such a place is morbid and that cities like New York should be focusing on their other attractions like The Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty (which is a story in itself) and the truth is that whether it is liked by people or not, all three of these tell a story, each as important as the other. The point is that they are all a part of history and they should all be available to the public so we can learn and remember.

posted by Lucyspeak @ 5:45 pm