A large number of American tourists are defying State Department advisories to travel to dangerous countries to seek adventure that is hard to find in traditional tourism destinations.
This type of travel is known as dark tourism, which involves visiting sites associated with death, tragedy, the macabre, and natural disasters.
One resident of Kansas City, Eli Snyder, packed his bags to visit Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, aiming to experience a place “as dissimilar as possible” from his home city. Snyder said he doesn’t mind visiting dangerous places and would prefer the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, over the Canadian city of Winnipeg.
Travel experts suggest that this rising trend of dark tourism is motivated by the thrill of seeking the unknown, even if it means risking one’s life.
CEO of RDB Hospitality Group, Rob Dellibovi, called it “thematic travel,” where travelers seek extreme and “sinister” experiences. Dellibovi added that many people also take pride in successfully traveling to and surviving in destinations facing hurricanes and other extreme weather warnings.
The most sought-after dark travel destination remains the Middle East, followed by volatile regions such as Central America and parts of Africa, Dellibovi continued.
A senior official of FocusPoint, a firm that provides emergency services to travelers, stated that there have been many instances when a traveler began their journey to a country labeled as a Level 3 threat by the State Department, which was later moved to Level 4 during their trip.
A Level 3 advisory means the State Department advises against traveling to a specific country, while a Level 4 warning means “do not travel,” the strongest travel advisory the department issues against any country.
The State Department spokesperson said the government considers factors such as crime, terrorism, civil unrest, wrongful detention, and kidnappings before ranking any country on a scale of 1 to 4.
Since US citizens are not required to report to the State Department before traveling to any country, so the government does not know how many Americans are present in any given country at any specific time.
The FocusPoint official also noted that the government typically does not assist with evacuating citizens in most emergencies, further increasing the risks associated with dark tourism.
The global dark tourism market currently stands at $31.89 billion and is projected to rise to $40.82 billion by 2034. While some dark tourism destinations pose a threat to human life, this is not always the case. For instance, visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, built to honor the victims of the 1945 nuclear bombing, comes under dark tourism but poses no danger to visitors.
Meanwhile, proponents of dark tourism believe this form of travel is a great way to learn from the lessons of history.
