Into the dark side

The Asian Age.  | Pratyusha Chatterjee

Move over vacationing at a happy place. The new ‘dark tourism’ trend sees people travel to places with a horrific past, and enjoy it.

Auschwitz concentration camp, Germany

For most people, travel is a positive, relaxing and even enriching experience. It helps relieve stress, especially for those burdened by the chaos of a city. Beaches, dense woods and snowy peaks may draw avid travellers, but there are others who prefer to visit places and attractions symbolic of death and destruction. These ‘dark tourists’ form a unique group of travellers.

Cellular Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

In case you are wondering what dark tourism is, it is exactly what it sounds like. For instance, if we are taking the example of Bhangarh Fort, the place has gained enormous popularity among Indians as well as foreign tourists for the eerie story surrounding it. While the tale of Rani Ratnavati and the Aghori who practised dark magic may be a myth, deaths did take place in Bhangarh, Rajasthan, under mysterious circumstances. Such gloomy places attract more attention from people than other forts in the state. War sites are also included in dark tourism as there are many interesting stories that revolve around them.

India Gate, Delhi

Arghyadeep, who has visited almost every part of India at 22 years of age, shares that whenever he plans to travel, he does some research and ground work beforehand. This makes his trips hassle-free. Around three years ago, he planned to visit Goa. While searching on the internet, he found out about the old Bom Jesus Church where the mortal remains of Saint Francis Xavier are put up on display. The many myths surrounding the historical place made Arghyadeep want to visit the church even more than the famous beaches. He says, “After my thrilling trip to Goa, I try to find more places with a dark past and travel far and wide to experience such unusual adventures. Dark tours have made me learn that thrills cannot be limited to activities like bungee jumping, river-rafting or scuba diving. Destinations can be thrillers themselves.”

National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas city

According to Balu Ramachandran, a senior employee in a travel company who is also a travel enthusiast,  gone are the days when travellers were looking at merely crossing destinations off their bucket lists.

Destroyed Buddha statues at the Bamyan caves in Afghanistan.

Today’s travellers are experience seekers and the rise of dark tourism is a dimension of that quest for an unusual adventure. While dark tourism, on one hand, creates the potential of contributing to the economic condition of the affected community, especially towards rebuilding itself, people are also beginning to see it as an emotional experience to become aware of what might have transpired at such a place. For instance, a visit to Auschwitz is mandatory for all school children in Germany. A visit to Jallianwala Bagh, similarly, helps travellers sympathise with a great tragedy. Finally, an immersive educational experience helps raise awareness of historic events and enrich one’s understands of the human mind and behaviour.

Yingxiu Township, China

Europe, otherwise the hub of luxurious destinations, has many options for dark tourists. These include the Anne Frank’s House in Amsterdam, the Berlin Wall in Germany, Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and Somme Battlefields in France. Other popular international destinations for dark tourism include Hiroshima, Fukushima, Japan Suicide Forest, Kigali Genocide Memorial and Pearl Harbour.

Speaking about such tourism’s popularity in our nation Ramachandran, who is Senior VP of Cleartrip, adds, “On an aggregate level, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru contribute to more than 85% of the bookings for dark destinations. Cambodia seems to be more popular with travellers from Bengaluru. Almost all bookings, Kigali in Rwanda sees many travellers from Mumbai. For domestic tourists, popular destinations include Port Blair (Cellular Jail) and Amritsar (Jallianwala Bagh). Over the last year, we have seen bookings to Port Blair and Amritsar increase about 50% and 25% respectively.”

Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar

India has some remote destinations to offer to those who are eager enough to find these hidden places from the layman’s eyes. Mussoorie’s blood-curdling Lambi Dehar mines or rather the ‘mines of death’ accounts for thousands of miners’ death and the spook is the attraction factor for the tourists here. Rittam, a curious traveller Dehradun resident for the past two years, was more interested in visiting Lambi Dehar than Dhanaulti. He says, “Places like Lambi Dehar, Roopkund and Agra Fort and some other places here in North India that have tragic history and the stories that revolve around them make them something worth visiting at least once in a lifetime.”

On the flip-side, dark tourism has not been given much cheer by various social groups opining that introducing and popularising such places not only encourages a sadistic outlook, but spread the message of violence among the teenagers. But if that is the case, then mention of dark incidents should be ideally removed from the history syllabus and various literature pieces. But, as the nobles have stated, we learn from our past. And if witnessing the dark past can escalate violence and mishaps, they can surely teach us the ways to spare our future generations from similar horrors.

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