Even on the seventh day of landslide in Wayanad, rescue teams are searching for people trapped under the debris. The trend of people being found alive even amidst more than 380 deaths continues. Meanwhile, Kerala Police prohibited dark tourists from coming on social media. Police say that this hinders the relief work. Dark tourism may sound new, but this culture of tourism has increased across the country and the world.
What was the police appeal?
Kerala Police Department issued a warning on social media platform This may affect rescue operations.
But who goes for a walk in this tragedy!
This is dark tourism. When people start visiting those areas or buildings instead of sea, mountains or greenery, where an accident has taken place, or where massacre or large number of deaths have taken place, then it is called dark tourism. People go to those places and find themselves involved in that accident. They are also ready to spend a lot of money for this experience.
The term dark tourism was coined in 1996 by J. of Glasgow Caledonian University. Invented by John Lennon and Malcolm Foley. Apart from the sites of brutal deaths, this also includes visiting the sites of devastation after a terrible natural disaster. Even in war-torn areas, the number of visitors increased.
continuously growing graph
According to market tracking website Future Marketing Sites, the market for dark tourism will grow to approximately $41 billion in the next ten years. A report published in the International Hospitality Review in the year 2021 says that people go to these places to find connection or to feel the pain, but for most tourists it is just a thrill, like one gets after doing dangerous work. .
Tourism on which sites
Some places around the world are special for dark tourism. One of these is the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. This was the largest internment camp during the Nazi regime, where Jews were imprisoned and killed. Many people were killed by being put in gas chambers and many others lost their lives due to hunger and cold. Hitler’s brutality in Auschwitz continued for many years. Even today, more than 2.5 lakh tourists visit this place every year.
Tourists from nuclear accident too
In August 1945, a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, due to which eighty thousand people lost their lives immediately. Even after this the destruction did not stop. Thousands of people died from radiation poisoning after some time. The destruction of Hiroshima can be estimated from the fact that 70% of the buildings collapsed due to the explosion. After a few years, Peace Memorial Park was built here, people from all over the world started coming to see it.
What other places
Ground Zero New York – This is the place where the World Trade Center stood in New York City. Both towers were demolished after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Now it appeals to dark tourists.
Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant is also one of these. In April 1986, 32 people were killed in a nuclear accident here, while many people continued to suffer from radiation and burn injuries.
Murumbi Genocide Memorial, the site of the Rwandan Genocide, is considered the world’s darkest site, where approximately 50 thousand lives were lost between April and June in 1994. Human skulls and skeletons are on display here.
– The city of Pompeii in Italy was burnt to ashes in volcanic lava about 1900 years ago. A glimpse of the era of the Roman Empire is still visible here.
Dark tourism sites in India too
This trend is not foreign, there are many such places here too, like Jallianwala Bagh, Cellular Jail of Andaman, Roopkund Lake of Uttarakhand and Kuldhara village of Jailsamer, which were destroyed overnight due to mysterious reasons.
Why is this being opposed?
In recent years, this method of tourism has also started being opposed. Actually, dark tourism happens in those places which are associated with some kind of tragedy. It is possible that tourists may unknowingly hurt local sentiments. Apart from this, many sites are still quite mysterious, no concrete reason is known about their extinction, it can be dangerous to go there. Tourists want to visit areas that have suffered natural disasters. These areas are very sensitive and due to overcrowding there is once again a fear of disaster.