In recent years, dark tourism, as a kind of emotional experience activity, has greatly attracted the attention of international tourism academia, and a lot of related research have been made with impressive achievements. At the same time, Chinese tourism academics are increasingly aware of the importance of dark tourism and its academic potentials, and have carried out a lot of exploratory research on it. In order to further explore the theoretical and methodological innovation of dark tourism research in the modern social context, Tourism and Hospitality Prospects specially publishes a special issue of “dark tourism” to further clarify the relevant concepts and promote the academic research in this field.

In recent years, dark tourism, with its themes of death and disaster, has aroused considerable interest in domestic and foreign academia and become an important domain in international tourism academic research. However, there are still some fundamental theoretical problems in this field that have not been completely solved. In response, this paper systematically examines the concept and connotations of dark tourism domestically and internationally and redefines dark tourism from the perspectives of both narrow sense and broad sense. In order to further distinguish the characteristics of different types of dark tourism, this paper constructs the type spectrum of dark tourism from three dimensions: the influence intensity of dark events, the time interval since dark events have happened, and the spatial distance from the place where the dark event has occurred; dark tourism is then classified into seven different types. Among them, six colors are employed in the dark tourism type spectrum (darkest-darker-dark-light-lighter-lightest; Stone, 2006). Transitional (dark) tourism is a new type of dark tourism proposed in this study. This paper then comprehensively compares the similarities and differences between dark tourism and red tourism from three aspects: tourism subject, tourism object, and development driving force. The appropriateness of the term “dark tourism” is discussed academically, and the alternative concept of “Mose Lvyou (in Chinese)” is proposed creatively. At the same time, this paper analyzes the tourist portrait and motivation spectrum of dark tourists from the perspective of demand so as to accurately determine the real identity of dark tourists. Results show that dark tourists are more likely to be female and young people than conventional tourists. Dark tourists are also more likely to be interested in dark events. It may be concluded that dark tourists are more emotionally and educationally involved in the process of sightseeing. Meanwhile, according to the chromaticity of darkness, dark tourism visitors’ motivation is divided into core motivation, transitional motivation, and peripheral motivation. The paper further explores the types of dark tourism landscape from the perspective of supply and divides them into three categories: natural dark tourism landscape, humanistic dark tourism landscape, and natural-humanistic combined dark tourism landscape. In addition, the “darkness attenuation curve of dark tourism destination” is proposed for the first time. On this basis, the paper suggests that attention should be paid to the authenticity of dark heritage and ethical and moral issues in the development of dark tourism destinations in the future. This study is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of the nature of dark tourism and provides useful insights into the construction of a relevant theoretical framework.

The reconstruction in the aftermath of an earthquake provides a unique experimental arena for exploring issues in earthquake-stricken areas. This study investigates the sense of place of residents living in dark tourism sites related to the Great Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008. Particular interest is given to how local communities may be clustered according to their sense of place and the extent to which the identified clusters are different. The results identify three dimensions of sense of place by employing the Principal Component Analysis, including place identity, place dependence, and place attachment. This is followed by the K-Means Cluster Analysis, revealing three clusters of respondents: attachment identified with the place, dependence attached to the place, and weak bonds. The Contingency Table Analysis further suggests that the clusters differ distinctively in socio-economic profiles like gender, occupation, and length of residence. The cluster of attachment identified with the place differs slightly from clusters of dependence attached to the place and weak bonds, as the dominant groups are female respondents under 18 who have lived in Beichuan County for over ten years. The cluster of attachment identified with the place is primarily composed of senior high school students, while the latter two categories are mainly junior high school students or elementary school students. It is hoped that this study, with its practical implications, may provide insight into the planning of ideal reconstruction for earthquake-stricken areas.

Although research on dark tourism has received more and more academic attention in recent years, few scholars have explored how the local residents’ sense of security influences their perceptions of and attitudes towards tourism development in disaster-stricken areas. Using the two sites hit hardest by the May 12th Wenchuan earthquake (Beichuan and Dujiangyan) as empirical cases, this study aims to explore how residents consider the development of tourism after the earthquake and how residents’ support for tourism is influenced by their risk perception (i.e., “perceived risk,” “risk-related emotions,” and “intended risk prevention”) and “place attachment.” The results demonstrate that 1) the higher the anticipated possibility of future secondary disasters and the more severe the disaster damages are, the more likely residents will exhibit intense negative emotions such as worry and anxiety; 2) the more intense their sense of risk, the more likely residents are willing to take preventive actions against possible future disasters, resulting in their willingness to support the development of tourism; 3) residents’ willingness towards risk prevention exerts a significantly positive impact on their place attachment and support for tourism; 4) stronger place attachment generates active support for tourism. This study explores and unveils residents’ attitudes towards the development of tourism in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster from the perspectives of residents’ perceived risk, risk-related emotions, risk prevention, and place attachment. It thus contributes to the development of tourism in the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction process.

Dark tourism sites are associated with human pain, atrocity, disaster, and mass death. As dark tourism sites are memorial spaces of great human suffering and tragedy, how they help construct and inherit collective memory and affect tourists’ behavior has attracted academic attention. Taking, as an example, the ruins of the old town of Beichuan county, which was badly hit by the Wenchuan earthquake and is now preserved as a national heritage site, this paper quantitatively discusses the dimensions and characteristics of tourists’ collective memory and constructs a structural equation model of “collective memory-satisfaction-behavioral intentions” to explore the effect of collective memory on tourists’ post-visit behavioral intentions. The results show that tourists’ collective memories consist of five dimensions: memory of disaster, memory of disaster relief, disaster cognition, negative emotions, and enlightenment. All these aspects of collective memory have a significant positive impact on tourists’ approval of the ruins’ protection and their intention to revisit the sites and recommend these sites to others if tourists are satisfied with their experience. This study explores dark tourism experiences from a new theoretical perspective of collective memory. The results may provide a reference for the planning, protection, display, and management of dark tourism sites.

Tourist types and experience are indispensable factors in the research of tourism. Based on previous interpretations regarding the concept of dark tourism and disaster tourism, this study presents and rethinks the definition of dark tourism. As tourists’ experience of dark tourism and the dimensions of their experience are very much affected by the tourist types they belong to, it is thus the purpose of this study to empirically explore the differences among various dark tourism visitor groups. The findings of this study may provide particular practical values for developing and managing disaster-related tourist destinations. The results show that the dark tourism experience consists of emotional and cognitive experiences. While emotional experience involves tourists’ sympathy and shock at the disaster, cognitive experience is related to education and knowledge. Furthermore, the visual sight of the disaster-stricken landscape strengthens tourists’ emotional experience in comparison to their cognitive experience (judging from the mean value). Finally, the dark tourism destination or landscape may largely evoke sympathy on the part of visitors. Both emotional and knowledge-related experiences are affected by the types of tourists. It is hoped that this study’s findings will provide some insight into the development and management of dark tourism sites.