Dark Tourism

  

- what's it all about?

  
On these pages you'll find some general information about dark tourism (if you want to find info about actual places go straight to the dark destinations section, the countries menu on the left, or the index).
  
A basic introduction is provided here: what is dark tourism? - are you a dark tourist?
  
A more 'academic' discussion about what is the understanding of 'dark tourism' underlying this site can be found under the concept of dark tourism.
 
Furthermore, different categories of dark tourism are outlined.
  
Overlaps of dark tourism with other forms of tourism are also discussed, as are some forms of tourism that are sometimes considered to be dark, but which are excluded here as beyond the scope of dark tourism proper.
  
And finally some ethical issues are discussed as well as some general considerations of health and safety risks.
  
As a guideline for gauging the relative values of the individual sites described, two classification systems are applied, separately for the 'dark' and for the 'touristic':
  
1. for classifying destinations by how 'dark' they are, darkometer ratings between one and ten are given,

  
2. as a gauge for the touristic merits of a place (independent of how dark), a conventional star rating system (one to five) is applied (wherever that was possible).