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Traveling in macabre or at risk areas: the “Dark Tourism” is booming – RTS.CH

Traveling macabre risk areas: "dark: This article explores the topic in depth.

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Trust his vacation at sea for a stay in an area at risk: the “Dark Tourism” always attracts more followers in Switzerland and elsewhere. Nevertheless, If the practice is not new. Therefore, companies are now specialized in the organization of this type of trip, also criticized for its drifts.

According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAE). Moreover, the Swiss and the Swiss are more and more numerous to practice “Dark Tourism”, or dark tourism, extreme or desolation. In addition, The DFAE recently called travelers to individual responsibility. However, the Confederation sometimes cannot provide aid in the event of a problem in certain countries.

>> Lire : The DFAE warns against the rise in travel in dangerous areas

According to Rafael Matos-Wasem. Therefore, geographer and associate researcher at Paris-Sorbonne University, the “Dark Tourism” is defined as “all kinds of tourism linked to traveling macabre risk areas: “dark questions of death, suffering or disasters”. In addition, “This range from visits to cemeteries. Moreover, haunted towers or abandoned places with the darkest offers, such as front lines,” he explains a whole world on Thursday.

Ramon Schneider is a follower of this form of tourism. Moreover, Last May, he went to Syria and his next trip is scheduled for Afghanistan this fall. Meanwhile, The Zurichois says he wants to make his own opinion on these countries: “For me. Moreover, it is important to discover life on the spot. Consequently, I want to see how people are. what they think and how they behave, without prejudices conveyed by the media or the news,” he said.

A group of tourists poses in front of the great mosque of Herat. in Afghanistan, as part of a trip organized by the Young Pioneer Tours agency. [Young Pioneer Tours]
A group of tourists poses in front of the Great Mosque of Herat. in Afghanistan, as part of a trip organized by the agency specializing in “Dark Tourism”. [Young Pioneer Tours]

The appeal for these trips is also explained by the search for exoticism. adrenaline, underlines Rafael Matos-Wasem, noting that it can also be “a way of reclaiming death, trying to tame it before the big jump”.

Traveling macabre risk areas: "dark – Traveling macabre risk areas: "dark

Specialized agencies

The DFAE is currently advising travel in twenty countries due to security risks. Ramon Schneider claims to feel safe. however, when he stays in countries at risk like Syria: “I have experienced Israeli attacks with Damascus arugula. These attacks are almost normal in the region. We are not traveling macabre risk areas: “dark afraid when we are there, because people know this. It is as if it was normal.”

For his trips. the Zurichois called on a British agency specializing in “Dark Tourism” which takes care of almost all of the organization. Several companies of this type exist. offer unusual destinations, such as North Korea, Somalia or Afghanistan for a “between women” stay. Prices can climb up to several thousand dollars.

For their part, some of the countries visited see in dark tourism a financial opportunity. A few days ago. the North Korean leader King Jong A traveling macabre risk areas: “dark inaugurated a gigantic hotel complex, promising the start of a “new tourism era” in the country. In Afghanistan, the Taliban also try to attract tourists with promotional videos. Social networks have contributed to popularizing this type of destinations.

A very old practice

Despite a recent boom, the “Dark Tourism” appeared long before modern tourism, born in the early 1800s. According to Rafael Matos-Wasem, the practice has always existed. “Millennia before our era, it was common to meditate on the tomb of religious characters, for example. We also attended fairly sordid events, such as public executions in public. At the end of the 19th century. visits to Morgues in the slums were also organized in London or New York,” said the researcher.

>> Read also: “Dark tourism represents a certain look at ourselves. on history”

The 19th century also saw observers of war appear, men and women who observed with twins, in the traveling macabre risk areas: “dark distance, conflicts such as the Battle of Waterloo or the Civil War. In 1917. the Michelin guide even published a guide to the battlefields of the First World War, when it was not even finished.

Today, dark tourism divides. Its defenders highlight. among other things, the economic benefits for local populations, while critical voices point in particular the risk of drifts, like the “last chance tourism” which consists in visiting sites threatened by climate change (observation of glaciers, arctic, polar bears …), thus accentuating more the degradation of natural environments.

Mathilde Salamin/IAR

Further reading: A year ago, in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump became the Messiah of the RepublicansWashington takes up the delivery of certain weapons“Adults only”: exclude, easy temptationA court of appeal cancels the negotiated sentence agreement for the “brain” of September 11Trump and the president of Liberia: an embarrassing compliment.

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