Illuminating the Dark: Measuring Emotional Experiences of Dark Tourism Consumers
2023 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
This study examines the emotional experiences of 152 respondents visiting ‘light’, ‘lighter’, and ‘lightest’ dark tourism sites and the relationship those experiences have with positive word-of-mouth. Therefore, the theoretical contribution of this study fills in the research gap by focusing on the destinations on the ‘lighter’ periphery of Stone’s Dark Tourism Spectrum. The ‘lighter’ destinations which are more commercialized, education- or entertainment-based in nature. In contrast to the destinations on the ‘darker’ periphery of the Dark Tourism Spectrum which are commemorative and where death and tragedy actually occurred. Our results suggest that tourists experience a broad range of both positive and negative emotions when visiting these destinations. Specifically, emotions like Interest, Positive Surprise, Disgust, and Negative Surprise have been found to have a positive relationship with Positive Word-of-Mouth. The results also suggest the practical contribution of this study and confirm that the suppliers of ‘lighter’ destinations are properly managing the dark tourism sites which results in their visitors to spread positive word-of-mouth.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023. , p. 68
Keywords [en]
Dark tourism, Dark Tourism Spectrum, Seven Dark Suppliers, emotions, emotional experiences, word-of-mouth
National Category
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-118704OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-118704DiVA, id: diva2:1730524
Subject / course
Tourism Studies
Educational program
International Tourism Management Programme, 180 credits
Supervisors
Examiners
2023-06-132023-01-242023-06-13Bibliographically approved