Issue 428 Tragedy Tourism September 29, 2014

Have you ever heard of tragedy tourism?  You would be surprised by what it is and what it can actually do for a community.  So let's discuss.

What is it?:  This form of tourism is where people come to view the sites of natural disasters, murder scenes and similar tragic events.  Basically, they come to see where people's lives have been ruined.  

Morbid:  Yes, it is morbid.  I mean, why would you want to see a place where death and/or destruction have been wrought?  Think about it, do you want to see the abandoned buildings in Chernobyl?  Well, there may be some merit to this.  Another place that is part of tragedy tourism is Auschwitz, one of the many places the Holocaust took place.  This tourism is useful to keeping memories of man’s cruelty and foolishness alive so as to prevent it from happening again.

Unexpected benefits:  A benefit of this form of tourism is that it helps the economy of the places where it took place.  After the tornadoes that occurred down south in the U.S. like in Joplin, these tragedy tourists came to visit, spent their money and then left.  Along the way these tourists spent money which turned into an income to those affected economically by those storms.  The result was the economy of the area rebuilding itself much faster than if there had been no tourists of the disaster at all.  Same thing happened at ground zero in New York City.  The area’s economy and the country’s economy were in upheaval.  These tourists from around the world came to see the scene of death and in doing so bumped the economy of the area up enough through their spending to help NYC get out of its economic rut all that much quicker.  So this can actually be a very good thing for an economically depressed area, or an area suffering through a depression.

Conclusion:  While I still think it a bit morbid, It has unexpected gains.  Thus, I say visit these sites as you actually can help the victims by spending money in the areas they live.  So in my opinion, let this form of tourism keep going because it has the possibility to help others.