A Bit Of Darkness

Now that days are getting shorter -at least here in Europe- darkness becomes quite an apparent thing. Perhaps I shall take this as a chance to discuss about new developments in "dark tourism". Some years ago, this concept was introduced by John Lennon (not the singer, of course!) and consists of -so the Dark Tourism Institute- traveling to sites of death, disaster or the seemingly macabre. This type of tourism is also pretty well defined on the Wikipedia, so check there for a general approach to the subject.

Dark Tourism (DT) is getting more and more widespread. Now that destinations are fighting to be "special", DT offers a unique chance for that. I recently read two papers about that: In Barcelona, two homeless men are to be employed as a city guides, giving thus quite an unusual view about the city to visitors. Another DT initiative will be set up in Albania: underground spaces, originally envisaged as war shelters, will be made accessible to public for visits. And this in the Unesco-listed city of Gjirokastra, in the south of the country, a place that embodies lots of symbolism to Albanians.

Both initiatives show how widespread is DT meanwhile, and claim for a fresh and unconventional experience of new or even familiar places. Needless to say, DT will be of interest to locals and foreigners alike, boosting local tourism as well as foreign tourism.

See Barcelona by homeless people here, Albania's shelter here, Wikipedia's definition of DT here and finally this is the webpage of the Dark Tourism Research Institute.