What Are The Motivations Of Dark Tourists?

What Are The needs Of threatening Tourists?On the 27th of April 2008, Josef Fritzl was arrested in Amstetten, a small town in Austria. It has shown that Fritzl sexually ab utilizationd his daughter, Elisabeth, since she was eleven years old. When she was eighteen years old he locked her up in the basement underneath his mob. Fritzl forced his daughter Elisabeth to write a garner to her mother where she stated that she had run away from home and joined a sect. The sexual abuse led to the birth of seven children. Three of these children were brocaded by Elisabeth in the basement and the other three were raised by Fritzl and his wife. One of the children died a few long judgment of conviction after it was born. Further much, Fritzl convinced his wife that the three children they raised were exposed by Elisabeth. When champion of the children that lived in the basement, the at that time nineteen-year-old Kersten, got ill Elisabeth convinced her father that she needed to be hospi talized. Because Kersten was non registered anywhere, one of the doctors informed the government activity. later this, Elisabeth saw a program on the television in her basement that make a call up for the mother of Kersten. Then she convinced her father to bring her to the hospital, which led to the hearings of Fritzl and Elisabeth and the confessions of the cruelties that took place. by and by twenty-four years Elisabeth was freed from the basement and reunited with all her children (Wikipedia, 2010).This link has received ugly circumspection in the media and accordingly the representative is known all all over the world. The affaire encompasses a painful and shameful episode on a national and local basis. Further more(prenominal), the firm of Fritzl has be begin a touristic attraction. Amstetten is dealing with an change magnitude amount of tourists that come to holler the planetary crime syndicate. When tourists visit the polarity, they ofttimes take photos of th e crime syndicate and of themselves in front of it. The denominations on the internet show that the local authorities nonplus this shocking (HLN, 2010). The phenomenon that citizenry visit places that ar associated with finish, hurt and emphasis cig argont be described as shady touristry. Thanatourism is a akin(predicate) concept and overly films the tour of emplacements associated with death and suffering, but an emphasis is situated upon symbolically experiencing a painful death. some other related concept is foreboding(a) spots, which buns be described as commercial cemeteries of famous great deal or localisation of functions where death and suffering took place. The dwelling of Fritzl belongs to such(prenominal)(prenominal) places and visiting this location fits the description of shadower tourism and thanatourism. The house of Fritzl, where the abuse and cruelties took place, rump be seen as a symbolic reflection of this affaire and its tragic events. Furthermore, the house serves as a tangible object that invokes the memory of the Fritzl-affaire (Yull, 2003 10-13 Logan en Reeves, 2009 1-3 Rojek, 1993 136). The phenomenon that multitude visit the house of Fritzl inspired me to formulate the following look into school principal What are the motivations of tail tourists? The case of the house of J. Fritzl in Amstetten. It is enkindle to find place wherefore tourists visit the house, if the media attention has played a role in the decision of people to visit the house and if certain characteristics, such as age and gender, affect the motivation of these visitors. The case of Fritzl offers a charming and recent case to go more in-depth into the motivations of inexorable tourists.Scientific and societal RelevanceThe scientific relevance of this query question lies in the accompaniment that the subject of black-market tourism is relatively new within the donnish field. Several articles founder been published on this topic, but as careen (2006) fence ins despite this increasing attention the tenebrous tourism literature mud both eclectic and theoretic fragile (Stone, 2006 145). Some look intoers have already cerebrate on visitor motivations of dark tourist sites. For example, Yull (2003) investigated why people visit the Holocaust Museum in Houston. However, according to Stone (2006) and Sharpley (2009) interrogation depression and foremost has directioned on describing the different dark tourist sites, instead than on the consumption and pay offs of visitors. This inquiry allow for contribute to the pinch of visitor participation in dark tourism by taking the visitors of the house of Fritzl as the focal point of this search. Furthermore, the existing research has not focused on the motivations of visitors to dark tourist sites, comparable to the house of Fritzl and therefore this research provide add to and fill the gap in the existing literature. The complaisant relevance of t his research is harder to de barrierine. However, finding out what the motivations of visitors are, faculty provide utile and germane(predicate) breeding for directly expectd parties, other than the scientific community. For example, this information could offer the local community of Amstetten and (in)direct victims of this case a better understanding of what is going on and with what reasons people visit this site of horror. For example visitors index be motivated to visit this place to pay respect to the victims or remember the cruelties that took place, instead of entertainment purposes. Furthermore, the results of this research could even be relevant to society as a whole, since dark sites similar to the house of Fritzl be to more and more pop up and attract visitors world-wide. This research seeks to provide insights into why people are motivated to visit these morbid locations.Theoretical Concepts and Hypothesized relationsAs mentioned previously, several theoretical concepts are related to the phenomenon where people visit places associated with pain, death and suffering. Academic attention to this phenomenon increased in the twentieth coulomb and several theoretical concepts were introduced. These concepts are dark spots (Rojek, 1993), dark tourism (Lennon and Foley, 1996 in Yull, 2003) and thanatourism (Seaton, 1996 in Sharpley, 2009). These dark concepts leave behind be briefly discussed in a more or less chronicle order, based on introduction in the literature. Another concept of importance for this research is visitor motivations (Sharpley, 2009 12-15). dim ConceptsBlack SpotsRojek (1993) coined the term black spots and argues that these locations involve commercial cemeteries of famous people or sites where death and suffering took place. In his research, Rojek (1993) in any case mentions that people increasingly visit these dark sites and that entrepreneurs initiate tours round these black spots. Examples of black spots are the con centration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim-Brzezinka, Ground Zero in spic-and-span York and the location where Princess Diana got killed in a car crash (Rojek, 1993 136-145).Dark Tourism and Thanatourism see places associated with death, pain and suffering is becoming increasingly popular. However, Sharpley (2009) argues that this is not a new phenomenon. In the romish Empire, it was a common form of entertainment to attend a gladiators match. Another example are the public executions in the Middle Ages. Traveling to places where death and suffering are central elements support be defined as dark tourism. Furthermore, it involves consuming real or simulated places of death and horror. Visiting these places where actual cruelties took place by relatives or friends of the victims cannot be seen as a form of dark tourism. Thanatourism is a concept which strongly relates to dark tourism and was introduced in the literature in the same year as dark tourism. Thanatourism entails th e visiting of locations associated with death and suffering, where visitors want to symbolically experience a painful death. This description points more to the motivations of visitors of dark sites. However, the term dark tourism is commonly used in the academic field and no distinction is made between the concepts dark tourism and thanatourism. Therefore, I get out use the term dark tourism in this research and make no end between dark tourism and thanatourism (Lennon en Foley, 2000 3-5 Yull, 2003 10, 11 Sharpley, 2009 3-19). Dark tourism involves the actual visiting of black spots. There are different black spots which are visited daily by tourists and therefore belong to sites of dark tourism. Furthermore, several tours are initiated around dark sites. Commercial motives, in impairment of entrance fees, are often involved. Examples are the Jack the Ripper tour in London or the tour in Charleroi which shows you, among other dark sites, the house of the famous kidnapper and ch ild molester Marc Dutroux. Visiting morbid museums, old prisons or battle field fall also under the category dark tourism. As discussed previously, the house of Fritzl fits the description of a black spots and increasingly attracts visitors. This research seeks to understand the motivations of these visitors (Stone, 2006 145, 146, 152 HLN, 2010).Visitor MotivationsFor this research it is requisite to overwhelm visitor motivations as a theoretical concept. Motivations of individuals to visit regular tourist places include getting acquainted with other cultures and increase ones knowledge nigh these locations. Furthermore, motivations often involve entertainment purposes, such as having fun or seek adventure. Relaxation, revitalization, being active and get close to nature are also common incentives to visit a certain location (Kozak, 2002 225). However, these motivations of regular touristic locations big businessman differ from motivations of tourists that visit black spots. Un fortunately, few literature is available that focus on visitor motivations of dark tourists. The literature that is accessible, uses similar research questions to the one is used in this research. Yull (2003) studied the motivations of dark tourists and focused more specialisedally on the motivations of visitors of the Holocaust Museum in Houston. Niemel (2010) focused on visitor motivations of the tolerate of Terror museum in Budapest. This museum is built to remember the tortured and killed people during solid ground War II. In addition, Poria, Reichel and Biran (2006) chose to investigate the motivations of the visitors of the Anne Frank stomach in Amsterdam. Although the dark tourist locations used in these researches are museums associated with death and suffering and therefore differ from the dark site that is used in this research, similar motivations whitethorn be found. If different motivations are found, it could be argued that this difference is dependent on the speci fic dark tourist site. fit in to Yull (2003), motivations of dark tourist could involve entertainment purposes, such as providing a thrill, a novel experience or adventure. Furthermore, remembering the victims and the cruelties that took place or curiosity can also be motivations of tourist that visit the house of Fritzl. Although education major power be more suitable as a motivation to visit a museum associated with death and suffering, individuals can also visit the house of Fritzl to learn something. For example, visitors might want to enrich their knowledge approximately the Fritzl-affaire. In addition, Niemel (2010) argues that emotional affair might also play a role in the motivations of dark tourists. Visitors might identify or have a personal inter-group communication with the cruelties that took place. Moreover, Poria, Reichel and Biran (2006) include 2 more motivations tourists might visit a dark site, because it is famous or because they feel that the site is histo rically important (Yull, 2003 146-159, 191-199 Niemel, 2010 37 Poria, Reichel and Biran, 2006 322). The media play an important role within the field of dark tourism. The media can report tragic events that take place all over the world. The attention that the media pay to tragic and horrible events serve as a input for flows of tourism. Furthermore, media has the capacity to bring dark tourism sites to public consciousness (Yull, 2003 125). Additionally, Lennon and Foley (2000) argue that the attention of the media to specific dark sites, might motivate individuals to visit the location in order to experience the reality behind the media representations. Since, the Fritzl-affaire received dangerous attention in the media, it exit be likely that this attention has an work on on the motivation of visitors (Stone, 2009 57 Seaton, 2009 90 95, 106 Lennon and Foley, 2000 152).Operationalization of Theoretical ConceptsIn this section, the operationalization of the theoretical concepts lead be discussed. To answer the question What are the motivations of dark tourists? The case of the house of J. Fritzl in Amstetten, I will conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews1with visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten. This implies that a topic list will be made, consisting of topics that will be addressed in the interview. However, the order in which the topics will be discussed is not fixed and if unavoidable, the interviewer will probe for more information and adapt to new themes that are brought up by the interviewees. Furthermore, the interviewer can adapt to the train of comprehension of the respondents. The questions will be open, which means that no answer categories will be made (t stag, Boeije and Hox, 2007 274, 275 Gilbert, 2001 123, 124). Several topics that will be addressed in the interview are outlined. First of all, it is important to include demographic factors of the visitors, such as age, the country the interviewee lives in and the highes t obtained level of education ( native school or less, secondary school, intermediate vocational training, higher vocational training, college or back graduate). Furthermore, the gender of the respondent will be noted during the interview. These demographic factors are included, because they are important background variables and might affect the motivations people have to visit the house of Fritzl.Other topics that will be included will focus upon the motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten. It will be asked what attracted the visitors to visit Amstetten and what their primary reason is for visiting this town. I will seek to explore whether visitors come specifically for the house or if they have other motives or more than one reason to visit this town. Then, I will focus on the topic of why people visit the house of Fritzl. Although, similar answers to the research on dark tourist motivations described above maybe found, such as entertainment, curiosity, remem brance of the victims and cruelties that took place, emotional involvement, historical importance of the site or its fame, unhoped answers also need to be taken into account. Furthermore, it is essential to go in-depth into the answers and ask for further elaboration if necessary. Additionally, it needs to be explored whether visitors have nonuple motivations to visit the house of Fritzl. Seeking to understand motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl, demands for adapting to possible unexpected answers and the skills to react to this situation adequately. Furthermore, the role of the media will be addressed. Central themes will be, whether visitors are familiar with and engagemented in the Fritzl-affaire, if they have followed the case in the news, documentaries or on the internet. This will seek to explore whether media attention to the Fritzl-affaire affects the tourists in their motivation to visit the house. Next, I will focus upon if the visitors have previously visite d other dark locations, where cruelties have taken place. It will be interesting to find out if there is a relationship between visiting the house of Fritzl and other dark locations and if we are dealing with tourists that have an interest in visiting dark sites in general.Plan for Data arrangementFor this research, the visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten are the objects of study. Hence, it is necessary to come into contact with these visitors. For this research I have to use qualitative semi-standardized interviews to answer the research question. qualitative methods are used when a certain research topic is relatively new and unexplored. Furthermore, qualitative methods offer the possibility to go more in-depth into specific aspects of a certain phenomenon. Baarda, de Goede and van der Meer-Middelburg (1996) argue that qualitative interviews are a suitable method when ideas, motivations, opinions and experiences need to be investigated. Since this research seeks to expl ore the motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten, it fits this description (t hart et al. 2007 253 Baarda et al. 1996 18-20). I choose to use semi-structured, matched interviews. This implies that topics will be formulated and addressed in the interview. Besides demographic questions, specific questions, answer categories or the order of the questions will not be fixed in advance. This gives the interviewer the opportunity to probe for more information if necessary or reflexively respond to new themes that might be brought up. This reflexive move up is essential, since motivations of dark tourists is relatively unexplored, especially in regard to locations comparable to the house of Fritzl. This may result in unexpected answers to be brought up. When standardized methods are used, this will not be possible. One-to-one interviews are used, because the interviewees will not be influenced by the opinions of others and may give them the feeling to speak more openly about their motivation(s). Furthermore, confidentiality and anonymity of the data will be guaranteed (Baarda et al., 1996 18-24, 26-28 t Hart et al. 2007 254, 261, 262, 267 Gilbert, 2001 123-129). To interview the research participants of this research it is necessary to go to Amstetten, which is or so a nine hour drive from Rotterdam. I will neglect three long time around the house of Fritzl and I will accession the visitors that come by. I will ask them if they are willing to take part in this research. This research requires purposive sampling, because I assume that only a small group of visitors of the house of Fritzl is accessible in these three days and this group will be likely to represent the visitors as a whole. Furthermore, using a probability sample is often unrealistic for mild or qualitative research (Gilbert, 2001 62). The duration of the interview will be approximately twenty minutes and the amount of interviewees will depend on the willingness to participate. The aim will be to conduct ten to twenty interviews. Furthermore, the interviews will be recorded. Gilbert (2001) argues that recording is recommendable, especially when conducting non-standardized or semi-structured interviews. This, because this type of carrying out interviews requires an active participation of the interviewer within the conversation. By recording the interview, the data riding habit be scattered and in contrast to making notes it wont stop or slow down the dialogue. It also signals that the responses of the respondents are taking seriously. Of course, the use of recording will be explained to the interviewees and their approval will be asked. nowadays after the interview, notes will be made about the setting, the interview and the interviewee which can be used to recall the context of the particular interview (t Hart et al. 2007 268-270 Gilbert, 2001 61-63, 135-137).Plan for Data AnalysisWhen the data is collected, the analysis of the data will begin. First of all, the recorded interviews will be verbatim transcribed. I choose to write down everything that is said, because then data wont get lost that might be of significance when the research progresses. Although, transcribing everything is time-consuming and labor-intensive, the low beat of interviews makes it possible to do so. Furthermore, transcribing the data allows you to get familiar with the data and it helps facilitating thoughts and ideas about possible connections and underlying themes. Before analyzing, the transcripts will be checked by listening to the recordings once more and by carefully reading the pen text. The demographic characteristics of the respondents will be shown on the first page of the transcripts. After this, I will offer the transcript to the respondents, so that accuracy can be checked and comments can be made. This improves reliability and validity of the answers (Gilbert, 2001 134-137). The transcripts will be read repeatedly with the aim to identif y underlying themes and connections. By comparing and contrasting fragments within interviews and between interviews, fragments with an underlying connection will be categorized and labeled. Furthermore, it will show whether the earlier described motivations are found in the transcripts, or if new themes will be discovered. Similarities and dissimilarities between different respondents may emerge and might relate to their demographic characteristics. Eventually, the systematise themes will be linked and compared to draw a full construe of the motivations of visitors of the house of Fritzl in Amstetten and answer the research question (Gilbert, 2001 137, 138 t Hart et al. 2007 176, 277).DiscussionGilbert (2008) describes six properties that a research question should have. The research question should be interesting, relevant, concise, answerable, feasible and ethical. For this research it is necessary to address two of these properties more in-depth, which are the feasibility of t his research and its ethical dimensions. The research question, What are the motivations of dark tourists? The case of the house of J. Fritzl in Amstetten, is feasible to the extent that it can be answered within a relatively short period of time and with relatively low costs. Furthermore, the research participants are accessible. However, the search for visitors of the house of Fritzl might show difficulties. For this research I will spend three days around the house of Fritzl and approach the tourists that will visit the house. However, it is possible that on these particular days there will be no visitors at all. Consequently, finding research participants might be time-consuming and unpleasant (Gilbert, 2008 48). According to Gilbert (2008), it is of importance to take into account the ethical dimensions of a research question. While no specific approval is needed from institutions to conduct this research, this research involves a certain sensitivity. The reason for this, is th at this study focuses upon an affair where people suffered and were mistreated. Therefore, this affair is sensitive to victims or relatives of these victims. Furthermore, this case might be sensitive to the bordering residents or the whole community of Amstetten. Spending three days in front of the house of Fritzl to gather the research participants might be criminal offense to the residents. For example, they might be upset or feel that their privacy is violated. Consequently, it is necessary to work with discretion. Eventual publication of this research also involves ethical implications. way out might cause harm to the different parties involved (Gilbert, 2008 48, 49 Gilbert, 2001 49-53). A last brief comment I would like to make is about the weaknesses ofLiteratureBaarda, D.B., de Goede, M.P.M. van der Meer-Middelburg, A.G.E. 1996. Basisboek Open Interviewen. Groningen Stenfert Kroese.Gilbert, N. 2001. Researching Social Life (2nd edition). London discerning Publications.Gi lbert, N. 2008. Researching Social Life (3d edition). London Sage Publications.t Hart, H., Boeije, H. Hox, J. 2007. Onderzoeksmethoden. Amsterdam thunder onderwijs.Kozak, M. 2003. Comparative analysis of tourist motivations by nationality and destinations. Tourism Management 23, 221-232.Lennon, J.J. Foley, M. 2000. Dark Tourism The Attraction of Death and Disaster. Australia South-Western Cengage Learning.Logan, W. Reeves, K. 2009. Places of Pain and Shame Dealing with baffling Heritage. USA/Canada Routledge.Niemel, T. 2010. Motivation Factors in Dark Tourism Case House of Terror.https//publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/14984/Niemela_Titta.pdf?sequence=36 October 2010Poria, Y., Reichel, A. Biran, A. 2006. Heritage Site Perceptions and Motivations to Visit. journal of Travel Research 44, 318-326.Rojek, C. 1993. Ways of Escape Modern Transformations in blank and Travel. London The MacMillian Press.Sharpley, R. 2009. Shedding Light on Dark Tourism An Introduction. In R. Sharpley P.R. Stone. The Darker Side of Travel The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Bristol Channel cipher Publications, 3-22.Stone, P.R. 2006. A dark tourism spectrum Towards a typology of death and macabre related tourist sites, attractions and exhibitions. Tourism 54 (2), 145-160.Stone, P.R. 2009. Dark Tourism Morality and New Moral Spaces. In R. Sharpley P.R. Stone. The Darker Side of Travel The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism. Bristol Channel View Publications, 56-74.Yull, S.M. 2003. Dark Tourism Understanding Visitor Motivation at Sites of Death and Disaster. http//etd.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/89/YUILL-THESIS.pdf?sequence=1.7 October 2010WebsitesHLN, 2010http//www.hln.be/hln/nl/960/Buitenland/article/detail/314386/2008/06/16/Toeristen-op-de-foto-voor-horrorkelder.dhtml6 October 2010HLN, 2010http//www.hln.be/hln/nl/1901/reisnieuws/article/detail/269697/2008/05/08/Ramptoerisme-bij-Oostenrijks-gruwelhuis.dhtml6 October 2010Wikipedia, 2010http//nl.wikipedia. org/wiki/Fritzl-incestzaak6 October 2010