I often see the term ‘thanatourism’ used interchangeably with the term ‘dark tourism’ – do the two terms mean the same?
Yes, essentially the two terms are used to describe the same concept of the act of travel to sites of death, disaster and the macabre. Whilst the term ‘dark tourism’ is more popular, especially with students and the media, the term ‘thanatourism’ is its academic namesake. Other labels that have been used in the literature to describe dark tourism include, ‘morbid tourism’, ‘disaster tourism’, ‘grief tourism’, ‘black spot tourism’ and even ‘phoenix tourism’.
