Essay About Purpose Of This Study And Visitor Motivations

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The purpose of this study is not to recite instances of dark tourism; rather, it is an
attempt to examine what motivates visitors to visit these places. From the figures above,
we can discern that dark tourism sites are sought-after destinations. This statement is
furthered by the works of Foley and Lennon (1996 and 1997) who discuss that, “there
has been significant growth in tourism associated with sites of death, disaster, and
depravity” (Lennon and Foley 1999:46). Smith found in her research on war and
tourism that, “…despite the horrors of death and destruction (and also because of them),
the memorabilia of warfare and allied products…probably constitutes the largest single
category of tourist attractions in the world” (1996:248). Due to the sheer volume of
visitors and the nature of many of these sites, it is therefore vital to understand what
motivates people to visit places of dark tourism.
However, visitor motivations to such sites remain yet undefined. The literature is
fragmented and no composite understanding of why visitors visit these sites has been
catalogued. Hence, the purpose of this research is three fold. First, it will peruse the
literature and compile a comprehensive list of definitions and potential visitor
motivations to sites of dark tourism that will be detailed in Chapter II. Secondly, guided
by five key research questions found in Figure 1, this research will examine these
potential motivations to determine if visitor motivations to the Holocaust Museum
Houston can shed light on tourist motivations to other sites of dark tourism. Thirdly, this
study will attempt to equip site administrators with a useful tool for management by
making