Marketing Strategies of Dark Tourism: Social Media

Abstract

Dark tourism is one of the tourism types that have developed in line with the expectations of tourists in recent years. One of the special interest tourism types, dark tourism is based on fears such as pain, fear, and sadness. From this point of view, dark tourism destinations include battlefields, execution scenes, areas where death is experienced firsthand, centers with horror themes, and regions where natural and technological disasters occur. The centers where dark tourism takes place are quite different from the centers where other types of tourism take place. Thus, there is also diversity in the tourist type. Among the travel motivations of Dark tourists are reasons such as experiencing the moment of death, feeling fear, respecting the past, and obtaining information. With the advancement of technology, the reach of dark tourism to tourists has also accelerated. Today, dark tourism destinations reach large masses by using various marketing strategies. With this information, the aim of this study is to examine marketing strategies within the scope of dark tourism. Within the scope of this examination, social media will be emphasized. Social media accounts of destinations based on dark tourism will be examined and data will be analyzed through content analysis. Thus, it is aimed to have a rich section within the scope of dark tourism and social media.

Citation

Kılıç, B. and Kurnaz, H.A. (2024), "Marketing Strategies of Dark Tourism: Social Media", Sharma, A., Arora, S. and Shukla, P. (Ed.) Dark Tourism (Building the Future of Tourism), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 175-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-336-120241013