disaster tourism

This is a subset of dark tourism, that is, tourism to places where atrocities have occurred. The disaster tourist seeks places where man-made or natural disasters have occurred. The motivation for such travel can be the attraction of danger. It can be the pleasure of rubbernecking, the desire to see the devastation for oneself rather than through the media. It can be a desire to help by providing assistance in whatever way presents itself, or by splashing some cash around.

 In the bushfires around Canberra in early 2020, it was made clear that disaster tourism was not welcome. It was not safe for people to be wandering around the fire zone and it hampered the efforts of the firefighters.

 This is in line with the negative reaction to disaster tourism in such places as New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina had wreaked havoc. There was a distinctly negative reaction in 1917 to Facebook’s attempt to take people on a virtual reality tour of Puerto Rico when it was devastated by Hurricane Maria.

 Despite the possible educative value and the fillip to the economies of places affected by disaster, there is still the sense that the tourists are gawking at the grief and misery of the locals.