A playground of morbid entertainment and disrespect for the fallen - Inhumane and socially unacceptable behaviour of 21st century tourists following the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Author: Nicole Rianne Lenton
1 Commentries
Abstract
This discussion argues that tourists can perceive risk in unusual ways, by highlighting that the melicious terrorist attacks on September 11th in New York and it's uncertain safety environment, proved to be more of a tourist attraction that a deterrent!
Key words: Terrorism, dark tourism, 9/11, risk perception, tourist behaviour
Extreme events, such as acts of terrorism can have an extremely negative effect on the tourism industry, where demand and supply prove sensitive to such happenings (Ryan, 1993: 174). It has been widely documented in academia that threats to national security and terrorism have unfortunately impacted on tourism demand (Arana & Leon, 2008: 299). It is apparent that much of the literature surrounding the topic of terrorism and tourism portrays that tourists are in fact deterred from destinations where large scale terrorist attacks have occurred. Because this matter is well justified in scholarly articles; this discussion aims to challenge this view. Uncertain security environments and their attendant risks have very diverse impacts upon tourist behaviour in the 21st century than stated by current academia. Are sites of tragedy more of an attraction than a 'put off'? This will be illustrated through a case study on the horrific terrorist attacks in New York, America on September 11th 2001.
Tragedy struck for New York when Islamic extremists hijacked passenger planes travelling over the city and fatally flew them into the twin towers, officially known as the World Trade Centre. Catastrophically, over 3000 people lost their lives due to these mortiferous attacks (NCTA, 2011: 47).
Anthropologically, one could suppose that risk avoidance is natural human behaviour (Korstanje, 2011: 223), which is why other academics state that tourist arrivals to the city decreased, however, it is evident that tourist behaviour changed after the attack, but not in the context of risk avoidance. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The case of 9/11 had little to do with putting tourists off the city; it simply allowed the niche market of dark tourism, to expand. Death and tragic events have long been a theme of the morbid tourist gaze, but 9/11 was different (Stone & Sharpley, 2008: 577).Tourists were horrified by the incident, but at the same time they were deeply intrigued by the tragic events. Whilst 9/11 created panic amongst tourists it also saw them behave and respond in an unusual way. The attacks produced a spectacle, and as a result tourists began to behave in an inhumane manor. Both, just after the attacks and in the present day at the memorial site - Ground Zero. Promptly after the happenings of 9/11 the United Nations World Trade Organisation (UNWTO) predicted in their report ''Terrorist attacks in the United States'' that the nefarious terrorism act, was more than likely to have an abysmally negative repercussion for both domestic and international tourism (UNWTO, 2001) However it must be stated that the same report declared the tourism industry to be 'resilient'; having repeatedly overcome such problems before - showing that terrorism is not overly influential over the tourism industry.
Directly after the attacks, tourists could be seen to be taking photos, as if this was some kind of entertainment (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 2003). Was this an innocent act or an act of merciless and hard-hearted disrespect for the families of the victims of this crisis? After all, this was a crime scene - not a tourist attraction, nothing about the site should have been remotely attractive, yet it was to tourists. Blake and Sinclair (2003) remark that there was absolutely nothing photogenic about this situation. Families of the injured and deceased were offended by the behaviour of spectating tourists, both during the direct aftermath and to this present day. One relative of the deceased commented in a report that ''People laughed and took pictures smiling'' whilst another complained that a tourist spilt a hot drink over her son's name on the memorial (Allen, 2012). The memorial 'Ground Zero' in the original site of the twin towers was being treated as a national playground. Whilst the attacks of 9/11 created panic and fear, it also unfortunately made people behave in this barbaric state of attack.
Dann (1998) suggests that seeking tourism experiences which offer to heighten one's own sense of mortality may prove to be an exuberating experience. Despite the fact that sites of death and disaster as tourist attractions have fascinated tourists for centuries; on the whole it is generally accepted that the niche phenomenon of dark tourism is expanding and has been doing since the 1990's (Gutman, 2009: 56). Dark tourism defines itself as a tourist attraction involving travel to areas that are associated with death, tragedy and suffering (Stone, 2006:145). Ground Zero has ultimately proved to be a dark tourism retreat.
There is definitely a sense of uncertainty present in the 21st century - An age of dubious and capricious feeling about how safe the tourism environment actually is. At the same time the uncertainties in the environment of New York have proved to be an attraction in themselves. Tourists have thrived of the shocking thrill of the attacks.
References
Stone, P & Sharpley, R (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective, Annals of tourism research, Vol. 35 (2), p577
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, B (2003). Kodak moments, flashbulb memories: Reflections on 9/11, The drama review, Vol. 47 (1), p11-48
Ryan, C (1993). Crime, Violence, terrorism and tourism: An accidental or intrinsic relationship? Tourism management, Vol. 14 (3), p173-175
This discussion argues that tourists can perceive risk in unusual ways, by highlighting that the melicious terrorist attacks on September 11th in New York and it's uncertain safety environment, proved to be more of a tourist attraction that a deterrent!
Key words: Terrorism, dark tourism, 9/11, risk perception, tourist behaviour
Extreme events, such as acts of terrorism can have an extremely negative effect on the tourism industry, where demand and supply prove sensitive to such happenings (Ryan, 1993: 174). It has been widely documented in academia that threats to national security and terrorism have unfortunately impacted on tourism demand (Arana & Leon, 2008: 299). It is apparent that much of the literature surrounding the topic of terrorism and tourism portrays that tourists are in fact deterred from destinations where large scale terrorist attacks have occurred. Because this matter is well justified in scholarly articles; this discussion aims to challenge this view. Uncertain security environments and their attendant risks have very diverse impacts upon tourist behaviour in the 21st century than stated by current academia. Are sites of tragedy more of an attraction than a 'put off'? This will be illustrated through a case study on the horrific terrorist attacks in New York, America on September 11th 2001.
Tragedy struck for New York when Islamic extremists hijacked passenger planes travelling over the city and fatally flew them into the twin towers, officially known as the World Trade Centre. Catastrophically, over 3000 people lost their lives due to these mortiferous attacks (NCTA, 2011: 47).
Anthropologically, one could suppose that risk avoidance is natural human behaviour (Korstanje, 2011: 223), which is why other academics state that tourist arrivals to the city decreased, however, it is evident that tourist behaviour changed after the attack, but not in the context of risk avoidance. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The case of 9/11 had little to do with putting tourists off the city; it simply allowed the niche market of dark tourism, to expand. Death and tragic events have long been a theme of the morbid tourist gaze, but 9/11 was different (Stone & Sharpley, 2008: 577).Tourists were horrified by the incident, but at the same time they were deeply intrigued by the tragic events. Whilst 9/11 created panic amongst tourists it also saw them behave and respond in an unusual way. The attacks produced a spectacle, and as a result tourists began to behave in an inhumane manor. Both, just after the attacks and in the present day at the memorial site - Ground Zero. Promptly after the happenings of 9/11 the United Nations World Trade Organisation (UNWTO) predicted in their report ''Terrorist attacks in the United States'' that the nefarious terrorism act, was more than likely to have an abysmally negative repercussion for both domestic and international tourism (UNWTO, 2001) However it must be stated that the same report declared the tourism industry to be 'resilient'; having repeatedly overcome such problems before - showing that terrorism is not overly influential over the tourism industry.
Directly after the attacks, tourists could be seen to be taking photos, as if this was some kind of entertainment (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 2003). Was this an innocent act or an act of merciless and hard-hearted disrespect for the families of the victims of this crisis? After all, this was a crime scene - not a tourist attraction, nothing about the site should have been remotely attractive, yet it was to tourists. Blake and Sinclair (2003) remark that there was absolutely nothing photogenic about this situation. Families of the injured and deceased were offended by the behaviour of spectating tourists, both during the direct aftermath and to this present day. One relative of the deceased commented in a report that ''People laughed and took pictures smiling'' whilst another complained that a tourist spilt a hot drink over her son's name on the memorial (Allen, 2012). The memorial 'Ground Zero' in the original site of the twin towers was being treated as a national playground. Whilst the attacks of 9/11 created panic and fear, it also unfortunately made people behave in this barbaric state of attack.
Dann (1998) suggests that seeking tourism experiences which offer to heighten one's own sense of mortality may prove to be an exuberating experience. Despite the fact that sites of death and disaster as tourist attractions have fascinated tourists for centuries; on the whole it is generally accepted that the niche phenomenon of dark tourism is expanding and has been doing since the 1990's (Gutman, 2009: 56). Dark tourism defines itself as a tourist attraction involving travel to areas that are associated with death, tragedy and suffering (Stone, 2006:145). Ground Zero has ultimately proved to be a dark tourism retreat.
There is definitely a sense of uncertainty present in the 21st century - An age of dubious and capricious feeling about how safe the tourism environment actually is. At the same time the uncertainties in the environment of New York have proved to be an attraction in themselves. Tourists have thrived of the shocking thrill of the attacks.
References
Stone, P & Sharpley, R (2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective, Annals of tourism research, Vol. 35 (2), p577
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, B (2003). Kodak moments, flashbulb memories: Reflections on 9/11, The drama review, Vol. 47 (1), p11-48
Ryan, C (1993). Crime, Violence, terrorism and tourism: An accidental or intrinsic relationship? Tourism management, Vol. 14 (3), p173-175