Dark periods of history evoke strong emotions, particularly among those with close connections to participants. As documented by Stephen Pratt and his colleagues, cruise tourists who chose to join a shore tour of World War II battlefield sites, museums, and memorials on Guadalcanal did so for a variety of reasons and felt a range of positive and negative emotions.
Meanwhile, Solomon Islanders weigh up the opportunities and responsibilities associated with this ‘dark tourism’ niche.
It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight.
World War II left indelible scars across many countries, not only emotionally and psychologically, but also physically. Battles were fought throughout the world during that terrible war, including in the South Pacific. Military forces left artillery and other war debris strewn across landscapes and the ocean floor.
The Battle of Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands, was one of 10 conflicts fought between the Japanese and the Americans during World War II. The physical scars it left behind include war memorials for both sides, plaques, monuments, and the wreckage of ships and aircraft.
Seventy years after the end of World War II, some in the Solomon Islands see potential in the World War II battles that took place there as a way to help people — local and foreign, young and old — accept and learn from the past.
They point to how the battlefield sites provide military enthusiasts and historians, war veterans and their descendants, and even local school children with, variously, a tangible reminder of death and sacrifice, a sense of closure, an education about past wars, and a motivator for future peace.
At the same time, a related tourism niche, dubbed ‘dark tourism’ by some, has the potential to be a source of economic development for the local community.
While dark tourism attractions have long enticed visitors to sites associated with death, suffering, or the macabre, this doesn’t necessarily mean … To continue reading this “Good Tourism” Insight in full, and for free, please visit https://goodtourismblog.com/2021/09/atrocity-curiosity-tragedy-travel-battlefield-tourism-in-the-solomon-islands/