WANG Xiao-hua1,2, BAI Kai2, MA Yao-feng2, LI Tian-shun2
1. School of Tourism & Research Institute of Human Geography, Xi'an International Studies University, Xi'an 710128, China;
2. College of Tourism and Environmental Science, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
Abstract:The development of dark tourism is driven by two conflicting motivations including economical motivation and social motivation. Therefore, the process of it will inevitably be full of contradictions, that is to say the contradictions of the serious contents and the entertaining form which is uncompromising. So, it is necessary that the ethic issues should be considered when analyzing the mechanism of the contradictions. Currently, some researches have been conducted in the area of dark tourism. But they are still in the primary stage which means that there is no well-accepted and exact definition and the framework of the research yet. This paper systematically analyzes the conflicts of both sides of the dark tourism which are tourists and destination. Then it discusses the ethical conflicts in moralities and benefits of the two sides respectively. The authors conclude that (1) the fundamental relationship includes two cores of tourists and destination; (2) the serious contents and the entertaining form will certainly arouse conflicts; (3) during the process of dark tourism development, the contradictions of three aspects will highlight the conflicts of morality and benefits; (4) the dark tourism has its ethical characteristic because the development of dark tourism has social motivation and economical motivation which has natural contradiction. Thus the development of dark tourism in disaster area should pay equal attention to tourists and destination, as well as morality and benefits. The institution of regulations is essential to restrict the behaviors of all participants of dark tourism. Meanwhile the guide by educators and media is also necessary. There are also researches should be conducted in the future which are that (1) the ethical roles and conflicts of stakeholders should not be ignored in the development of dark tourism; (2) the institution and education of the participants of dark tourism can be subdivided into different levels which play different roles; (3) this paper discusses dark tourism from the ethical view. In fact, it can also be analyzed from the view of system theory, especially chaos.
王晓华, 白凯, 马耀峰, 李天顺. 试论灾害旅游的伦理均衡[J]. 人文地理, 2010, 25(5): 128-131,10.
WANG Xiao-hua, BAI Kai, MA Yao-feng, LI Tian-shun. AN ETHICAL EQUILIBRIUM OF DARK TOURISM. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2010, 25(5): 128-131,10.