Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 23 ISSUE 3
Written by Romeo Cătălin CREȚU, Silviu Ionuț BEIA, Ioan Iulian ALECU, Petrică ȘTEFAN

Dark tourism (or black tourism, or grief tourism), is the tourism associated with death or tragedy. Well known dark tourism attractions are: Auschwitz, Ground Zero or Chernobyl. Dark tourism is controversial with some viewing it as an act of respect and others as unethical practice. This study was carried out during February 24-25, 2023, on the occasion of the Romanian Tourism Fair. We wanted to make a comparative analysis regarding the popularity of black tourism in the world; the opinion of Romanian tourism consumers is presented. For the external part of the research, we used the data provided by Passport Photo Online, a specialized company from the United States. For Romania, the authors of the article, together with master's students from the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine - Bucharest, Faculty of M.R.D., specialization in Management in agritourism and public catering, applied 1121 questionnaires to possible tourists who visited the fair. The questionnaire purpose was to find out the opinion of the visitors regarding black tourism, if this form of tourism is popular and which are the tourist areas in Romania where this tourism is practiced. The answers were analysed and interpreted, the conclusions being very interesting and useful for the new National Strategy of Romania for the development of tourism, which is under public debate.

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