Dark Tourism
Managing Dark Tourism Sites, Attractions, and Exhibitions
GROUND ZERO...
On 11th September 2001, America and the world were shocked by the terror act that took place. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Centres in Manhattan, New York causing mass destruction and the loss of nearly 3000 lives. Soon after the major tragedy, plans for cleaning up the site were well underway for were the planned memorial site would be. The site is called Ground Zero and took around 10 years to construct. It is set up of two memorial pools, they are placed exactly were the twin towers were situated. The two pools are surrounded by the names of the people who lost their lives in bronze parapets. The memorial has had more than 11 visitors since it first opened in September 2011 and continues to rally in millions of tourists every year making it one of the most visited Dark Tourism sites in the world. ‘In 2002, ground zero in New York attracted 3.5 million visitors, almost double the number that annually visited the observation platform of the WTC prior to 9/11’ (Stone & Sharpley, 2009).
'Remember when it was just hallowed ground? Ground Zero is now one of the most popular tourism attractions in the city.… The proud can buy Twin Towers T-shirts, the angry can buy toilet paper bearing the face of Osama bin Laden and the curious can climb up the fence to take the perfect picture of what is now just a big hole. The hustle of commerce hawking to the crush of sightseers has prompted some to call it September 11 World'.
(Stone & Sharpley, 2009).
Managing a Dark Tourism site of this scale is a huge job for the management team. They have to be careful, considerate and understand that tourists are visiting to pay tribute to the people who lost their lives. Some of the possible issues in the managerial practices of Ground Zero are:
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The overcrowded sidewalks and the overflowing waste in the trash cans.
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The local businesses being used as public bathroom services
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Local residents and businesses moving away due to the high number of tourists, especially in the earlier years of the 2001 attacks.
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In the early years of the attack, New York officials did not want the market Ground Zero as a tourist attraction as they felt that the local residents would deem it insensitive.
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Whether they should make money from Ground Zero.
(Pizam & Fleischer, 2002)
'Frequently, the popularity of such sites may be enhanced by the marketing and promotional activity of businesses or organisations anxious to profit through tourism; equally, the media frequently play a role in ‘promoting’ dark sites'.
(Seaton, 1996)
One of the main issues surrounding the site that the managers can come across when working is that some people may not be respecting the wishes of the site. The managers need to make sure that the consumers understand the rules that apply at the memorial.
(Doss, 2010)
Some of the managerial practices being applied to Ground Zero currently are:
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The management of tourist’s numbers: They need to keep this in check because it could have extreme impacts on both the environment and with the local residents. This could be done with changing the cost of the entrance fee to the payable tourist’s sites and making them higher. This could defer as many people from visiting and they could slowly get the tourists numbers to a reasonable number. Although charging the higher entrance fee would benefit them in more way then one, this could also raise the question of do they want to purely profit from the dark tourism site? Also, would they want to affect the local businesses by reducing the number of visitors this way?
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The surrounding area and infrastructure: As there are many tourists visiting Ground Zero every day, the best thing to do is to make sure that the site looks the part and is eye catching. For some tourists it has to look beautiful whilst still being a memorial spot. Also by managing the site as a tourist attraction the infrastructure overall will improve and it may help with the possible protection of the surrounding area.
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Local waste and overcrowding: Plans have been made to widen the sidewalks which will help with the over crowded streets and also the overflowing trashcans. Doing this would make the memorial site more appealing for the visitors and even the local residents. It will also reduce the negative impacts on the current environment as well as he locals.
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Restrooms: Restrooms in the memorial would benefit the local businesses because many of the tourists wouldn’t need to use them as often. This is one thing that the management of the memorial site needs to look at more closely because it would benefit many people. ‘Public restrooms are not available on the Memorial or in surrounding hotels. The closest public restrooms are located in Wagner Park or Battery Park. Bathrooms are also available in Federal Hall on Wall Street, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm’ (9/11 Memorial, 2015).
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Increase in businesses and residents: Since 2011, residents and businesses has seen a major increase in lower Manhattan. This has had great positive impact in the area as people are feeling safer in the post disaster area and has raised the local economy immensely. Also with there being in influx of visitor number in Ground Zero, the local businesses have benefitted.
'One question relating to many dark sites and attractions is whether it is ethical to develop, promote or offer them for touristic consumption. For example, significant debate surrounded the construction of the viewing platform at Ground Zero, enabling casual or even voyeuristic visitors to stand alongside those mourning the loss of loved ones'.
(Lisle, 2004)
Reconstructive work entails not just rebuilding Ground Zero, not just contentious military ventures in the Middle East, but also an ongoing attempt to incorporate 9/11 into a revised narrative of America and of the West. Dark tourism and the media are central to this process of revision.
(Stone & Sharpley, 2009)
'Profiting from Ground Zero will put money back into the broken city as it cost so much to clean up the area and recover after 9/11'.
(Pizam & Fleischer, 2002)
