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Motivations to Engage in Dark Tourism: the Case of Selected Sites In MOTIVATIONS TO ENGAGE IN DARK TOURISM: THE CASE OF SELECTED SITES IN SOUTH AFRICA By SIBONAKALISO S. NHLABATHI (Student Number: 921366642) Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY in the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Supervisor: Professor Brij Maharaj December 2017 i DECLARATION I, Sibonakaliso S Nhlabathi, declare that: (i) The results/findings reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, are my original research. (ii) This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. (iii) This thesis does not contain other person’s data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged. (iv) This dissertation does not contain other persons’ writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced. Where other written sources have been quoted then: • their words have been rewritten but the general information attributed to them and referenced; • where their exact words have been used, their writing has been placed in quotation marks, and appropriately referenced. (v) Where I have reproduced a publication of which I am author, co-author or editor, I have indicated in detail which part of the publication was actually written by myself alone and have fully referenced such publications. (vi) This dissertation does not contain text, graphs or tables copied and pasted from Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source detailed in reference section. Signed_________________________ Date:________________________ ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents Julia Gcinwayini and Timothy Babane Nhlabathi iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For his expert and professional guidance, I thank my Supervisor, Professor Brij Maharaj of the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, who was generous with his time, interest and patience in helping me to complete this thesis. Thanks Prof Maharaj for agreeing to be my supervisor, and for teaching me how to write. Special thanks go my wife Zandile (Mazandi) Nhlabathi for understanding, moral, and material support during my field work trips. I am very grateful. I would also like to thank my children Nozibusiso and Ngomusa for understanding and making fewer demands for us to play, so that I could finish this work. Special thanks go to the following persons who helped me a lot during field work: • Christopher Solomons, Researcher, the Robben Island Museum, for giving me all the assistance I wanted to do research. • Thozamile, the Robben Island Museum, for giving me data and for allowing me to interview her. • Wayde Davy, Deputy Director, the Apartheid Museum, for data and allowing me to interview her. • Judy, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum, for graciously doing all the photocopies I needed. iv • Kwezi Gule, Chief Curator, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum, for giving me access to do research and for giving me all the data I needed for this study. I am highly indebted to all the research participants who allowed me to interview them at the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum, and the Robben Island Museum. I am thankful to that couple from the USA whom I interviewed on the boat from the Robben Island Museum, they were the first people I interviewed for this study, and they gave me tips how to find more research participants. It was an honour and a privilege to interview all the research participants and it was highly enriching. Lastly, I am grateful to the Lord, the Almighty, for granting health and wisdom to complete this enormous task. v ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to understand motivations to visit dark tourism sites, particularly, in South Africa and generally internationally. Dark tourism or tourism to places associated with death, pain and suffering is relatively new and under researched. Although dark tourism literature is growing, there was still some uncertainty in academic circles about its theorisation and conceptualisation. Some have argued that dark tourism was just branding in a competitive academic landscape. Touring places associated with dark events started back in the Middle Ages, however, since the last quarter of the 20th century there had been a notable increase in the organisation of tourism to dark attractions. The negative sightseeing concept appeared to be the first concept to be used in the 1970s to characterise this form of tourism. However, meaningful scholarly endeavour to understand this phenomenon emerged in the 1990s. The concepts that emerged during this time to dominate theorisation of dark tourism are thanatopsis (contemplation of death), and intimations of postmodernity from which the dark tourism concept emerged. The dark tourism concept has become popular in literature. Some of the other terms which have been used to describe tours to places associated with dark events and to describe sites of that nature are: black spots tourism, assassination sites tourism, dissonant tourism, morbid tourism, disaster tourism, conflict tourism, poverty tourism, slum tourism, landscapes of violent tragedy, and, geographies of trauma. This study was conducted at three sites in South Africa: the Robben Island Museum, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum, and the Apartheid Museum. This study was concerned with a deeper understanding of tourists’ motives to engage in dark tourism in general, and to tour the research sites in particular. Further this study explored how tourists and curators (of the museums, the research sites) interpreted them. The research adopted a qualitative research approach which stressed social interaction, social construction, and the creation of meaning. Qualitative research approach is a major tool in the pursuit for a deeper and broader understanding of the meanings of events, activities, situations and actions of research participants. This study revealed that visitors toured dark tourism sites intentionally in order to: pay homage to the victims of difficult pasts; learn, especially history; remember victims of difficult pasts; pay homage to Nelson Mandela, and connect with South Africa’s political struggles. Visitors also toured the dark tourism sites because they were in bigger trips which also involved visiting nature reserves. Tourists labelled visits to nature reserves as safaris; finally, visits were motivated by curiosity and desire to know. This study found that the following intermediaries played important roles in influencing visits to dark tourism sites: tour operators; educational institutions in the USA; television, internet, and social media; TripAdvisor; Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom; and friends. This study also found that tourists who toured as a couple, it is usually women spouses who normally initiate the trips. vi Curators presented the research sites as places where people learned about: past injustices, prejudice, and suffering. Curators further hoped that visits to the research sites would touch visitors intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Visitors interpreted dark tourism sites as: educational and cultural places; sometimes gloomy and emotional, but still educational sites; and, also as special places, sites of freedom, sites of empowerment, and, as shrines. Tourists were generally positive about sites, however, some hoped for platforms that facilitated interactivity as opposed to passive reception of information. This study also found that some tourists had some issues relating to the organisation of the tours to the Robben Island Museum. This study divided recommendations concerning policy and management of the research sites into: recommendations directed to the Government and recommendations directed to the three sites of this study. With respect to the Government this study recommended that wild-life be protected by all means because it is the main draw card for international tourists. This study also recommended that the South African and the Zimbabwean governments cooperate in matters of tourism. This should be so because most tourists combined visits to South Africa with visits to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe which visitors described as safaris. With regards to the three study sites, this study made recommendations that if the research sites wished to attract more tourists, they might consider doing the following: work with tour operators; make use of social media (face book); and integrate the concept of active visitor engagement mostly for purposes of attracting younger visitors. This study also recommended that the Robben Island Museum should revisit their idea of the Museum tourism experience because a few visitors voiced some concerns regarding the organisation of the tours. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AAAS : American Academy of Arts and Sciences ANC : African National Congress CAQDAS : Qualitative Data Analysis Software Programme CBD : Central Business District CSI : Crime Scene Investigation DEAT : Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism ECT : Electronic Communication and Transactions Act GRC : Gold Reef City KDZ : Korean Demilitarised Zone PAC : Pan Africanist Congress SA : South Africa SPSS : Statistical Package for Social Sciences SSS : Sea Sun Sand TRC : Truth and Reconciliation Commission UK : United Kingdom UKZN : University of KwaZulu-Natal UNESCO : United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation USA : United States of America US : United States (of America) viii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ii DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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