Energy and industrial tourism: a specific niche on the tourism market

Abstract

Energy tourism belongs to the not-so-well-researched fields of tourism. Being a part of the industrial tourism or a special interest tourism, this type of tourism includes visits to the energy facilities and locations such as factories, mines, power stations and renewable energy sites. This paper describes the niche of the energy tourism within the tourism market and assesses its potential. We show that sometimes the energy tourism might intervene with dark tourism (for example, in the case of the tourist visits to the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power station). In addition, we show that this type of tourism is closely correlated with the public and social acceptance of traditional and renewable energy facilities. We conclude that this might be a promising and emerging type of tourism that will likely grow due to the ongoing industrialization and expenditure of energy-generating facilities envisaged for meeting the growing demand for energy all around the world.

Foundation economic development for network development community tourism by linking local products and cultural capital Samut Songkhram Province

“…Tourists are willing to spend more money on community tourism activities especially they know that the money will benefit local communities. According to a past study, community tourism is a fast-growing niche, and more and more tourists are concerned to interact with local communities and learning about their culture (Alekseeva & Hercegová, 2021). Moreover, according to the present study, community tourism is measured as an element that is directly influenced by a business network.…”

Hydro, Wind, and Geothermal: Navigating the Compatibility of Renewable Energy Infrastructure with Tourism

“…Iceland contains several examples of power plants and related infrastructure which have become popular tourist attractions [32]. This is in line with internationally observed trends of emerging energy tourism [33,34] and growing interest in REI as tourist attractions, driven by people's interest in sustainability and clean energy technologies, the novelty of such infrastructure, and its educational value [35,36]. However, nature is the main aspect attracting international visitors to Iceland [37].…”

Possibilities of Developing Energy Tourism in the Island of Crete, Greece

“…Tourists visiting them can increase their knowledge having also new experiences. Alekseeva and Hercegova [30] have examined energy tourism assessing its potential with reference the Russian and Czech Republic. Energy tourism links tourism to benign energies while it will gain importance due to the necessity to mitigate climate change.…”

“…The proposals and developments of energy tourism in various countries are presented in Table I. Renewable energy installations could become attraction sites and education centers for tourists [22] Slovenia Visits in power plants and in sustainable energy installations [23] Slovakia Visits to geothermal power plants, wind parks and hydroelectric plants [24] Czech Republic Visits in coal mines and in nuclear power plant's info centers [29] Hungary Visits in renewable energy installations [30] Russia and Czech Republic Visits in power stations and renewable energy sites [31] Slovenia…”