Motivations in Battlefield Tourism: The Case of ‘1916 Easter Rising Rebellion’, Dublin

Abstract

Journeys to battlefields or war-related sites are categorised as dark tourism. Dark tourism is travelling to sites associated with death, disasters or atrocities and has emerged as a major tourist attraction (Sharpley, 2009;Lennon and Foley, 2000). As it deals with a wide range of travel related to death and disaster, definitions and descriptions of dark tourism have been eclectic and fuzzy (Sharpley and Stone, 2009). It involves visiting concentration camps, war memorials, cemeteries, scenes of mass murder, horror museums, fields of fatality, sites of natural disasters and perilous places (Dann, 2005), and has been varyingly described as 'morbid tourism' (Bloy, 2000), 'milking the macabre' (Dann, 2005), Thana tourism (Seaton, 1999) 'black spots tourism' or 'sensation sights tourism ' (Rojek, 1997) and 'the heritage of atrocity tourism ' (Tunbridge and Ashworth, 1996).Battlefield tourism can be defined as travelling to war-related sites to remember and commemorate the fallen focusing on spiritual and emotional experience (Baldwin and Sharpley, 2009). The battlefields and other artefacts associated with warfare have been drawing visitors for many centuries (Kang, et. al., 2012). A trip to war-related sites could take many different forms, and visitor backgrounds, attitudes and their reasons for visiting war-related sites could also vary. This paper

Investigation of the Motivations and Experiences of Tourists Visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula as a Dark Tourism Destination

“…Education emerged as a sub-theme of the motivational factors held by several of the local tourists that participated in this study, as seen in the opinions below: Education, the most important motivation factor for visiting battlefields, can also be considered the most important source of motivation for the Gallipoli Peninsula, which is a typical example of a battlefield destination. This is supported by previous studies (Dunkley et al, 2011;Kokkranikal et al, 2015;Winter, 2011b).…”

“…We have Gallipoli. ( The views of the participants who see their visits to the battlefields of the Gallipoli Peninsula as a secular pilgrimage due to the symbolic importance of the war for the formation of their nation state and the development of their cultural identity are supported by other research (Hall, 2002;Hyde and Harman, 2011;Kokkranikal et al 2015;Seaton, 2002). The importance attributed by Australian and New Zealander tourists to the Gallipoli Peninsula may also be explained by the interpretations of different groups or persons in terms of the spiritual qualities of the region (Foley and Lennon, 1996a).…”

“…In this context, the development and growth of battlefield tourism suggests that such locations are considered sacred due to their historical importance; consequently, they are invested with spirituality and can be regarded as examples of cultural pilgrimage in a modern sense (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a;2010b;2016;Stone, 2005). Thus, visits made by Australians and New Zealanders to the Gallipoli Peninsula every year are regarded as part of the process of nation-state building and are invested with a symbolic spiritual value; this in turn means it can be evaluated as a secular pilgrimage in a cultural sense (Hall, 2002;Kokkranikal et al, 2015;Ryan, 2007a;Seaton, 2002).…”

“…Definitely After evaluating the participants' opinions on the knowledge/consciousness of history motivation, it can be said that one of the motivations of both domestic and international tourists for visiting this region emerges as a desire to gain historical knowledge and develop historical consciousness by travelling to sites where incidents occurred in the past (Kokkranikal et al, 2015;Preece and Price, 2005). It is possible to attribute this to the Turkish Australian, and New Zealander tourists who visit the region.…”

“…Another factor that has been suggested as the most important motivation for visiting battlefields in the context of dark tourism is a desire to participate in commemoration ceremonies (Baldwin and Sharpley, 2009). Ceremonies that commemorate those who lost their lives on the battlefield are held at mausoleums that were built after the battle with the purpose of strengthening national identity or remembering the establishment of a nation state, as well as, of course, to remember and pay respect to previous generations who lost their lives there (Farmaki, 2013;Hyde and Harman, 2011;Kokkranikal et al, 2015).…”