Holidays in Hell

Dark tourism is no longer fringe, this ghoulish travel trend is booming. But as tourists increasingly search for the world's wounds, a question emerges: are they bearing witness to horror or seeking it out?

- SNEHA MAHALE

Earlier this year, India unveiled Bharat Ranbhoomi Darshan—a bold new initiative turning historic and active battlefields into immersive tourist destinations.

Launched by the Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, the project opens up 77 sites, including Galwan and Doklam, inviting civilians to walk the very grounds where courage was tested and history was made.

No longer just names in headlines or history books, these war zones will now tell their stories up close—of grit and sacrifice.

Once the domain of historians, war correspondents, or pilgrims of loss, travel to places marked by death, disaster, or collective grief has become mainstream. Today, instead of poolside cocktails, travellers seek out scars.

They stand in silence beneath the rusted gates of Auschwitz in Poland. They wander through the radioactive ruins of Chernobyl, Ukraine.

They visit memorials in Rwanda, grappling with the legacy of genocide. "Dark tourism is contemporary travel to places linked with the 'noteworthy dead'. These sites reflect difficult heritage—pain, shame, cultural trauma—shaped by the politics of remembrance," says Dr Philip Stone, director of the Institute for Dark Tourism Research at the University of Central Lancashire.

While it may seem unsettling at first glance, dark tourism is rooted in humanity's enduring fascination with mortality, memory, and morality.

These journeys are not merely about seeing places of death but engaging with the emotional and historical weight they carry. It challenges visitors to confront existential questions about life, death, and human responsibility.

According to existentialist thinkers like Martin Heidegger, acknowledging death is a path toward living authentically.

When people visit sites of tragedy, they are often compelled to reflect on the fragility of life and the enduring consequences of human cruelty.