Factors Affecting Interest in Dark Tourism: A Study on Highgate Cemetery in London

This research aims to identify the main factors for individual’s interest in dark tourism in general and motivating factors for visiting Highgate Cemetery in London. The study uses quantitative research methods and simple random sampling technique to collect primary data through a survey of 50 respondents. The findings suggest that age is a significant factor affecting the frequency of visiting Highgate Cemetery, while employment and relationship status do not affect the motivation for visiting dark tourism places.

Travel and Tourism Research Project
Author Name
.
Abstract
The main findings show higher is the age of an individual lower will be the
probability of visiting places associated to dark tourism. On contrary to this,
respondents belonging to the age group of “18-24” years, will never visit
the cemetery. The most prominent age of the individuals opting for dark
tourism is seen among the age groups of respondents who are mid aged.
Some of the different types of other aspects of the study has been able to
show that he age, employment status, and the relationship status are not
responsible to affect the motivation of appealing attributes for visiting the
dark tourism places.
Methodology
• The data sampling technique in the given case is considered with simple
random sampling method. This is depicted to be conducive for selecting
random participants for the research.
• The approach for the research is taken into account with quantitative
research methods. The statistical implementation of assessment to
determine the result is done by using Microsoft Excel.
• The data collection method used in the studies related to primary data
which is based on using survey technique. The survey has been
conducted with a total of 50 respondents who has visited Highgate
Cemetery in London.
• The use of quantitative model for the study is represented with various
types of graphical depictions, descriptive statistics and residual plot. In
order to maintain simplicity in the findings, the graphical charts clearly
demonstrate the responses of the individuals
Results
Result of Hypothesis 1
The increase of response group number of age variable has indicated a
decrease in the response group number of frequency of visiting to dark
places. Therefore, if someone belongs to the age group of “56 or older”
then it suggests that the respondents will visit the cemetery at least once
in a year. On the other hand, the respondent belonging to the age group
of “18-24” years, will never visit the cemetery. Therefore, if the
respondent is very young, he/she will not show interest to visit the
Cemetery.
Result of Hypothesis 2
The output shows that the value of the coefficient of determination (R-
square) is 0.004384. The greater the value of the coefficient of
determination, better the fitting of the regression model. Therefore, the
regression fitting is not good in this case. Only 0.4% of the variation in the
appealing attribute behind the dark tourism attraction is explained by the
three independent variables.
Introduction
Tourism is recognized as a complex phenomenon which takes into account
wide range of people who are seeking unique experiences in order to
satisfy their diverse motives. This is considered as the reason for why world
tourism is changing in the last decades. The motivation for the tourists is no
longer found with traditional destinations such as beautiful sceneries, sun
and beaches. The conceptualization of pleasant diversification is changing
and broadening into a new market which demands a more complex and
unusual desires. This is evident in case of dark tourism which includes
consumption and presentation of both co modified and real sites associated
to disaster Aims and Objectives
Research Aim
The research aims to identify the main factors for individual’s interest in dark tourism in
general and motivating factors for visiting Highgate Cemetery in London.
Research Objectives
• Depicting relationship of age and frequency of visiting Highgate Cemetery
• To know about the relationship of age, employment status, and relationship status
for attraction in dark tourism
• The death with the relationship status of an individual and its impact on frequency
of travelling places associated to dark tourism
2.3 Research Questions
RQ1. Does the frequency of travelling to dark places get affected by the relationship status
of the respondents?
RQ2. Does the age factor affect the frequency of visiting to Highgate Cemetery?
RQ3. Does the motivator for dark tourism depends on age, employment status, and
relationship status?
Research Hypotheses
H0: Age does not affect the frequency of visiting Highgate Cemetery
H1: Age affects the frequency of visiting Highgate Cemetery
H02: The motivator behind dark tourism attraction is not dependent on age, employment
status, and relationship status
H2: The motivator behind dark tourism attraction is dependent on age, employment status,
and relationship status
Conclusions
The overall study has suggested that most of the respondents belong to the 25-34 years of the age group. The results from the descriptive statistics has been
able to suggest that maximum number of people participating in this survey are employed and working for full-time. The interpretation of hypothesis 1 clearly
shows that association between age and frequency of visiting Highgate Cemetery is negative. The depictions as per the second hypothesis clearly states that
the hypothesis does not provide a good information about the prediction of the appealing factor behind the dark tourism attraction. The age, employment
status, and the relationship status are no way responsible to affect the motivation of appealing attributes for visiting the dark tourism places.
Powell, R., Kennell, J., & Barton, C. (2018). Dark cities: a dark tourism index for Europe’s tourism cities, based on the analysis of DMO websites. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 4(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-
09-2017-0046
Roberts, C., & Stone, P. R. (2014). Dark Tourism and Dark Heritage: Emergent Themes, Issues and Consequences. In Displaced Heritage: Dealing with Disaster and Suffering (pp. 1–11). Retrieved from
http://works.bepress.com/philip_stone/46/
Rodríguez, Á. (2014). La Seducción del Dark Tourism. Málaga, (junio), 54. Retrieved from http://www.riuma.uma.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10630/6920/TFG OLGA GOMEZ JIMENEZ.pdf?sequence=1
Sharpley, R., & Friedrich, M. (2016). Genocide tourism in Rwanda: Contesting the concept of the ‘dark tourist.’ In Dark Tourism: Practice and Interpretation (pp. 134–146). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315575865
Singh, R. (2014). DEVELOPMENT OF DARK TOURISM. Ranbir Singh et. Al. International Journal of Management Research & Review, 4(8), 2249–7196. Retrieved from www.ijmrr.com
Smith, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Topsakal, Y., & Ekici, R. (2014). Dark Tourism as a Type of Special Interest Tourism : Dark Tourism Potential of Turkey. Akademik Turizm ve Yönetim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 1(2), 325–330.
Vaioleti, T. M. (2016). Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific research. Waikato Journal of Education, 12(1).
References