Known as Dark Tourism, people visiting war zones is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly commercialized, according to Tel Aviv-based journalist Debra Kamin. The list of former and current conflict zones includes Lebanon, Iraq, Libya and Somalia. “Some [tour operators] emphasize danger as the ultimate draw,” Kamin told Public Radio International. Despite headlines about violence, “travelers to the world’s hot spots are undeterred,” writes Krishnadev Calamur in The Atlantic. But, he says, there are obvious risks, aside from those to the travelers themselves: “It burdens [their] home governments in the event of an emergency” and it also “emboldens rogue regimes like North Korea by providing them valuable foreign exchange and more than a hint of international legitimacy.”
Global
