The rooms have no beds, no pillows, no sheets. There is only a thin mattress on the floor and a solid, heavy blanket. What makes it even more difficult to fall asleep in this hotel is the frequent sound of gunfire and explosions.
"If you expect luxury and comfort, do not go here," warns the director, Arijan Kurbasic.
Despite this, many tourists prefer to stay at the war hostel when they visit the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, instead of staying in luxury hotels with magnificent views of the old center of Sarajevo.
A seemingly strange preference is the establishment's promise to offer visitors a real-life experience of how residents lived in this city when they suffered a brutal siege during which more of 11,000 civilians died during the bloody war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995.
For To recreate as much as possible the experience that he had experienced as a child, Kurbasic used real objects from the time and even decided to light the parts with lamps powered by a car battery, as was the case at the time. 59006] 104549602gettyimages950642404-d1546dba5267b93308cde228c3a8a14d.jpg ” clbad=”img img-responsive image-large”/>
This hotel in the Bosnian capital is part of a trend known as "morbid tourism", a growing phenomenon in the world.
But what is it? Dakota Building
"Morbid tourism is the academic name we give to places that evoke disasters and atrocities, the common denominator is that people have died in unnatural situations," says Peter Stone, director of the Black Tourism Research Institute (IDTR) for the BBC's "The Why Factor" program.
The concept of this type of tourism was invented in 1996 by British professors John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, who, however, state that, although it is fashionable, it is not a question of A new phenomenon.
] "From the obscurantist era, pilgrims visited tombs and places of religious martyrdom.The Battle of Waterloo was observed by the nobility at a safe distance and one the first battlefields of the US Civil War was "sold" the next day as a place of attraction for visitors, "Lennon wrote in a newspaper article"
"More recently , the Ground Zero in New York has become an essential part of the itinerary of many visitors. "
This memorial dedicated to the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001 appears in third
In 2016, more than 2 million people visited the memorial and the museum of Auschwitz in the honor of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.] 104549661gettyimages200504857001-0943b4dc444460f1aff086b48b564887.jpg ” clbad=”img img-responsive image-large”/>
The list of morbid tourist destinations covers places such as the death camps in Cambodia, the genocide memorial in Rwanda, the Plaza Aley in Dallas , where US President John F. Kennedy was murdered, the Dakota building in New York, where the musician John Lennon was killed or the suicide of Kurt Cobain, leader of the Nirvana group.
Other places potentially dangerous, such as Chernobyl in Ukraine, where one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history occurred in a nuclear power plant – it is not yet possible to travel 30 km from the site.
Nevertheless, the n Shadow of tourists visiting Chernobyl rose from nearly 7,000 in 2009 to more than 36,000 in 2016.
The site of another major nuclear accident of the same magnitude in Fukushima, Japan, as a result From an earthquake and a tsunami that caused nearly 19,000 deaths in 2011, it has also become very popular – to the point that, despite the prohibition to travel near the town, it has become very popular. place, tour guides make annual trips
Meeting with Death
In their texts, professors Foley and Lennon claim that people are moved by the Peter Hohenhaus, one of the most tourists experienced, who visited nearly 700 morbid tourist sites in 90 countries, think these trips help people get in touch.
"When we visit these places, we do not remember others, we remember ourselves, that's why we have memorials.In this sense, morbid tourism guides us through the death of others to our own lives, "he told the BBC's The Why Factor.
<img src = "https://media.metrolatam.com/2018/11/30/104549659gettyimages921812160-37cf0a953eea205af8d2408f9d33001c-1200×0.jpg" alt = "Peter Stone, of the Canadian Research Institute" We let's go to these places because we are fascinated by the death of others and, finally, we find our own sense of mortality. "
In today's world, we are far removed from the social reality of death, who is very professionalised and managed by doctors.She becomes a kind of Achilles heel of modern society.Death is the ultimate attraction, "he said. 19659002] But in addition to these spiritual or philosophical connotations, this type of tourism presents controversial points related to the morbidity and the commercialization of the misery of others.
An ethical practice?
In 2017, a few months after the Grenfell Tower, where 71 people died, they perplexed a bus filled with Chinese tourists who stop in front of the building to take pictures.
Some decided to put up posters to remind visitors that this place was in mourning because of its neighbors and family. they lost their lives.
"Whenever someone comes to take a picture, he strikes us again, it's a reminder of something very difficult.You can not understand how this can attract people … I do not care that they come to pay tribute, but it's different if they take pictures, "commented one of the BBC's neighbors
Ho On the other hand, tourists should always avoid going too early to a place where many wounds can still be opened.
"You must be very aware of the reactions and be discreet when you are not in the same place. you're not in a ticket and they give you a leaflet, "he said in an interview with National Geographic magazine.
When it comes to commodification, it's another complex problem, because it can be presented in different ways.
Sometimes the place can not charge tickets. but sells souvenirs or other products to make money.
However, we must also take into account the fact that this money is often needed to ensure conservation. monuments over time and fulfill one of its functions: educate present and future generations about the tragedies of the past.
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