Phoenix tourism within dark tourism

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the knowledge gap in the field of dark tourism by understanding the phenomena of phoenix tourism, which focuses on the transformation and rebirth of places following death and disasters. Design/methodology/approach The paper builds on existing theoretical understanding of dark tourism and disaster recovery to explore destination image recovery within the tourism industry. It uses phoenix tourism as a lens to understand the social, cultural and economic context of post-disaster tourism destination recovery and rebranding in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Findings A presentation of post-disaster strategies and recommendations are given with attention to the re-branding of images once associated with death and darkness to enhance a destination’s resilience. Practical Implications For local policymakers, tourism leaders, researchers and community developers, this research describes strategies that facilitate rebranding dark tourism sites, such as areas of rebirth or “phoenix tourism”, to enhance destination recovery image and to promote a more disaster- and risk-resilient tourism industry. Originality/value This paper bridges the knowledge gap by defining and contributing to the theoretical understanding of phoenix tourism as it identifies the what, how and why elements of the phenomena of phoenix tourism. Furthermore, the authors propose how to overcome negative destination images to preserve, present or redefine an image of a tourist destination “overcoming”, and eventual “rebirth” serves to re-calibrate resilience of the tourism industry and regional redevelopment.

Patterns of disaster commemoration in long‐term recovery

“…While use of the former conveys a simplistic yet hopeful perspective, the latter fashions a phoenix story from the scattered survivors’ voices. In doing so, this event‐based memorial re‐makes place by offering themes of rebirth and rebuilding to memoralizers (Miller and others ).…”

Understanding young Chinese customers’ perceptions of unsafe city image restoration after Covid-19 outbreak

“…Therefore, the examination of short-term strategies to restore the image of destinations based on empirical evidence is not only urgently needed but has great significance to the post-crisis development of the destination. Fortunately, a crisis may be an opportunity for organizations to reposition themselves through optimized strategic communication and revive after the disaster, such as tsunami-affected destinations turned the image from a destroyed, dangerous landscape and scary place to rejuvenated and fun-to-visit destination (Miller et al , 2017). As the COVID-19 pandemic has made some destinations less attractive due to the risk-averse nature of humans over infectious diseases (Adam, Agyeiwaah, & Dayour, 2021; Agyeiwaah, Adam, Dayour, & Badu Baiden, 2021), projecting a better image through practical strategies becomes crucial (Im et al , 2021).…”

“…Meanwhile, disproportionate studies on COVID-19 ignore how such a destination crisis could be reversed with evidently many studies seeking strategies that focused on government policies (Hu, Yang, & Zhang, 2021) and the hospitality industry (Rodríguez-Antón & Alonso-Almeida, 2020). Nonetheless, Miller, Gonzalez, & Hutter (2017) contend that the nexus between tourism and death are interwoven in different interconnections that offer a multitude of opportunities to turn death situations into a positive attraction. But how can this positive transformation take place?…”

System Dynamics Approach to TALC Modeling

“…It describes the evolution of a tourist area, hereafter destination, through six stages, namely, the 'exploration', 'involvement', 'development" and 'consolidation', signifying growth expressed by visitor numbers, while the 'stagnation' stage represents a gradual decline. The end of the cycle is marked by the 'post-stagnation' stage, which comprises a set of five options that a destination may follow [36].…”