The Darker the Spectrum, the Better Image? – Relationship between visitors-based dark tourism spectrum rating of Museum Fatahillah as a heritage site and its image as a tourist attraction

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the visitors-based dark tourism spectrum and the image of Museum Fatahillah as a tourist attraction in Jakarta. Stone’s six dark tourism spectra were used to rate the level of darkness of the museum, which was transformed into Likert’s six rating scale system ranging from The Lightest, Lighter, Light, Dark, Darker, and the Darkest. Subsequently, the rating result was examined to determine the museum’s image. A total of 120 respondents participated in the survey, comprising actual visitors of Museum Fatahillah in June 2021. A simple linear regression was used to see the relationship between the two variables. Findings show there is a relationship between visitors-based dark tourism spectrum rating and the positive image of Museum Fatahillah as a tourist attraction. Specifically, the darker a heritage site is, the better image it is as a tourist attraction. Such a finding contributes to the knowledge of heritage tourism studies, specifically dark tourism, where little is known about the relationship between the two variables, particularly with its application in Indonesia.