Reactions of unease to "Dark Tourism" prospects

By Giovanni Dennis

There have been reactions of grave reservations to the government's plan to attract visitors seeking a Dark Tourism experience.

Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett first shared the plan to promote this form of attraction in an interview with the UK's Daily Telegraph.

Local stakeholders are uneasy with the phrase, however, preferring to focus on what they see as Jamaica's rich heritage.

Arriving at the Terra Nova Hotel, I hear this light background music. It’s in stark contrast to what I've come here to speak with Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett about in February 2024.

He's wearing a dark brown suit, green polka dot tie with matching kerchif in his jacket and black suede shoes like the kind you see in cowboy movies.

I start by asking why Dark Tourism?

"Experiences are what drive people to destinations, and an amazing part of the psychographic profile of the market is interest in historic sights and in war-torn destinations, and also in visiting cemeteries."

Dark Tourism is tourism that involves travelling to places associated with death and suffering.

Mr Bartlett told the telegraph that Jamaica is interested in 'dark tourism'...because it "tells a story in stone and sticks and mortar."

Unease

But some local stakeholders are perturbed at the prospect.

"Our Minister of Tourism really needs to understand fully the concept of 'dark tourism, because if he really understood what it meant, he probably would be reluctant to make a comment and embrace dark tourism," said Dr Patricia Green, an architect and historic preservationist.

Such is the strength of her opposition to this element of the tourism trade that she believes "if the funding to restore heritage sites in Jamaica... is going to come from dark tourism, we should reject it," because, according to her, dark tourism is associated with people interested in gory occult practices.

Declaring that such persons are "looking for blood and death," she asked rhetorically: "Do we want that kind of invasion in Jamaica?" 

Historical Context

It has been reported that reparation payments of around £500,000 is being sought to help fund the move.

Historian and former Director of the Centre for Reparations Research at the University of the West Indies, Professor Verene Shepherd, has been advocating for decades for heritage to be part of Jamaica's tourism product but she's against promoting the island as a dark tourism destination.

While welcoming the new focus on historical sites, "and integrating sites of terror," she also wants "sites of triumph" to be included, bearing in mind that "our ancestors fought battles for freedom."

But Ed Bartlett is defending the use of the phrase dark tourism, arguing that "almost everything that you do for commercial purposes today has a bit of dark past in it."

"I do agree with him, and I think that people should come and look at it, but there's a difference with marketing it; that tourism is a specific category of visitor," Dr Green countered, arguing that it is a "whole different product"... "when you begin to label our product, which is rich, vibrant, valuable, and speaks to the heritage of us who have survived all of these things."

The Tourism Minister is seeking to assure those expressing concern that this is not intended to be a huge driver of tourists to Jamaica; rather, it will merely be used to diversify the experiences offered to visitors.

Click on the audio icon above to access Giovanni Dennis's full report, which aired on Radio Jamaica News on Tuesday, January 14, 2025