Lonely planet travel guides, dark tourism and the baltic states: A longitudinal perspective

Abstract

The focus of this research is to take a comparative, longitudinal study of the role of travel guides and the growth of niche tourism. Specifically this study examines the concept of Dark Tourism, or as defined by Sharpley and Stone, “the act of travel to sites associated with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre” to better understand the growth of such tourism sites and attractions in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Drawing on this broad concept of Dark Tourism, the more narrowly focused perspective of ‘Soviet’ tourism in these former Soviet republics is examined. The longitudinal nature of this research will aid in the understanding of the development of both tourism and marketing theory by way of historical research, and shed light on the growth of this tourism niche. The popular Lonely Planet travel guides are used as the source material for this research.