Obilježja i dosezi razvoja memorijalnog turizma u Hrvatskoj

Abstract

During the past two decades, human suffering, disaster, tragedy and untimely death have become standard components of dark tourism products. The increasing popularity of places being marked as memorial sites has turned death- and tragedyrelated monuments and events into a commodity that can be sold and bought in the market. A growing body of literature reveals a strong relationship between travel, collective remembrance and the commodification of death wrapped into a tourist attraction that provides various death-related tourist experiences. yet, development of memorial tourism within the framework of dark tourism raises many questions regarding the ethics and epistemology of the commodification of empathy related to mass human tragedies occurred in the past. Besides analyzing the characteristics and success of internationally recognized memorial sites, this paper deals with a comparative analysis of the three most popular memorial sites in Croatia: 1) Jasenovac used as Second World War concentration camp, 2) Goli otok (Naked island) that served as a political prison during the yugoslav communist era, and 3) Vukovar known as ‘hero town’, a symbol of Croatian resistance against military occupation during the Homeland war. All three sites have shown some strengths as well as weaknesses regarding the memorial tourism offer. The conclusion is that the leading memorial sites in Croatia, concerning the number of visitors, their revenues and impacts on society, are far behind the world leading sites in this segment, but certainly represent an attractive nonconventional tourist offer for which international demand is showing a clear growth trend.