Investigating the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda

Ntunda, Joachim

Investigating the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda

Summary

This study tries to assess the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda. The study was guided by three objectives: To find dark tourism products in Rwanda; to investigate the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda and to establish measures that could be adopted to promote it. To achieve the set objectives, the study used a sample of 43 respondents randomly selected from staff of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), museum/memorial site managers and tour operators. Data was collected by use of questionnaire instrument and summarized in tables and graphs following the objectives of the study. Furthermore frequencies and percentages were calculated based on the data available. The findings indicates that there are various dark tourism products in Rwanda which included Kigali memorial center, Bisesero, Gatwaro Stadium and Gitesi memorial site. Less effective information dissemination, High cost charged to tourists and Lack of skilled staff are the challenges affecting the promotion of dark tourism. Measures that could be adopted to promote dark tourism in Rwanda are Improving marketing strategies, training of staff and service providers and improving the variety and accessibility of dark tourism attractions. The study concludes by noting that identifying the successful practices in management, branding, marketing, and pricing strategies of dark tourism attractions around the world can aid in applying these ideas towards improving the dark tourism industry in Rwanda. The study recommends that since we are living in a global world, using the mass media advertisements, specifically TV, Newspapers or other tourism information brochures is significantly important in attracting more dark tourists.

Excerpt

VIII

2.3.6 Dark Conflict Sites ... 13

2.3.7 Dark Camps of Genocide ... 14

2.4 The Motivations of Dark Tourism ... 14

2.4.1 Strategies used in promoting/marketing dark tourism ... 16

2.4.2 Challenges in marketing/ promoting dark tourism ... 17

2.5.1 Dark Tourism in Rwanda ... 19

2.6 Chapter Two Summary ... 20

CHAPTER THREE ... 22

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 22

3.1 Research Design... 22

3.3 Study population ... 22

3.4 Sample size ... 22

3.5 Sampling procedure ... 23

3.6 Data Collection Instruments ... 23

3.8 Data Management and Analysis ... 24

3.8.1 Qualitative analysis ... 24

CHAPTER FOUR ... 26

DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENATATION ... 26

4.0 Introduction ... 26

4.1 Background information of respondents ... 26

CHAPTER FIVE ... 38

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 38

5.1 Summary of Findings ... 38

5.2 Conclusions ... 39

5.3 Recommendations ... 40

REFERENCES ... 42

APENDIX A: Letter addressing the intention of the research to respondents ... 46

APENDIX B : Questionnaire ... 47

QUESTIONNAIRE ... 47

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, ACRONYMS

ASCE: Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe

FARG: Fonds d'Assistance pour les Rescapés du Génocide / National Assistance Funds for

Needy Survivors of Genocide

Mr. Mister

NCRM: National Civil Rights Museum

RDB: Rwanda Development Board

Reg No: Registration number

RTUC: Rwanda Tourism University College

U.K: United Kingdom

UAS: United Arab States

US: United States

WTO: World Tourism Organization

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Dark tourism products and place ... 29

Table 2: Less effective information dissemination ... 30

Table 3: High cost charged to tourists ... 31

Table 4: Insufficient tourist facilities ... 31

Table 5: Negative perception and publicity ... 32

Table 6: Lack of skilled staff ... 32

Table 7: Infrastructures not being of the required level ... 33

Table 8: Other challenges ... 33

Table 9: Improve marketing strategies ... 34

Table 10: Training of staff and service providers ... 34

Table 11: Networking and partnership with other stakeholders ... 35

Table 12: Encouraging local population in Rwanda to visit dark tourism sites ... 35

Table 13: Improve the variety and accessibility of dark tourism attractions ... 36

Table 14: Other measures ... 36

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Gender of respondents ... 26

Figure 2: Category of respondent ... 27

Figure 3: Duration of service in the tourism industry ... 28

XII

ABSTRACT

The study sought to assess the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda. The study was

guided by three objectives: To find out the dark tourism products in Rwanda; to investigate the

challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda and to establish measures that could be adopted

to promote dark tourism in Rwanda. To achieve the set objectives, the study used a sample of 43

respondents randomly selected from staff of Rwanda Development Board (RDB),

museum/memorial site managers and tour operators. Data was collected by use of questionnaire

instrument and summarized in tables and graphs following the objectives of the study and

frequencies and percentages were calculated based on the data available. The findings indicated

that there are various dark tourism products in Rwanda which included Kigali memorial center,

Bisesero, Gatwaro Stadium and Gitesi memorial site. Less effective information dissemination,

High cost charged to tourists and Lack of skilled staff are the challenges affecting the promotion

of dark tourism. Measures that could be adopted to promote dark tourism in Rwanda are

Improving marketing strategies, Training of staff and service providers and improving the

variety and accessibility of dark tourism attractions. The study concluded by noting that

Identifying the successful practices in management, branding, marketing, and pricing strategies

of dark tourism attractions around the world can aid in applying these ideas towards improving

the dark tourism industry in Rwanda. The study recommended that since we are living in a

global world, using the mass media advertisements, specifically TV, Newspapers or other

tourism information brochures is significantly important in attracting more dark tourists.

Key word

Tourism

Dark

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

This chapter introduces the study by giving the background information, statement of the

problem, purpose and objective of the study, research questions, significance and scope of the

study and finally organization of the study.

1.2 Background to the study

The notion of tourism in general is rather broad. There are numerous types of tourism that are

aimed on fulfillment of different customers' needs. Tourism and traveling have become not only

a means of satisfaction of spiritual wants, but also most people's life style (Amabile, 2005). For

ages people from all over the world were interested in destinations connected with death and

suffering of the olds. These places have been attracting people from everywhere long since by

the tragic history or shadowy past. Tours devoted to visits of the most tragically places on the

planet are becoming more and more popular among tourists from all over the world. For that

reason, the notion of dark tourism is becoming more popular among demanding customers. Dark

tourism is the act of traveling and visiting sites, attractions and exhibitions which have real or

recreated death suffering or the seemingly macabre as the main theme (Stone, 2005). Similarly,

Foley and Lennon (1997), whilst adding a chronological element, define dark tourism as the

visitation to any site associated with death, disaster and tragedy in the twentieth century for

remembrance, education or entertainment. Meanwhile, Tarlow acknowledges historical

dimensions and identifies dark tourism as visitations to places where tragedies or historically

noteworthy death has occurred and that continue to impact our lives (Tarlow, (2005).

Deaths, disasters and atrocities in touristic form are becoming an increasingly pervasive feature

within the contemporary visitor economy. For the individual who wishes to journey and gaze

upon real or recreated death, a plethora of sites, attractions and exhibitions are now emerging

across the world to cater to the darker side of travel (Sharpley and Stone, 2009). Indeed,

seemingly morbid practices within tourism vary from people gazing upon sites of brutality at

former World War One battlefields of northern France, to visitors purchasing souvenirs of

atrocity at Ground Zero, to tourists sightseeing in the ruins of New Orleans (after Hurricane

Katrina), or excursionists touring sites of genocide and tragedy such as Auschwitz-Birkenau or

the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Consequently, the phenomenon by which people visit,

purposefully or as part of a broader recreational itinerary, the diverse range of sites, attractions

and exhibitions that offer a (re)presentation of death and human suffering is ostensibly growing

within contemporary society. As a result, the rather emotive label of dark tourism, and its

scholarly sister term of than tourism, has entered academic discourse and media parlance Seaton,

1996)

Indeed for many years, humans have been attracted to sites and events that are associated with

death, disaster, suffering, violence and killing. From ancient Rome and gladiatorial combat to

attendance at public executions, sites of death have held a voyeuristic appeal. Dark tourism has

entered the mainstream and is a popular subject of media attention. More importantly it is used

as a marketing term on sites such as http://thecabinet.com where the category of dark

destinations has been in use since 2006. The appeal of a range of global destinations associated

with dark acts shows no signs of abatement. Most recently the enduring appeal has been

reinforced in New York, Paris and beyond. The ground zero site now attracts a significantly

greater number of visitors since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (Blair, 2002). In Paris,

the death site of Diana, princess of Wales evidenced pilgrimages and visitation following her

death and the site of her burial place Althorpe achieved significant visitations for the three years

following her death. In Africa, sites in Angola, South Africa, Sierra Leon, and Rwanda have all

demonstrated the appeal of dark histories to visitors (Rowe, 2007).

A basic analysis of Rwanda's history shows that there are a number of death related visitor sites

or attractions, Rucunshu war grounds, Musanze cave and Rwandan president Juvénal

Habyarimana airplane crash at Kanombe are typical dark tourist sites in Rwanda, which are also

well known in the world. As anywhere in Africa, pre-colonial Rwanda was not exempt from

social unrest and violence. Bernard Lugan talks of revolutions, conquest, and succession wars in

Rwanda before colonization, each with its lot of victims. Indeed, just one year before the

Germans entered the country in 1897, the king Mibambwe IV Rutalindwa had been assassinated

in a bloody coup (1896) and replaced by one of his half-brothers, king Musinga. War of

succession known as the Rucunshu war (1896-1897) between king Musinga faction and

Rutarindwa faction was so destructive and symbols of that bloody battle are still visible at

Rukaza hill. Musanze cave lies in the grounds about 2km from the town center off the Gisenyi

road. The main cave reportedly 2km long has an entrance the size of a cathedral. Legend has it

that Musanze cave was created by a local king and that it has been used as a refuge on several

occasions in history whereas during the 1994 Massacre it was used as a killing site and recently

the place is still littered with human remains. The airplane carrying Rwandan president Juvénal

Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprian Ntaryamira was shot down as it prepared to land

in Kigali, Rwanda. The assassination set in motion some of the bloodiest events of the late 20th

century, the Rwandan Genocide and the First Congo War. (Prunier, G. 1995)

1.3 Statement of the Problem

The tourism industry is one of the world's fastest growing industries with estimated growth in

global travel expanding from 450 million travelers in 1992 to 730 million by the year 2010

(World Tourism Organization, 2006). In the recent world Economic Forum Travel and Tourism

Competitive Index, Rwanda is ranked 7

for sub Saharan Africa ahead of its more established

East Africa neighbors Kenya and Tanzania. Tourism continues to perform way above average for

Rwanda's economy, with a reported 11 percent rise in revenues generated for the first six months

of 2012, up from the previous year by nearly 13 million US Dollars to 128.3 million US Dollars

(RDB, 2012). Although the tourism industry in Rwanda is the fasting growing, it is surprisingly

to note that the country's tourism initiatives currently attract specific tourists, particularly eco-

tourists who are drawn to the country's natural attractions, especially the world-famous mountain

gorillas. Despite an increasing number of tourists traveling to places of horrific human

catastrophe, for example nearly a million tourists visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in

2005, up from half that the year before, this has not be the case in Rwanda, few tourists are

attracted to the dark tourism attractions in Rwanda like genocide memorial sites. There this study

intends to assess the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda.

1.4 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study was to assess the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda.

1.4.1 Objectives of the study

To find out the dark tourism products in Rwanda.

To investigate the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda.

To establish measures that could be adopted to promote dark tourism in Rwanda.

1.4.2 Research questions

What are the dark tourism products in Rwanda?

What are the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda?

What are the measures that could be adopted to promote dark tourism in Rwanda?

1.5 Scope of the study

Geographical scope

The study was conducted in Rwanda

Content Scope

The study focused on the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda.

1.6 Significance of the study

The following disciplines could benefit from the findings of the study:

- Dark tourism is a special type of tourism business which does not appeal to everyone but has an

important role in delivering information and bringing the past to present. Therefore this study

would help the government of Rwanda, tourism planners, managers, promoters and advocators to

figure out the potential dark tourism market needs and advancements define target groups and

implement conductive market penetration strategies.

- The study would be useful for future researchers interested in carrying out research in the field

concerned with tourism that is why a copy would be handed over in the library.

- Finally, the study would be of great importance to the researcher due to the broad knowledge

and understanding that would be achieved from the research especially in the field of Tourism

management and development.

The research would also be able to fulfil some of the requirements for the award of bachelor's

degree in travel and tourism management

1.7 Structure of the dissertation

The research project composed of five sections: Chapter 1 introduced the study by giving the

background information of the study, research problem, objectives, significance, scope and

structure of the study. Chapter 2 will cover the literature review. Chapter 3 concentrated on

discussing the research methodology adopted for the study and relevant justifications. It outlined

the methodology for carrying out the secondary and primary data collections and how results

were analyzed. Chapter 4 dealt with data analysis, interpretation of the result, in this chapter, the

researcher analyzed and interpreted the data in order to fulfill the objectives of the study and

presented the data pertaining to the problem. The final chapter formed the discussion, conclusion

and gave recommendations as to the next steps needed to help transform Rwanda's dark tourism

industry.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

In this section the researcher described and explained the concepts and theories that are relevant

in the field of dark tourism in order to give a comprehensive analysis and understanding of the

research topic.

2.1 Definition and explanation of key terms

2.1.1 Tourism

Generally, there are several common assumptions about tourism. Mathieson and Wall define

tourism as: the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of

work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations and the

facilities created to care to their need (Mathieson and Wall 1982). Similarly, for Buckart and

Medlik, tourism denotes the temporary short term movement of people to destinations outside

the places where they normally live (Buckart and Medlik, 1974). The geographers Shaw and

Williams adopted the formal definition by international organizations, such as the World

Tourism Office, that tourism includes all travel that involves a stay of at least one night, but less

than one year, away from home (Shaw and Williams, 1994). This definition pointed out that the

purpose of traveling may include visiting friends and relatives, or working on a business trip. In

the lecture of Business Tourism and Travel Management Course in Savonia UAS, Kuopio,

Finalnd, the definition of tourism was shown as temporal short term movement of people to

destination outside the places where they normally live and work, and activities during their stay

at these destinations; it includes movement for all purposes, as well as day visits and excursions.

(Verhela, 2011)

2.1.2 Dark Tourism

Dark Tourism is also called as black tourism or grief tourism which is not a very new activity or

phenomenon in nowadays tourism market, including castles and battle fields, sites of natural or

manmade disaster and the prisons that open to public. The term of dark tourism was first coined

by two researchers, Malcolm Foley and J. John Lennon, as a means of describing, the

phenomenon which encompasses the presentation and consumption (by visitors) of real and

commoditized death and disaster sites (Foley and Lennon 1996). A large number of sites

associated with war, genocide, assassination and other tragic events have become significant

tourist destinations, Lennon and Foley call this phenomenon dark tourism (Lennon and Foley

2000). The authors even refine this definition further by noting the actions which do and do not

consist of dark tourism. For example, the behavior of friends and families visiting the dark

tourism sites cannot be categorized as dark tourism. In their book, Lennon and Foley define dark

tourism referring to events that have occurred in recent times, which force the visitor to question

modernity. Lennon and Foley see dark tourism as the commoditization of anxiety and doubt.

(Lennon and Foley, 2002

The University of Central Lancashire undertook the academic

research into dark tourism. They say: Dark tourism is the act of travel and visitation to sites,

attractions and exhibitions which have real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly

macabre as a main theme.

Kendle, 2006). From The Baltic Times, they say: Dark tourism is a

different type of tourist attraction; it is the act of travel and visitation to sites of death, disaster

and the seemingly macabre. Tourists flock to experience sites of past terror that offer up grim

and disturbing tragedies. (Webber, 2007

2.2 Theoretical Overview of Dark Tourism

Indeed, for as long as people have been able to travel they have been drawn, purposefully or

otherwise, towards sites, attractions or events that are linked in one way or another with disaster,

suffering, violence or death (Stone, 2005). The gladiatorial games of the Roman era, pilgrimages,

or attendance at medieval public executions were for example early forms of such death related

tourism as Boorstin alleges, the first guided tour in England was a rail trip to witness the hanging

of two murderers. The tour was arranged in Cornwall in 1838 to take people of Wade bridge by

special train to the nearby town of Bodmin. There they witnessed the hanging of two murderers

and since the Bodmin gallows were in clear sight of the uncovered station, excursionists had

their fun without even leaving the open railway carriages (Boorstin, 1964). In the specific

context of warfare, however, Seaton (1999) observes that death, suffering and tourism have been

related for centuries (also Smith, 1998; Knox, 2006), citing tourism to the battlefield of Waterloo

from 1816 onwards as a notable nineteenth century example of what he terms than tourism.

Additionally, in the nineteenth century, visits to morgues were as McConnell (1989) notes, a

regular feature of tours of Paris perhaps a forerunner to the Body Worlds exhibitions in London,

Los Angeles, Tokyo and elsewhere that since the late 1990s have attracted visitors in their tens

of thousands (Body Worlds, 2008). Similarly, the historical precedent of visitors gazing upon the

less fortunate in society, similar to Brazilian favelas slum tours of today was set by Jack

London`s 1903 sociological treatise about the abject poverty of London at the turn of the 20th

century. In his commentary of social and political failure, The People of the Abyss`, an affluent

Edwardian descends into the slums and gazes at the underworld. (Rolfes, 2010)

As considered shortly, the extent to which dark tourism may be considered an historical

phenomenon that is applicable to sites, attractions or events that pre-date living memory remains

a subject of debate (Wight, 2006; Seaton, 2009). It is clear, however, that visitors have long been

attracted to places or events associated in one way or another with death, disaster and suffering.

Equally, there can be little doubt that, over the last half century and commensurate with the

remarkable growth in tourism more generally, dark tourism has become both widespread and

diverse. In terms of supply there has been a rapid growth in the provision of such attractions or

experiences. Indeed there appears to be an increasing number of people keen to promote or profit

from dark events as tourist attractions, such as the Pennsylvania farmer who offered a $65 per

person Flight 93 Tour to the crash site of the United Airlines Flight 93 one of the hijacked

aircraft on 9/11 (Bly, 2003; Sharpley, 2005). Moreover, dark tourism has become more widely

recognized as both a form of tourism and a promotional tool with websites, such as

www.thecabinet.com, listing numerous dark tourism sites around the world (Dark Destinations,

2007). Similarly, a recent online poll commissioned by the Czech Tourist Board sought to

discover and thus promote the top ten darkest places of interest within the Czech Republic.

(Sindelaova, 2008)

Details

Pages
Type of Edition: Erstauflage
Year: 2014
ISBN (eBook): 9783954897339
ISBN (Softcover): 9783954892334
File size: 295 KB
Language: English
Publication date: 2014 (July)

Author

Joachim Ntunda (Author)

Investigating the challenges of promoting dark tourism in Rwanda

Summary

Excerpt

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Author

Joachim Ntunda (Author)