Dark tourism in Barcelona. Feasibility and proposals for routes and visits within the cementeries of the city

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to shed light onto the Dark Tourism situation in Barcelona cemeteries. Dark Tourism is a tourism phenomenon, which revolves around people being drawn to attractions that have a somber historical past. These attractions are sites of different kinds where tragedy, death and suffering have occurred. The definition of Dark Tourism and its evolution are being presented at the beginning of this thesis. This study focuses on listing all the existing cemeteries with their activities and proposals and understanding the symbology behind elements observed. This study intends to address which public visits these cemeteries, their reasons and their final perception. A qualitative and quantitative research method was used in this paper in order to gather valuable and multidimensional data. The method consists of a personal in-depth interview with the director of Communications and Quality Area at Cementiris de Barcelona. Furthermore, observation and survey methods on a diverse sample of 24 respondents who visited Montjuic cemetery were performed. The interview, observation and questionnaires were conducted by the authors themselves and analysed thoroughly. The results are then presented and discussed clearly. The research shows Montjuïc and Poblenou cemeteries as the ones with more proposals to actively attract visitors. The primary results presented are the fact that visitors’ level of satisfaction in regards of the activity was extraordinarily high, and their principal motivations to assist are leisure and culture, which is explained in detail in the according chapter. This paper shows that visitors believe these activities have the potential to become another attractive touristic argument to the city, while also contributing to the normalization of these spaces as spaces of life and culture that have the ability to identify the personality of the city from an unprecedented point of view.