It's All About Image

There are so many issues surrounding this piece in today's NY Times.  Please reflect on the following and please look back on your readings if you can for some help.  Must we always have a squeaky clean image when it depends on revisionist history or denial?  How are such points in history promoted? The politics?  Hey, I live in this state and from my perspective its reputation is well deserved. Chicago politics is, well, just that but I love the entrepreneurial tour operator.

Images are quickly lost when they are good and hang on forever when bad.   If I asked the average person for an image of London what do you think they often mention? 

Dark Tourism

These days we appear to have a rapidly growing number of niche or "fill in the blank" tourist market segments.  One that I find interesting is Dark Tourism (please see also: http://www.dark-tourism.org.uk/) and related places like WWII and cold-war military sites that appear to be increasingly popular.

In the summer of 2007 I took a small group of U of I undergraduate students on a study abroad trip to Poland and as a part of that visited Auschwitz-Birkenau.  That experience was moving to say the least and on the bus trip back to Krakow I don't think a word was spoken.  I assume you would all agree it fits somewhere within the notion of tourism but what about the motivation to visit these sites?  Have you visited such sites and if so, why and what was your reaction?  What about a visit to one of the 9/11 sites?  To what extent should these sites be exploited for their commercial tourist value?

OMG Reality Tourism - What Do You Think?

From today's NY Times.  Is this demeaning, crass or an important money-maker and development tool?  Ugh!  Get vocal!

The next post will be about Dark Tourism.  Wheres does tourism go, where is too much and how/if to stop?