Flight searches to ‘dark tourism’ triple in two years, says Kiwi.com

Chernobyl has become an unlikely tourist destination in recent years Continue reading →

A trend in so-called ‘dark tourism’ is on the rise, with British holidaymakers, new figures claim.

Flight searches to destinations usually associated with death and suffering have tripled in two years, according to Kiwi.com.

The top ten destinations people have visited in recent years, include nuclear bomb sites and the birth place of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Chernobyl has become an unlikely tourist destination in recent years, as travellers risk being exposed to lethal levels of radiation in a bid to get a glimpse of the derelict town, which has been left untouched since 1986.

Kiwi.com has seen an unprecedented 1,057% surge in enquiries to the uranium-rich settlement.

New Orleans has always been a hotspot for party-loving tourists, but the city was recently revealed as home to a real-life vampire community, prompting blood thirsty travellers to flock to The Big Easy, with flight search increasing by 561% in the past two years.

The Cambodian genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979 decimated the country’s population. The country is dotted with mass grave sites, which are commonly referred to as killing fields, the largest of which sits on the outskirts of the Phnom Penh and today serves as a monument to the millions of people that died during this time.

Kiwi.com has experienced a 465% increase in flight search to the Cambodian capital in recent years, as tourists visit the memorial site.

Benin in West Africa, the birth place of Voodoo has also proved to be a popular destination for tourists looking to experience rituals involving hippos’ feet and severed cat heads with enquiries up by 188%.

Meanwhile, ear-torn Iraq has seen a 72% increase in flight searches.

The data shows that the Welsh are the most ardent dark tourists from the UK with flight searches to deadly destinations up 585%, with Auschwitz coming top.

A Kiwi.com spokeswoman said: “Dark tourism is a new phenomenon that appears to becoming increasingly popular with holidaymakers.

“Brits have always been at the forefront of exploration and it comes as no surprise that we look to expand our passport stamp collections to more unusual locations.”