War tourism: what is it?

Print anything with Printful



War tourism involves visiting places that have been devastated by war, often many years after the conflict has ended. Popular war resorts include Srebrenica, Vietnam’s National Defense Shooting Range, and concentration camps such as Auschwitz. Some countries use war tourism as a means of making money, but others prefer to distance themselves from their violent past. Active war zones such as Pakistan and Afghanistan are considered too dangerous for war tourism.

When tourists deliberately visit nations that have been involved in war, looking for evidence of the conflict, this is known as war tourism. There are examples of popular wartime resorts all over the world, from Germany to the Far East. Though few of these nations show the effects of war on their land, visitors still come expecting to learn more about the stories of murder and torture. Perhaps unsurprisingly, most nations prefer to keep quiet about such events and focus on alternative attractions.

It is a mistake to think that war tourism involves the process of visiting countries that are currently engaged in a brutal conflict. Apart from a number of war reporters who may jokingly describe themselves as war tourists, there is no evidence that there is a substantial group of people who deliberately visit active war zones. War tourism is the practice of visiting a place that has been devastated by war many years after the end of the conflict. The war museums in these places are extremely popular spots for tourists of this nature.

There are dozens of examples of popular war resorts around the world. Srebrenica is a place in Bosnia where more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered in 1995 and is a popular war resort town. Similarly, a number of visitors to Vietnam go to the famed National Defense Shooting Range and fire bullets from the AK-47s that helped the nation defeat the United States. Concentration camps in Germany, such as Auschwitz, which housed hundreds of thousands of hapless Jewish prisoners, still attract thousands of tourists every year.

For these nations that are popular places for war tourism, tourism is a means of making money off the miseries suffered during conflicts. Many of these countries are still feeling the effects of a recent war and want to reinvigorate their faltering economies. El Salvador is said to be the first country to make war tourism a business in an attempt to profit from its long civil war which took place between 1980 and 1992.

There are some areas that are still considered too dangerous to attract war tourists. Examples of these countries are Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some nations that attract this form of tourism prefer to take tourists away from areas where blood has been shed to more peaceful places. These countries want to distance themselves from the violent past.




Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN


Skip to content