Geography of fear: fright tourism in urban revitalization

Robert S. Bristow and Ian Jenkins

Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events

Abstract
Urban centres encompass a variety of tourist attractions. To expand these offerings, the opportunities must recognize the temporal and spatial constraints of travel. Temporally a night-time economy can fuel visitation and has traditionally been centered on entertainment, food and drinking establishments. The former has broad appeal to all visitors while the latter are more attractive options for the young and fearless. Spatially, to attract a broader audience of visitors, one most overcome the fear of the night so important in family friendly opportunities. Following the examples in several cities, the commodification of dark tourism themes has been shown to encourage family visitation, despite the macabre theme of the attractions. For the purpose of this study, an assessment of common fears is asked of night-time tourists as they prepare to enter an urban haunted attraction. The attraction is promoted to scare the guest but at the same time, expected to be safe. In this manner we begin to understand the dual nature of fear (i.e. repel vs attract) evident in night-time tourism experiences.

KEYWORDS: Urban revitalization, entertainment districts, fright tourism, night-time haunted attractions, dark tourism