Searching for Seeds of Hope Out of the Darkness: The Study of Local Community Perceptions of Post-disaster Tourism in Bam, Iran

Dark or disaster tourism is a phenomenon in tourism studies, which refers to an interest in travelling to places, which have suffered from natural or human-made disasters. Even though in recent years the study of dark tourism has increased, few efforts have been undertaken to research local communities’ perceptions of dark or disaster tourism. There is a sensitivity to conducting such research, as local inhabitants are already the object of disaster tourists’ gazes. That being said exploring local communities’ attitudes to dark/disaster tourism should be seriously considered. To deal with this gap in dark tourism studies this thesis focused on one local community’s perceptions of post-disaster tourism in Bam, Iran, which suffered a destructive earthquake in 2003. The data was gathered based on semi-structured, qualitative interviews with sixteen local inhabitants in Bam. The study attempted to illuminate perceptions of and demands on local residents based on the limited experiences that they had had. It also endeavored to shed light on their expectations and worries, which they explained in discussions with me. Keywords: Dark tourism, Post-disaster tourism, Local community perceptions, Bam.