Does a visitor of dark tourism sites have a dark personality? A study of potential visitors of dark tourism sites in Serbia

Abstract

Previous research on dark tourism in vulnerable post-conflict areas, such as South-Eastern Europe, has overlooked the nature of visitor personalities. Accordingly, the main purpose of the present study is to determine which personality traits (dark triad, sadistic impulse, and six personality traits) are related to preference for dark tourism sites. The sample consisted of 227 respondents from Serbia who completed an online questionnaire. Using a multivariate general linear model, it was found that respondents high in Machiavellianism tended to prefer dark exhibitions, while respondents high in psychopathy tended to prefer visiting conflict/battle sites. Visitors to fun factories as an additional type of dark tourism sites showed low levels of sadism, while narcissism showed no effect on preference for dark tourism sites. Hence, only agreeableness and honesty-humility showed a significant effect on preference for dark tourism sites (dark exhibitions and conflict/battle sites). These results show interesting differences in dark sites visitors’ personalities.