Hi, my name is Darwin M. Quinatoa and today I´m going to share with you my tremendous experience with this global phenomenon where people choose to vacation in places associated with death, tragedy, and destruction. In this video, I visit the 9/11 Memorial – Museum and the One World Observatory located at Ground Zero in New York City.
Traveling and finding dark tourism is a way to understand a culture and welcome it, or at least observe it with an open-minded curiosity. It’s a way to learn about the past and try to not make it our future. Travel is multi-dynamic and something that is meant to make you feel alive, make you think and make you curious. Along with my personal experiences, dark tourism feels different and it’s good because it generates a different type of tourism inside the city.
The first experience I had with dark tourism was when I visited New York City, more specifically, the site where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center used to stand in Manhattan. They were destroyed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, in which nearly 3000 people were killed. Thirteen years later One World Trade Center officially opened in Manhattan on November 3, 2014.
The new tower, along with the rest of the World Trade Center complex, replaced the Twin Towers and the surrounding complex. An official national 9/11 memorial was inaugurated in 2011 and in 2014 it was complemented by a dedicated museum at the site. Together they form what must be considered one of the world’s premier dark-tourism sites.
I also visited the One World Observatory; you can ascend via SkyPod to the top of the tallest building in New York City in less than 47 seconds. With speed topping 28 mph, these are the fastest elevators in the Western Hemisphere. While ascending, SkyPod provides a virtual time-lapse visual experience showing how the view of New York City has changed from the 1500s to today.
Once up at the Observatory, I could see the panoramas of the Manhattan skyline and beyond. The Observatory is full of surprises; you can drop into the café and grab a bite to eat; take an interactive guided tour of the City with the help of a Tour Ambassador, and stop by the One Mix bar while having a drink and admiring the skyline of New York City. In this wonderful city, you can experience cultural and dark tourism at the same time.
Mixing both attractions makes this site unique because you can visit the 9/11 Memorial and an hour later you can be at the top inside One Observatory in the tallest building in the western hemisphere having a drink or just enjoying the view of the entire city with friends and family.
In conclusion, dark tourism has a great impact on people, this type of tourism is a powerful tool that can be used in the development and marketing of tourism products around the world.
AloJapan.com