Experts explained tourists' interest in dangerous and abandoned routes
The attraction of modern tourists to abandoned cities, ruins, and disaster sites can be explained not only by the desire for adrenaline, but also by the psychological need to experience strong emotions, feel a sense of belonging to history, and gain social approval in a digital environment. All the details are in the Izvestia article.
Reasons for the popularity of dangerous routes
Business psychologist Ekaterina Catalina uses the term "Stendhal effect on the contrary" to describe the craving of modern travelers for ruins, accident sites and abandoned cities. According to her, it's not always about finding adrenaline. The main motives are the desire to feel like a participant in a big story, the need to prove one's courage, or an attempt to drown out inner emptiness with an external shock.
For many, such trips become a way to stand out and create unique content for social media. The expert notes that in an era of an abundance of information, ordinary excursions sell worse than routes to where "the story is happening now."
"The route "to where it's scary", "to where no one has been", "to where the story is happening now" sells much better. Social media reinforces this mechanism: risk gives reach, an unusual location gives status, and destruction becomes a visually powerful backdrop. From the point of view of the psyche, the long—term consequences can be different," said Catalina.
Influence on the emotional state
Regular consumption of destruction as a spectacle can lead to emotional numbness when someone else's pain ceases to be perceived as a tragedy. Catalina explains that visiting disaster sites causes a person to have strong and contradictory feelings due to the collision with the scale of the incident in reality.
The "Stendhal effect on the contrary" works through a collision with the scale of destruction. When a person sees not a picture in the news, but a real disaster site, they may experience a strange mixture of horror, delight, guilt and euphoria," said Catalina.
How are trips to hot spots arranged?
Evgeny Plesovskikh, the tour organizer, emphasizes that trips to countries such as Syria, Libya or Afghanistan remain a narrow niche segment. The main interest of the clients lies in the desire to see the real life of the country with their own eyes, and not through stereotypes. Technically, such trips are built through reliable local guides who know the nuances of security and the restrictions of the authorities.
"There may be a lot of interest in such areas, but only a few reach the actual purchase. People ask, discuss, react, but not everyone is ready to get on a plane and go to a country that is perceived as dangerous," Plesovskikh said.
The flexibility of the route is a key factor in planning, as the organizers cannot control the political or military situation. Plesovskikh notes that in case of an aggravation of the situation, trips are canceled or postponed.
The problem of romanticizing danger
The expert warns against romanticizing the danger, emphasizing that the personal experience of one person cannot be transferred to all vacationers. It is important to remain objective when demonstrating the state of the country to which a group of tourists is heading.
"If there are risks in the country, you can't pretend that everything is fine and safe. If something is beautiful, it also needs to be shown. But it is important to show the country from different sides, without embellishment," concluded Plesovskikh.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
