Investigation of motivation and experiences of tourists visiting Gallipoli peninsula being a dark tourism destination

Through an increasingly globalised world the use of time and space has transformed into the differentiation process and that shifted the tourist gaze over time. Places, in which tourism products and services are produced and purchased to be consumed, have been increasingly restructured through the shift of tourist gaze that is triggered by postmodernity. Due to the consuming places the arrangement or reproduction of new places to be presented for shifting tourists' gaze has emerged the culture-based concept of dark or thanatourism. The concept of dark tourism is described as the attraction of places where tragic events occurred in the past that evoke death and suffering which direct people to visit such touristic attraction sites. In essence, the concept of dark tourism encompasses various components. Battlefield tourism is seen as one of these components in question. The Gallipoli Peninsula is visited by a number of people every year from domestic and international travellers. The present study strives to understand the travel motivations and experiences of both domestic and foreign tourists visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula. For the purpose of the research aim qualitative research methodology has been employed. The case study approach has been employed as a qualitative research design. Data were drawn from face to face interview, participant observation and document analysis. Data were subjected to an inductive content analysis. The research findings have revealed that the travellers those visiting the site within the context of dark tourism have different motivations and experiences as well as commonalities. Results obtained from the study were evaluated and interepreted with the support of the extant literature.