Dark tourism: Travellers visit sites of devastation in new trend (video)

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Vacationing to the Darkest Places in the World
Vacationing to the Darkest Places in the World


There's always new and quirky travelling trends popping up all over the world but is the trend for 'dark tourism' one of the most bizarre yet?

Dark tourism involves people setting out to visit places around the globe that have been hit by devastation, tragedy and natural disasters.

But why are people drawn to these areas of death and despair?

See also: The creepiest places in the world

This footage shows sites including a destroyed bridge and a crumbling house, both of which succumbed to the force of a deadly earthquake that killed more than 60,000 people two years ago.

To some these locations may be a reminder of a horrifying and traumatic day, to others it's a stop on a tourist bus tour.

French photographer Ambroise Tezenas, has delved into the bizarre dark tourism trend, visiting some of the world's most devastating sites.

Tezenas' main focus in the increasing interest in visiting places linked to disaster, murder, genocide and other atrocities.

He believes that the increasing interest in the macabre is growing.

His goal was to understand the human race's fascination with death and devastation.

The photographer found the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp interesting because the Polish government chose to leave this place of horror intact to remind future generations of what happened and to allow them to learn from the past.

But Tezenas also visited Cambodia and Rwanda and says these places of genocide allowed him to question the inability of humanity to take lessons from the past.

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