Death tourism on the rise around the world

World Today

Death tourism on the rise around the world

Tourism around the world is on the rise, but there’s one area that’s seeing particularly strong growth. And it centers not around the living, but the dead.

CCTV America’s Phil Lavelle reports.
Follow Phil Lavelle on Twitter @phillavelle

Scott Michaels is very much alive. But he makes his living through death, by driving around Los Angeles and showing tourists where famous people died.

It’s called Dark Tourism, and it’s an industry very much alive and on the rise.

You don’t have to walk far in this town to find a place with a tragic tale to tell.

An example is the Beverly Hilton hotel. For years, many celebrities, dignitaries, even presidents have stayed here.

But for many people it is simply known as the place Whitney Houston was found dead in the bathtub and tourists flock here solely for that reason.

In fact, the hotel had to remove the numbers from the door of the suite in which her body was found.

Because for some, the scene of an infamous death is an attraction they can’t miss.

However in New Orleans, which was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, local residents put up signs telling tourists to leave them alone.

And Fukushima, where a 2011 earthquake spawned a tsunami that led to a major nuclear meltdown. Thousands died in all and now the tourists come.

In fact, this industry’s seeing a global growth of about 65 percent every year, worth some $263 billion annually.