ABSTRACT
In the UK, close to 6,000–predominantly male–adults die by suicide every year. This project looks at the relationship in the UK between leisure and death and how tourism features in the context of this dramatic last act. This project investigates death by suicide in two contrasting locations: the iconic Beachy Head cliffs in Sussex, and the controversial Dignitas premises in Zurich, Switzerland. Death by suicide – globally or in the UK – is a traumatic act for the individual involved, bystanders, as well as relatives and the wider community. The last UK Government prioritised the prevention of suicide as a cross-government initiative and the government debated an Assisted Dying Bill on 11 September 2015. There is public and political recognition and concern for the rising suicide levels, and lobbying and campaigning on the right to death and the right to life.
