ABSTRACT
More than 35 years ago, Nelson Graburn called for the expansion of social anthropology within tourism studies and, specifically, for the inclusion of children within tourism research. Yet, in the years since, children and childhood tourist experiences have largely been absent in tourism scholarship. Predictably, young tourists’ experiences within specific dark tourism encounters remain largely unstudied, which is especially pertinent considering their developing notions of death and mortality, vulnerability, and their increasing visitation to places of the remembered dead. That said, however, there has been a growing interest in children within tourism and, consequently, a new willingness to explore young tourist experiences. This has never been more important than in dark tourism places, where children often roam (with adults) and consume memorial messages of pain and shame. The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to offer a critical review of the emerging studies which examine children within tourism. Ultimately, this chapter will lay down scholarly foundations upon which to evaluate key themes, issues, and impacts of children in tourism generally, and dark tourism in particular.
