Tarp tamsiojo ir darniojo turizmo

LTStraipsnyje aptariami tamsiojo ir darniojo turizmo aspektai, atskleidžiamos tamsiojo turizmo lankytojų patirtys darniojo turizmo kontekste. Pristatomas tyrimas, kurį atliekant analizuotos Šaltojo karo muziejaus, kuris įsikūręs Žemaitijos nacionaliniame parke, lankytojų patirtys. Tyrimo duomenų analizei pasirinkta teminė analizė, kuri yra lanksti, neribojama konkrečių teorijų ar sistemų. Temine analize siekta atskleisti Žemaitijos nacionalinio parko Šaltojo karo muziejaus lankytojų patirtis, analizuojant „TripAdvisor“ lankytojų atsiliepimus apie Žemaitijos nacionalinio parko ir Šaltojo karo muziejaus lankymo patirtis. Teminė analizė padėjo atskleisti dvylika temų, susietų į tris temines grupes, pavadintas „Tarp erdvės ir unikalumo“, „Tarp istorijos ir patirties“, „Tarp tamsiojo ir darniojo turizmo“. Atliktas tyrimas atskleidė, kad ateityje plėtojant Žemaitijos nacionalinio parko Šaltojo karo ekspoziciją pravartu atkreipti dėmesį į unikalias lankytojų patirtis, Žemaitijos nacionalinio parko vystymą kreipiančias glaudesnės tamsiojo ir darniojo turizmo sąveikos link. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Darnusis turizmas; Lankytojų patirtys; Tamsusis turizmas; Teminė analizė; Dark tourism; Sustainable tourism; Thematic analysis; Visitor experiences.

ENSince nowadays various forms of tourism that encourage tourists to visit extreme, terrifying or tense places are becoming more and more popular, so the understanding of visitors’ experiences becomes important for the development of sustainable tourism as well. The research aimed to conduct a study on dark tourism and sustainable tourism visitor experiences in the Cold War Museum in the Žemaitija National Park in Lithuania. The object chosen for the research, the Cold War Museum, is the only modern exhibition in Europe located in a missile base bunker. The exhibition is underground, so only a small part of it can be seen from the outside. The whole exhibition consists of ten different rooms, which show the original functions of those rooms during the Cold War, and represent the history of the Cold War. The following research methods were employed to conduct the research: the comparative analysis and synthesis of research literature on dark and sustainable tourism, and thematic analysis, were chosen for the empirical study. The thematic analysis selected for the study, according to Clarke and Braun (2013), is flexible, not being limite to any particular theory or system, so it allows us to reveal the visitor experiences of the Žemaitija National Park’s Cold War Museum. TripAdvisor visitor reviews written about Žemaitija National Park’s Cold War Museum were selected as data for the thematic analysis. Experiences of two specific objects were selected for analysis: reviews by visitors to the Cold War Museum, and Žemaitija National Park (all visitor reviews included in the study from TripAdvisor platform, written from November 2014 to November 2019). The results of the study show that the Cold War Museum combines closely sustainable and dark tourism.The theoretical analysis shows that the sustainable and efficient functioning of tourism should focus on four key conceptual aspects of sustainable tourism as possible prospects for the development of sustainable tourism: sustainable society, sustainable environment, sustainable economy, and sustainable culture. Therefore, the principles of sustainable development should be applied to various tourist activities, both in the development of long-term and short-term strategies or programmes, and in developing dark tourism. The thematic analysis of visitor experiences at Žemaitija National Park’s Cold War Museum allows us to identify 12 themes combined into three thematic groups, calledꓽ ‘Between Space and Uniqueness’, ‘Between History and Experience’ and ‘Between Dark and Sustainable Tourism’. The analysis has shown the interaction between dark and sustainable tourism, so on the basis of theoretical and empirical research, for the future development of the Cold War Museum of Žemaitija National Park, it is important to pay attention to unique visitor experiences that would help to direct the development of Žemaitija National Park towards a deeper interaction between dark and sustainable tourism, as well as not only allowing the expansion of visitor flows, but also deepening the unique visitor experience. [From the publication]