Understanding the motivations and emotions of visitors at Tuol Sleng Genocide Prison Museum (S-21) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the motives and emotions of Western tourists visiting Tuol Sleng Genocide Prison Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and further contribute to a deeper understanding of the dark tourism consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from popular travel blog sites. This study employs various qualitative and quantitative methods, such as netnography, semantic network analysis and critical content analysis in order to gain a deeper insight into the visitors’ emotions and motivations.

Findings

This study reveals that people visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum mainly for “remembrance”, “worth visiting”, “learning and understanding”, “paying respect” and a “must visit” attraction. Emotions revealed in this study were “shocking“, “sadness“, “horror” and “depressive”.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited to the analyses of travel blogs sites. Further research could include interviews with Western visitors, and professionals managing the site.

Originality/value

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study to examine the emotions of visitors in Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

Citation

Isaac, R.K. and Çakmak, E. (2016), "Understanding the motivations and emotions of visitors at Tuol Sleng Genocide Prison Museum (S-21) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 232-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-06-2016-0014