Dark tourism on the Maltese Islands : prison as case studies

Abstract

The research revolves around the idea of having sites and attractions associated with dark tourism on the Maltese Islands. Dark tourism can branch into different aspects such as cemeteries, witchcraft, war shelters and prisons amongst others. The research will start by giving a clear picture of what is dark tourism and what motivates people to visit such dark destinations and sites. Furthermore, since the study concentrates on prisons as a case study, three foreign worldwide touristic prisons are studied to gain information and use them as a possible example for the Maltese Islands. The Maltese prisons in particular the Inquisitor's Palace, The Old Prison and the Corradino Military Prions are the main attractions under study. The methods used were varied, including fieldwork, were observations and on sites visits took place. Also one-to-one interviews with the appropriate personnel were conducted with the curators of each site. Official documents were also used to gain a clearer picture of the visiting tourists of the nearby heritage sites, including the three sites under study. The outcome of such efforts indicates that the Maltese Islands with its rich history have a lot of places to exploit in the sector of dark tourism.