5 research outputs found
âLest we forgetâ*: a veteran and son share a âwarfare tourismâ experience
Warfare tourismâ represents an increasingly significant dimension of contemporary tourism. This paper provides a fresh perspective on participation in âwarfare tourismâ by investigating the behaviour and experiences of a living veteran and his son returning to two theatres of war in which the veteran had served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Active interviews with the two family members were used to gather rich data regarding the two extended trips, which had been funded by âHeroes Returnâ, to Australia in 2012 and Sri Lanka in 2013. The findings indicate that some of the facets of visiting the fallen at other dark tourism sites, such as empathetic identification and personal connection, are also very relevant to trips shared between the living. However, with the living these contribute to a powerful co-created experience in which âcloserâ bonds between the travellers can be developed. Furthermore, whilst the experiences at times represented âbitter-sweetâ nostalgia for the veteran, they also provided the son with the opportunity to âlook through his fatherâs eyesâ from both a past and current perspective. Given that there will be war veterans as long as conflicts exist, the results have valuable messages for all those dealing with veterans in the futur