Inside ‘dark tourism’ — the new trend for wealthy boomers vacationing in areas with high travel advisories

Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone in West Africa do not come to mind when most Australians plan an overseas holiday.

In fact, the Australian government strongly advises against traveling to the first two.

But NSW travel agent David Smyth says there is a “strange and unexpected” growing trend among wealthy, well-travelled, older people wanting to visit these places.

Mr Smyth’s company Forward Travel has always specialized in tailor-made itineraries to unique destinations off the beaten path, such as polar expeditions and trekking remote Patagonia, but only launched Afghanistan, Iraq and West African offerings about 12 months ago.

It came after Mr Smyth noticed tourists sharing pictures there on social media, inspiring him to meet with representatives from these nations at ITB, the world’s leading travel trade show in Berlin, Germany.

He was then invited to go and see Iraq for himself.

“Iraq was such an eye-opener for me. I’m hitting 100 countries and I can genuinely say they were the friendliest people, most welcoming,” Mr Smyth said.

“They’re just so happy Westerners are wanting to visit their country and not invade it or steal their artifacts.

“I spent 14 days basically going from Basrah all the way up through Iraq into Kurdistan,” he said.

“From a history perspective it was just like ‘Oh my God, I can’t comprehend the age’, you know because it’s the “Cradle of Civilization”. It was just amazing.”

Mr Smyth said the market for Afghanistan, Iraq and West Africa was growing with a sharp increase in inquiries, but is still in its infancy in terms of the numbers of tourists actually going.

Interestingly, these former war zones are popular among older semi-retired or retired Aussies in their 60s and 70s.

Mr Smyth said visiting these nations is not cheap, nor are they appropriate for the first time traveller. Those interested are often people who are extremely well-travelled and have previously wanted to go but couldn’t because of a war or political instability, and they now have the time and money.

“People going there in general are happy to pay because that’s where they want to go,” Mr Smyth said.

“These are people who have done it all so it’s not ‘We have $5000 what can we get?’. These are people like ‘I want to see that, what’s it going to cost me?’”

However, they are not seeking luxury.

“They want to go out and see how the locals live,” Mr Smyth said.

“They are happy to stay in home stays and go basic if it gets them to that temple in the middle of the jungle that they’ve read about in a book.”

Mr Smyth said the destinations appeal to well-educated history and culture buffs, who are not going in blind and know exactly what they want to do. They are also drawn by the mystique, he said.

“It’s authenticity and getting away from the tourist trail,” he said.

Holiday hotspots across the world are grappling with massive numbers of tourists post-Covid with both locals and travelers getting fed up with the crowds.

Mr Smyth said he was stuck for content in his newsletter last month and at the last minute added in a partner company’s 55-day expedition along the west coast of Africa, including the Sahara Desert, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

“I couldn’t believe the response I got. I mean I just put it in as a filler thinking ‘this is out there, 55 days, but no one will want it’. I had three calls within 24 hours,” he said.

One of those calls was a 74-year-old who wanted to know if they were too old.

There is an official “do not travel” advisory for both Iraq and Afghanistan issued by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs through its Smartraveller website, which is level 4, the highest advice level.

“Do not travel to Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, due to the volatile security situation and the threat of terrorism, armed conflict, kidnapping and violent crime,” it advises.

As for Afghanistan, it warns: “Do not travel to Afghanistan due to the extremely dangerous security situation and the very high threat of terrorism and kidnapping.”

Afghanistan’s fledging tourism sector – foreign visitors rose by 120 per cent to almost 5200 last year – was rocked by a deadly attack on tourists visiting a market in May.

Six people were killed, including three Spanish tourists, and an Australian was among those injured.

Sierra Leone has a level two advisory: “exercise a high degree of caution”.

Because of these travel advisories it is almost impossible to get travel insurance.

Mr Smyth’s Forward Travel company works with Global Rescue.

“They’re not going to cover your lost luggage or stuff like that but they will cover you, say you’re in Congo and there’s a political coup all of a sudden, they will send in an extraction team to get you out,” he said.

“They will also cover your medical expenses, so if you get sick in one of these countries or get some exotic disease they will fly you to a hospital of your choice.

“They cover you for important bits so that’s how people are getting around that.”

Surprisingly, he said it wasn’t significantly more expensive than regular travel insurance.

Mr Smyth, 46, said he was recently quoted about $US600 ($900) for an annual plan.

He advises travellers wanting to head to these destinations to research all local customs and potential risks thoroughly, consult experts and discuss the destination in detail, register with their consulate before departing, use common sense when navigating unfamiliar areas, and always follow the advice of their local guide.

Tourists attracted to danger and destruction

Dr David Bierman, an expert in tourism risk management, told news.com.au there are always tourists that get excited about going to dangerous places or previous sites of conflict.

“We have a whole genre which is called dark tourism or “Thanatourism”, where people go to places where terrible things have happened, whether that’s the site of a natural disaster or a Nazi concentration camp,” Dr Bierman said.

He worked for the Israel government tourist office for Australia, New Zealand and the South West Pacific between 1994 and 2006, and said the number one question he was asked was, “is it safe?”.

His job heavily involved informing travelers which areas were perfectly OK and which areas they should sensibly avoid. However, there was a minority that seemed to have none of these concerns.

“There was always a tiny group of people who would want to go to the most dangerous place on the border with say Syria or Lebanon or Gaza, who would be somehow excited by that prospect,” he said.

He believes the “do not travel” government travel advisories can sometimes have the opposite effect on people.

“There will always be people who think ‘ah everybody tells me I shouldn’t go there so what the hell, I’m going to go,’” he said, adding that often this type of travel was among rich danger lovers because the financial cost was high.