Analysis of the Demand of Dark Tourism: A Case Study in Córdoba (Spain)

ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 161 . Research Article © 2019 Millán et.al.. This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Analysis of the Demand of Dark Tourism: A Case Study in Córdoba (Spain) Mª Genoveva Dancausa Millán Department of Statistic University of Córdoba, Spain Corresponding Author Ricardo David Hernandez Rojas Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Policy University of Córdoba, Spain Javier Sánchez-Rivas García Department of Economic Analysis and Political Economy University of Sevilla, Spain Doi: 10.2478/mjss-2019-0015 Abstract Visiting places where death is present, either due to a natural tragedy, war, the Holocaust, etc., or because there is the presence of a non-visible entity or paranormal phenomenon, is increasingly more accepted in modern times. It has become a kind of tourism that has grown in demand, though it remains a minority. The city of Cordoba, in the south of Spain, is swarming with houses and places where legends have endured over centuries as a consequence of the coexistence of three cultures – Jewish, Christian and Arab. In turn, popular culture considers these places as having a characteristic “charm” due to the phenomena that happen there. This work analyses the profile of dark tourism tourists, particularly in two sub-segments - that of ghosts and of cemeteries - as well as the existing offer. The aim is to design and improve a quality tourist product that is adapted to the requirements of the demand. Keywords: Ghost tourism, Cemetery tourism, Cordoba, Paranormal phenomena., Córdoba Introduction 1. Death, suffering and all that which causes horror, such as macabre experiences, as well as the places where they occurred, have in recent years become tourist attractions for a specific tourist consumer. Among the new demand of emerging tourist products are those related with places where a tragedy has taken place (terrorist attack: Hajer, 2005; Lisle, 2004; Potts, 2012; the holocaust: Kidron, 2013; Podoshen, 2016, prisons: Ross, 2012) or death (cemeteries, Seaton, 2009). The visitor’s profile and their motivations can vary with respect to the traditional tourist due to the bleak or macabre character of this particular type of tourism (Slade, 2003: Te-Yi, 2014; Stone & Sharpley, 2008). This interest in being witnesses of tragedies, and even, actions related with death, have been present since ancient times. At first, this phenomenon did not have its current name “dark tourism”, ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 162 as this term did not emerge as such, nor had solid definitions been set to determine the existence of this terminology. As some people have enjoyed and been fascinated by what surrounds death since long ago, the antecedents of death tourism could not be considered tourism. These people did not travel from where they lived: it was only a leisure activity. For instance, in the period of the gladiators, witnessing how other people fought for their lives in the arena against other gladiators or against beasts was considered to be an act of entertainment. In the medieval period, public executions of people (burnt at the stake or hung) in the most emblematic places of cities brought together a great number of local people and people from other places, often attracted by the way in which this atrocity was carried out and the motives behind the death penalty (Moufakkir and Burns, 2012). In some cities, such as Barcelona, people even paid to see someone garroted, as if it were just any kind of show. Likewise, in the 19th. Century Europe, firms offered excursions to the battlefields of Waterloo or Gettysburg and even visits to the morgue (Moufakkir and Burns, 2012). Currently, dark tourism does not represent death itself, but rather the way in which human tragedies have transpired over time. This is why this type of tourism spans different places in which these fatalities have taken place, such as prisons, concentration camps, places where natural catastrophes have happened, war scenes, cemeteries, historic buildings and other places of misfortune. It is from this moment (the 20th. Century) that a great contribution of varied definitions related with “dark tourism” emerged. One of the most renown is that offered by the Institute for Dark Tourism Research, University of Central Lancashire (England). "Dark Tourism" is the act of travel and visitation to sites, attractions, and exhibitions that have real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly macabre as a main theme. Tourist visits to former battlefields, slavery-heritage attractions, prisons, cemeteries, particular museum exhibitions, Holocaust sites, or to disaster locations all constitute the broad realm of 'Dark Tourism'. (Stone, 2014:71). But where can dark tourism be encompassed within tourism? To answer this question, we will set out from two concepts: tourism and culture. The World Tourism Organisation (WTO, 1994) indicates that “tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes” and the Declaration of Mexico about Cultural Policies in the World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT), UNESCO (1982) sustains that, in its broadest sense, culture can be currently considered as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and affective features that characterise a society or a social group (Nielsen,2011). This covers arts and humanities, lifestyles, human beings’ fundamental rights, the systems of values, as well as the traditions and the beliefs due to which culture gives humankind the capacity to reflect about itself. This is what makes human beings rational, critical and ethically committed. Figure 1. Location of dark tourism Source: Own elaboration Therefore, the tourism that is related with culture is cultural tourism, but this modality ultimately includes many areas, among them, art, science, history, gastronomy, etc. History includes those ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 163 social events that have taken place in specific places and at specific times, or, in other words “the set of events or political, social, economic, cultural and other acts of a people or a nation”, as defined by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). Therefore, dark tourism is a fundamental part of historic-cultural tourism, as it brings together the previously enumerated characteristics. Thus, dark tourism reveals a part of cultural heritage that history has left us with, being society the protagonist of the acts that have taken place. It aims to drive historic knowledge through the tourism resources existing nowadays. Hence, the motivation to travel for this kind of tourism is to learn about the material heritage, such as buildings, mausoleums, or immaterial heritage such as customs (from funeral rites to legends). This work will analyse two sub-segments of dark tourism - cemetery tourism and ghost tourism - in the south of Spain, specifically in Cordoba. The goal is to determine the profile of the visitor, as well as the existing offer of this kind of tourism in this area. Antecedents of Dark Tourism 2. Tourism related with death or tragedy has received various names such as Atrocity tourism (Ashworth, 2004; Issac, 2014), Tragic tourism (Lippard, 1999; Volo and Pardew, 2013), Negative tourism (MacCannell, 1989), Morbid Tourism (Blom, 2000, Thanatourism (Seaton, 1996; Taș, 2016; Light, 2017a), Grief Tourism (Rojek, 1993; Yirik et al., 2016), Milking the macabre (Dann, 1994; Miles, 2014), Difficult heritage (Logan and Reeves, 2009; Hartmann, 2014), or Dark tourism (Lennon and Foley, 2000; Podoshen et al., 2015), this latter coinage being the most used. Dark tourism is a relatively new concept, proposed first in 1996 by John Lennon and Malcolm Foley to give a name to an ever growing type of tourism that has a very disperse offer all over the world. At times, it seems strange that this type of tourism attracts a diverse variety of people. Therefore, it is interesting to study and analyse the motivations that drive it, as well as the feelings that they invoke. According to Tarlow (2007), there are four feelings which interact in the psychological/emotional state of the tourist: insecurity, gratitude, humility and superiority. Visiting a dark tourist attraction can attain as many feelings as the different ways in which this can be seen. Visiting a battlefield can cause feelings of romanticism in a tourist because the visitor can imagine battles due to specific reasons. Places of barbarism make induce feelings of compassion for the victims and, in turn, superiority with respect to the author of the act. This act, in the case mentioned a Nazi concentration camp, demonstrates how cruel humans can be. Many places constitute a part of the identity of a nation. This can make the visitor feel proud and thereby lead them to think that “we” survive against “them”, an example being the battle of Gallipoli. Visiting a place where a tragedy occurred can invoke feelings of mysticism, present in the atmosphere of the place, particularly when there is a relation between the visitor and the one who suffered the event. The closer the relation, the stronger the experience will be. The mystic sensation of spirituality that is based on human beings’ common sense is even stronger than the connection with the place (Niemelä, 2010). As well as these feelings, there can be many motivations that generate them. Academics, such as Dann (1998), Foley & Lennon (1996), Pelton (2003), as well as scientists and geographers, such as Minić (2012) and Yuill (2003), have offered us their different points of view about the motivations that can drive people to dark tourism. Some of these motivations are: • To seek experiences or to have “holidays in hell” (Dann, 1998) - certain people “enjoy” spending their leisure time experiencing emotionally painful feelings. • To learn lessons from the past (Foley &Lennon, 1997). Many German schools carry out visits to the Auschwitz concentration camp to make young Germans aware of a part of history that is not to be repeated. • To have a challenge or change the perception that one has of death (O’Rourke, 1988; Pelton, 2003). • To have interest in both history and the heritage that it has left because of education and ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 164 memories of the past and the suffering produced (Minić, 2012). • To conserve both the heritage of a place or community and the identity of a group, with a view to knowing the roots of a country in order to understand its history. Some places feel the need to justify or rationalise their identity as a tourist attraction, while others incorporate it into education and commemoration within its public mission and identity (Yuill, 2003). • The need to look death in the face (Sharpley and Stone, 2009). • Another motivation can arise from curiosity or morbidity concerning the product offered. • To wish to imitate the tourists of before, given that, as has been mentioned, this type of tourism has existed since time immemorial. • The existence of a desire to understand how people can survive catastrophes and feel solidarity with them, as well as to pay tribute to the people who suffered them. • Therefore, dark tourism can be classified into various sub-segments, according to the motivations which lead to it. Those proposed by Seaton (1999) and Stone (2005) are the most accepted at the international level. Seaton (1999) proposes 5 modalities  To travel to witness public deaths. Morally proscribed in modern western societies, this was common in the past (for example, fights to the death of gladiators in the Roman period, or political executions and public hangings in Great Britain, which were legal until 1868). This has its modern manifestations in the tourists who go to see beheadings in Islamic countries, or to scenes of airplane accidents, boat sinkings, or terrorist explosions. New York’s ground zero has become one of its most visited places since the 9-11 attack (Lisle, 2004).  To travel to places where there were individual or massive deaths, either due to a war or natural catastrophes, such as a Tsunami (Rittichainuwat, 2011), the Chernobyl catastrophe, or simple assassinations, such as that of J.F. Kennedy.  To travel to places of reclusion or visits to cemeteries, crypts, catacombs and monuments which honour people belonging to the military; Arlington cemetery in the United States stands out.  To know matter that demonstrates deaths; this can be the suicide instrument or weapon, utensils and even the clothes that the murdered person wore. A clear example is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington which shows all the tools and instruments that the Nazis used to kill the Jews, as well as exhibiting the clothes that the Jews wore.  Experience of reconstructing a scene or an event that is in some way related to death. This modality has a spiritual part in specific places such as Israel, where many tourist pilgrims try to relive the Via Crucis of Jesus in the ancient streets before his crucifixion. Based on these classifications, we can segment dark tourism into: Battlefield Tourism (Cheal and Griffin 2013; Ryan, 2007; Winter, 2010), Holocaust Tourism (Hoskins, 2003; Kidron, 2013), Ghost Tourism (García, 2012; Hanks, 2016; Holmes and Inglis, 2004; Sharpley, 2014), Dracula Tourism (Light, 2017b; Tanasescu, 2006), Ground Zero Tourism (Delyser, 2010; Paliewicz and Hasian, 2017); Terrorism Tourism (Ahmed and Anwar, 2016; Cousins and Brunt, 2002; Ghadban et al., 2015), Slavery Tourism (Bright et al., 2016; Dann and Seaton, 2001), and Thanatourism (Light, 2017a; Seaton, 2002). Cemetery Tourism 3. In the last decades, Tourism is one of the economic activities that has experienced the greatest growth, becoming in some areas an economic driver in periods of economic downturn. Some authors have qualified tourist activity as “One of the most outstanding social and economic phenomena of the 20th. Century” (Álvarez-Sousa, 2015; Nieto et al., 2016). Among the typologies of tourism which have emerged in recent times is the so-called dark tourism. Although this has been a social reality since long ago, it was not until 1996 when the authors Lennon and Foley ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 165 (1996) studied its importance and established different categories within dark tourism, including ghost tourism and cemetery tourism, the aim of this research. Cemeteries contribute to the material heritage of people, encompassing artworks, sculptures, engravings and their urban planning. Similarly, cemeteries constitute a part of the intangible heritage, providing the ideal atmosphere to support the enactment of habits and practices associated with death. Cemeteries are enclaves where art and memory are intermingled to put together spaces that a specific tourist profile can feel attracted to visit. Necrotourism, thanatourism or cemetery tourism is a sub-segment of dark tourism that is gaining in importance, given that tourists can wander along the paths of the graveyard discovering the artistic, architectonic, historic and landscape heritage which cemeteries treasure. In Spain, cemeteries are being valued. Among the actions to conserve this heritage legacy, it is worth mentioning the inscription of a score of Spanish cemeteries as cultural heritage goods, and their regional and/or local recognition. In recent years, cultural tourism is being portrayed as one of the main driving elements of heritage, and cemetery tourism is not unrelated to this trend. Therefore, cultural tourism favours the protection of cultural itineraries. That is to say, the conservation and valuing of both the routes and the landscapes which accompany them. In the cultural itinerary the monumental-historic aspect of cemeteries stands out, these being defined as “open museums”, “open air museums”, “microcosms” or “local heritage”. They are presented as an alternative way of visiting and knowing cities, their history and traditions. The Council of Europe has from 1987 until now recognised 32 European Cultural Itineraries, a score of which have part of their route in Spain. Among them is the European Cemeteries Route, which joined the list in 2010 thanks to the encouragement of the Association of Significant Cemeteries of Europe, (ASCE). This association conceives cemeteries as cultural, historic and artistic elements. It is in charge of the conservation of the most significant cemeteries of Europe and also carries out tours of them. In 2011, it received the Ulysses Prize awarded by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for promoting the European Cemeteries Route. The European Cemeteries Route is made up of a total of 63 cemeteries of 56 cities (mainly large capitals, such as Paris, Milan, Vienna and Prague), in 20 European countries. This route has the fundamental aim of increasing the awareness of the European funerary heritage, as well as seeking to encourage quality cultural tourism via the offer of new spaces while also establishing links of transnational cooperation. It thus enhances “the restoration of funerary landscapes, converting these spaces into an uninterrupted tool of knowledge and research, functioning with a clear educational vocation for schools to incorporate them in their cultural visits in a dynamic and pedagogical manner”. As a tourist product, the cemeteries route is an alternative and/or a supplement to the existing offer. Among the characteristics of this itinerary, it is worth pointing out that it is aimed at all segments of the public. This means both citizens residing in the same city in which each of the cemeteries of the route is located and tourists from other places, students of schools and other, diverse groups. Likewise, the different tours combine the cultural heritage with the natural heritage, the spatial contexts in which the cemeteries are located as well as the funerary botany integrated in them. Hence, these spaces are converted into parks and/or gardens for public enjoyment. Undoubtedly, understanding European cemeteries means delving into the history and identity of Europe, in continental, regional and local terms. The importance of the European Cemeteries Route lies in the fact that its cemeteries portray the culture of these people throughout history, making them all a rich mosaic of the European funerary traditions. Spain is one of the countries which constitute this route and is the one with the most cemeteries. Figure 2 shows that their locations are spread all over Spain. ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 166 Figure 2. Location of Spanish cemeteries belonging to the European Cemeteries Route Source: Own elaboration The necropoles included are the cemeteries of San Amaro (La Coruña), San Froilán (Lugo), La Carriona (Avilés), Ciriego (Santander), Bilbao, Polloe (San Sebastián), Reus (Tarragona), San Sebastiá (Sitges), Igualada, Montjuic and Poblenou (Barcelona), Capuchinos (Mataró), Arenys de Mar, Lloret de Mar, Valencia, Sant Antoni Abat (Alcoy), Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Cordoba), Monturque, Granada, the Cementerio Inglés of Málaga and the cemetery of La Almudena in Madrid. The region of Andalusia consists of 8 provinces, including Cordoba, and has four singular cemeteries. In Málaga the Cementerio Inglés stands out. This is the oldest cemetery of the peninsula for non-Catholic Christians. This cemetery was proclaimed Cultural Heritage by the Junta de Andalucía (the Regional Government of Andalusia) in 2012 and is registered in the ASCE, thanks to its great artistic, historic, literary and botanic value. It dates from 1831 and its initial origin was a place of rest for Protestant English people. Another important Andalusian cemetery is the municipal cemetery of Granada. This is part of the monument of the Alhambra and is very close to the entry of the Nasrid palaces. It has archaeological remains of the Arab palace of Alixares (13th. and 14th. Centuries), of a small fort and of a piping system constructed at the beginning of the 19th. Century. Cultural activities are also hosted here, such as jazz, blues, rock, etc. concerts. The two remaining graveyards of this region are in the province of Cordoba. One of them is the cemetery of Nuestra Señora de la Salud, constructed at the beginning of the 19th. Century along with the hermitage of the same name. With the passing of time, this cemetery has become a tourist attraction given its historic and heritage value, especially since 2010 when, being a member of the European Cemeteries Route, it was conceded a mention as Cultural Itinerary of the Council of Europe. The cemetery has a map of its outlay that figures in the guide “The City of Memories”, which ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 167 spans 27 funerary monuments, chosen based on historic, artistic and social criteria. It offers historic information about the characters, as well as a description of the artistic elements of the selected tombs and pantheons. Via this guide and organised visits, which are currently few (due to the administrative obstacles to showing funerary premises for tourist companies), visitors and citizens become aware of the importance of graveyards at both the historic and the artistic level, as they are part of the collective historic memory. These initiatives, along with advertising through Internet carried out both by the Town Council and by different firms of cultural management, particularly in social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and the activities which take place in the cemetery environment (guided visits, homages to illustrious characters, bicycle tours through the necropolis within the municipal programme “Cordoba by bike”) are integrated in the city’s broad tourist offer. This contributes a singular element to cultural tourism and is having a growing acceptation by tourists. As historic heritage, it is a cemetery where one can find references to our history which should be transmitted to future generations. Illustrious characters of politics and the arts are buried there, such as the bullfighter Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez, “Manolete”. Another relevant cemetery is that of Monturque because its subsoil has Roman cisterns discovered in 1885. This is an important work of engineering that can now be visited after having remained unseen for more than a thousand years. Lacort (1994) thinks that originally they could have been used as cisterns for storing water. Along with the funerary monuments, they are an important tourist attraction of the district, especially in the period of the deceased, when the different activities carried out are year-on-year being consolidated as a funerary tourist reference. During all the year there are numerous activities oriented at diffusing the funerary heritage, such as guided visits (during the day and at night), as well as scientific seminars on tourism and the historic heritage in this municipality. Its singularity is due to a set of subterranean constructions of Roman origin in its sub-soil. This endows the activities with a tourist potential. This cemetery and that of la Salud in Cordoba capital are the only two which belong to the European Cemeteries Route, Monturque being the most visited from the tourist point of view. Table 1. Analysis of products of dark tourism (cemeteries) by Municipality in the province of Cordoba Name Municipality Tourism Aim (yes/no) Cemetery Nuestra Señora de la Salud Cordoba Yes, it belongs to the European Cemeteries Route Cemetery de San Rafael Cordoba No Cemetery de Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta Cordoba No Cemetery of Monturque Monturque Yes, it belongs to the European Cemeteries Route Source: Own elaboration Related with cemetery tourism, both at the city and provincial level, the Festival Mundamortis stands out. This is one of the largest autumn events in Cordoba. It attracts increasingly more Spanish and foreign visitors. The annual festival will this year be held from October 31st. to November 3rd. in different places of Cordoba. This pioneering and unique initiative concerning the funerary theme in Spain, which the Town Council organises with the participation of the ASCE, foresees activities concerning the cultural and immaterial heritage that is linked to the veneration of death and the celebration of religious festivities. Ghost Tourism 4. According to Inglis and Holmes (2003), phantoms and other paranormal entities do not exist either in this world or in the next, or in a special place or at a particular time. However, phantasmal qualities have been used to create, particular socio-spatial contexts. We thus find bucolic landscapes surrounded by a story where it is a question of giving this tourist segment a halo of mystery. Scotland stands out in this sense, its castles, urban landscapes and rooms having been ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 168 interpretively reconstructed during the last two centuries. These have produced conceptions of Scottish history that privilege the mystery of a Celtic and mountainous past, there existing a cohesion between ghosts/ haunted spaces - many of them stimulated by the tourist industry- and tourism. But it is not only the non-visualised entity, or only visible due to the psychological effect on the human mind, that some entrepreneurs taken advantage to generate or stimulate the tourism industry. This is a typical product of the old world (Europe), especially because it is riddled with legends. It is rare to visit a country where there is not a legend which marks a region (the Loch Ness monster, the legend of Count Dracula, etc.). Yet this also happens in other cultures, for instance the oriental, and in modern times. As a consequence of the Tsunami there are many ghosts of deceased people that roam on the beaches. These legends prevent the place from becoming a tourist attraction, invoking an element of grief and misery that draws away the other type of sun and beach tourism (Rittichainuwat, 2011). Notwithstanding, ghosts are not always harmful. In Savannah, Georgia, ghost tourism is widespread as it counts on a rich past that fosters it: three important fires and numerous epidemics, as well as the legacy of war and slavery (Gentry, 2007). In the city of Cordoba and its province, ghost tourism is related with old buildings, some of which were built many centuries ago (Morales, 2013). In these places a tragedy took place and legends tell of the spirit of the deceased person, in an abnormal situation, either due to a murder or a violent death, roaming halls and corridors seeking a being of this world to be able to contact with it. Table 2 shows the places where a ghost tourism route associated with a legend in Cordoba can be carried out. Table 2. Analysis of products of dark tourism (ghosts) in the city of Cordoba and its province Name Municipality Tourism Aim (yes/no) Faculty of Law and Economic and Business Sciences Cordoba Yes Faculty of Philosophy and Literature Cordoba Yes Palacio de Orive Cordoba No Casa de las Cabezas Cordoba Yes Castillo de Almodóvar Almodóvar del Río Yes Casa de las Camachas Montilla No Palacio Ducal Fernán Núñez No Monasterio de los Ángeles Hornachuelos No Mining basin Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo No Source: Morales et al. (2017) The open character of Andalusian people facilitates the abounding of legends in Cordoba (Ramirez de Arellano, 1998). This is why the most numerous group of this study consists of enclaves related with ghost stories. This intangible heritage is fed by legends, myths and stories transmitted from parents to children via word-of-mouth, enabling us to understand the fears and phobias of every period and of each society. These legends speak of ghosts which ramble through places marked by a tragic past but, in turn, also of the magic of those others who served in the Middle Ages in bloody battles, or those related with the horror of war. In this work, 3 enclaves of ghosts stand out. Firstly, the Faculty of Law and Economic and Business Sciences is a 16th. Century building which was a convent of Discalced Carmelites, an anti-tuberculosis hospital, a Maternity and Child Hospital and an orphanage. It has appeared several times in the national media due to the presumed apparitions of ghosts to the cleaning and surveillance staff. Nowadays, this faculty is one of the greatest examples of paranormal phenomenology. The majority of events have arisen in its old walls and the dark past that engulfs it have led to this ISSN 2039-2117 (online) ISSN 2039-9340 (print) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 10 No 1 January 2019 169 building being one of the most disturbing properties in Spain, with a high rate of tourists who visit it. A similar case to this is that of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, the city’s former acute hospital. It is in this building that many of its workers have also suffered the presence of paranormal phenomena, such as apparitions, noises and so on. Neither the security staff, nor the cleaning service, nor the students have remained indifferent to any of these events. Their origin can be found in the past of pain and suffering of this former Hospital del Cardenal Salazar, which sheltered numerous poor, unsound, people infected by venereal diseases who those in charge did not want to mix with the other ill people. This is why this pain has impregnated the walls and the nooks and crannies of the building and manifests itself in this paranormal manner. These two buildings are now being shown to tourists by the firm “Mysterious Cordoba” in regular tours focused on mystery. It has thus become one of the two pioneer centres in taking advantage of the growing boom in dark tourism (Morales, 2015). Another building which also has a long history of events that have occurred inside it is the Palacio de Orive. This emblematic palace centers its tourist interest on the appearances that have taken place there. These have their origin in the ghost of the daughter of Don Carlos Ucel and Guimbarda, magistrate of Cordoba at the end of the 17th. Century. The Palacio de Orive is a renaissance building that is currently the seat of the Council of Culture of the Town Hall. It has an old legend about the ghost of the young Blanca, daughter of the magistrate, wandering as a chilling shadow along the cold corridors of the building. There are testimonies that maintain noises and terrorised shouts begging for help have been heard. Due to the interest which this arouses among people, who have traditionally called it “the haunted house”, it would be interesting if one were also allowed to visit its interior and not only its exterior. Methodology 5. Field work was carried out to analyse the profile of dark tourists in Cordoba (ghosts and cemeteries). The collected information came from a questionnaire aimed at the population consisting of tourists who visit one of the two cemeteries (that of Nuestra Señora de la Salud or that of Monturque) or ghost places (the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, the Faculty of Law and Economics and Business Sciences or the Palacio de Orive) in Cordoba. The aim of the questionnaire was to understand the profile of dark tourists in the city of Cordoba and its province, as well as their motivations. The sample was random and the questionnaire had 24 questions grouped into four blocks: • First block: Assessments and opinions: In this section the aim is to qualitatively collect which factors the dark tourist considered need to be improved. They were therefore asked to indicate the value that they gave to the following aspects: the relation between the price paid and the tour offered, the information about the visit, how they knew about the tour, expectations met by the visit, aspects that need to be improved, etc. • Second block: Characteristics of the trip. Made up by questions such as: Have you done dark tourism tours other than that of Cordoba?, Do you believe that it is a good sales argument to use dark tourism to visit the city of Cordoba and its province?, Would you do a tour of the Cemetery of Salud in Cordoba or the Cemetery of Monturque?, From your point of view as a customer, what is the greatest barrier for the development of places for dark tourism? These are some of the questions dark tourists were asked to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the tourist activity offered in the area. • Third block: Motivation of the trip. This section has three questions in which the tourists indicate what motivated their visit most, offer their assessment concerning the tourist management and, lastly, their opinion about creating a dark tourism tour in the capital or in the province. 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