The concept of suicide tourism was first mentioned in the late 1900s; however, definitions remain ambiguous. Although “tourism” is often associated with joyful experiences, it takes involves forms and purposes that may not be leisure- or pleasure-related, in which suicide tourism is unique and scarcely examined. This study reviews relevant literature, reframes the definition of suicide tourism, and provides a better understanding of this emerging tourism phenomenon. The notion is redefined by tourism practices related to physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Subcategories include suicide tourism and suicide travel, depending on whether a person returns to his or her own country/region after a PAS-related trip. In addition, suicide tourism applies to anyone interested in exploring PAS, including via an informational journey. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.
AshworthG. (2008). The memorialisation of violence and tragedy: Human trauma as heritage. In GrahamB.HowardP. (Eds.), The Ashgate companion to heritage and identity (pp. 231-244). Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
BudaD. (2015). The death drive in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 50, 39-51.
4.
CantrellF.NordtS.McIntyreI.SchneirA. (2010). Death on the doorstep of a border community: Intentional self-positioning with veterinary pentobarbital. Clinical Toxicology, 48, 849-850.
5.
CarreraP.BridgesJ. (2006). Globalization and healthcare: Understanding health and medical tourism. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research, 6, 447-454.
6.
CookS. (1975). A survey of definitions in U.S. domestic tourism studies. Washington, DC: U.S. Travel Data Centre.
7.
CorbetS.O’ConnellJ.EfthymiouM.GuiomardC.LuceyB. (2019). The impact of terrorism on European tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 1-17.
8.
CramponL. (1959). What is a tourist? In Tourist development notes (pp. 51-60). Boulder: Bureau of Business Research, University of Colorado.
9.
DixonN. (1998). On the difference between physician-assisted suicide and active euthanasia. Hastings Center Report, 28(5), 25-30.
EmanuelE. (2002). Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: A review of the empirical data from the United States. Archives of Internal Medicine, 162, 142-152.
12.
EmanuelE.DanielsE.FaircloughD.ClarridgeB. (1996). Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: Attitudes and experiences of oncology patients, oncologists, and the public. Lancet, 347, 1805-1810.
13.
HallC. (2008). Of time and space and other things: Laws of tourism and the geographies of contemporary mobilities. In BurnsP.NovelliM. (Eds.), Tourism and mobilities: Local–global connections (pp. 15-32). Oxford, England: Elsevier.
14.
HanH.HyunS. (2015). Customer retention in the medical tourism industry: Impact of quality, satisfaction, trust, and price reasonableness. Tourism Management, 46, 20-29.
15.
HigginbothamG. (2011). Assisted-suicide tourism: Is it tourism?Tourismos, 6, 177-185.
LeiperN. (1979). The framework of tourism: Towards a definition of tourism, tourist, and the tourist industry. Annals of Tourism Research, 6, 390-407.
20.
LightD. (2017). Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism. Tourism Management, 61, 275-301.
21.
LopezS.PedrottiJ.SnyderC. (2018). Positive psychology: The scientific and practical explorations of human strengths. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
22.
MeierD.EmmonsC.WallensteinS.QuillT.MorrisonR.CasselC. (1998). A national survey of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States. Massachusetts Medical Society, 338, 1193-1201.
23.
MillerD.GonzalezC. (2013). When death is the destination: The business of death tourism—despite legal and social implications. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 7, 293-306.
National Tourism Resources Review Commission. (1973). Destination USA: Domestic tourism (Vol. 2). Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
26.
OrentlicherD. (1997). The Supreme Court and physician-assisted suicide: Rejecting assisted suicide but embracing euthanasia. New England Journal of Medicine, 337, 1236-1239.
SealeC.Addington-HallJ. (1994). Euthanasia: Why people want to die earlier. Social Science & Medicine, 39, 647-654.
30.
SmithS. (1988). Defining tourism: A supply-side view. Annals of Tourism Research, 15, 179-190.
31.
TikkanenI. (2005, May). Sectors in healthcare tourism: Case Kuopio region. Paper presented at the 3rd Tourism Industry and Education Symposium. Jyväskylä, Finland.
32.
Tourism Research and Marketing. (2006). Medical tourism: A global analysis. Arnhem, Netherlands: Atlas.
33.
TribeJ.LiburdJ. (2016). The tourism knowledge system. Annals of Tourism Research, 57, 44-61.
WenJ.HuangS.YingT. (2019). Relationship between Chinese cultural values and tourist motivations: A study of Chinese tourists visiting Israel. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 14, 1-10.
36.
WenJ.MengF.YingT.QiH.LockyerT. (2018). Drug tourism motivation of Chinese outbound tourists: Scale development and validation. Tourism Management, 64, 233-244.
YingT.WenJ. (2019). Exploring the male Chinese tourists’ motivation for commercial sex when travelling overseas: Scale construction and validation. Tourism Management, 70, 479-490.
40.
YuC.WenJ.GohE.AstonJ. (2019). “Please help me die”: Applying self-determination theory to understand suicide travel. Anatolia, 30, 450-453.
