Pulse Is Tragedy Tourism Destination

The Pulse nightclub, the gay venue where 49 people were shot and killed last month, has found its way onto itineraries for tourists from around the world who pay their respects and leave handmade memorials.

Although the club remains closed and cordoned off with a fence, its owner is planning a permanent memorial to honor the victims. Club owner Barbara Poma and her attorney formed a not-for-profit company, OnePulse Foundation, in a state filing earlier this month.

The documents put a plan for a memorial at Pulse in writing,stating that the non-profit's purpose includes "conceiving, funding and aiding in the construction of a permanent memorial on the existing Pulse site."

No details were outlined for the memorial, which is likely to draw even more visitors.

"I think it's a natural human phenomenon to be attracted to places of gore and tragedy," said Brigitte Sion, the author of "Death Tourism: Disaster Sites as Recreational Landscape." "Especially in the age of globalized media."

Sion studies how places like Auschwitz and Hiroshima became tourist attractions.

She thinks the downtown Orlando venue could be so popular it might play a role in someone's choice to come to Central Florida, even if they have no connection to the attack.

"The same way that you have people go to see [the 9/11 site] that have no connection to what happened," said Sion. "Absolutely."

Barbara Poma, Pulse's owner, said she plans to reopen the club she founded in 2004 in memory of her brother, who died of AIDS in 1991 — and is adamant that a memorial to attack victims will be part of the venue.

Similar visits already occur in Central Florida. More than four years after a fatal shooting in Sanford received national attention, the Trayvon Martin Memorial built outside the Goldsboro Welcome Center has drawn visitors, said Francis Oliver, founder of the Goldsboro Historical Museum.

She said the memorial gets between 50 and 75 visitors annually, coming from places such as New York and New Jersey to as far away as California. The memorial has been popular since the trial of George Zimmerman, the acquitted man who shot and killed the teen.

"It's not a lot, but it's been steady," said Oliver.

And crowds once flocked to a wooded area in East Orange County where Caylee Anthony's body was found in December 2008. The site where the 2-year-old's remains were recovered appears relatively unremarkable, with muddy, old stuffed animals tucked into overgrown flora. Unless you knew where to look, the makeshift memorial could easily go unnoticed.

Last week, a recently placed stuffed animal atop the pile gave it away. The multi-colored, striped horse had "Caylee" written across its pristine white nose in black marker, eight years after the child's July disappearance.

Scott Smith, a tourism professor from the University of South Carolina, said it's not uncommon for people to want to visit sites of tragedy, but everyone will come for their own reason.

"Different people have different motivations," said Smith. "Some just go out of curiosity."

One of the displays of unity at the makeshift Pulse memorial is a T-shirt from Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, a grassroots, member-led organization focused on under-resourced communities and communities of color in Minneapolis. Amber Jones, the organization's education organizer, delivered the shirt to Pulse earlier this month.

"It really rocked our community within our office," said Jones, 23. She was already scheduled to be in Orlando for a sorority conference when her coworkers decided they wanted to show their support.

Jones skipped the event's last meeting to visit Pulse. When she arrived at Orange Avenue she saw she wasn't the only Zeta Phi Beta sister who wanted to see the growing memorial.

Initially, Jones was struck by how open Orlando's downtown is, especially the strip where Pulse is located. The second thing she noticed was two police cruisers parked outside the building.

"It was just really a very sobering experience," she said. "Really being able to come to terms with how much trauma has been inflicted with this one incident."

Oliver said she's not surprised the Pulse nightclub has become an attraction for people already in town for other reasons, including vacation.

"They're going to have more people," said Oliver, speculating the title of being the worst mass shooting in modern history will only attract more visitors. "It will draw people for a long time."

Oliver can personally relate to people who want to see the site of a tragic historical moment in person. After all, she drove to Charleston, S.C., last year after nine people were killed in a shooting at a church.

Her motivation was "just being with other people that are mourning."

"It's that healing space," she said.