TOURISTS ARE showing an increasing appetite for death and disaster as increasing numbers flock to graveyards and killing fields around the world every year.

From the modern-day fascination with Ground Zero in New York to the continuing pull of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland and even the Necropolis in Glasgow, "dark tourism", as it is dubbed, is an industry on the up.

Speaking ahead of a major conference, Professor John Lennon, of Glasgow Caledonian University, said the interest in our recent tragic past is showing little sign of abating. "People want to go and be tourists in war zones while wars are happening. They seem to have an appetite to get very close while the blood is still dripping. There is no limit to the appetite for this stuff and demand is driving it faster and faster.

"We are always fascinated by the dark side of human nature and the most evil things people can do."

While around 700,000 people visit the Auschwitz death camps every year, new sites have been adopted by macabre tourists. Lennon notes how hundreds of tourists each day visit Ground Zero, "trying to remember not to smile as they get their photo taken". More gruesome sites include the graves of Soham murder victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The media and internet are considered key factors in this growth industry, with films such as Braveheart, Schindler's List and JFK boosting their respective death site's visitor numbers every time they are broadcast, explained Lennon, who will speak on Tuesday at the Dark Tourism Forum conference, organised by the University of Central Lancashire. He will discuss the impact of this industry on Cambodia, where the killing fields of Choeung Ek and interrogation centre Tuol Sleng have emerged as unlikely tourist destinations. Estimates suggest 90% of the near-200,000 annual visitors are foreign tourists.

Some countries, Lennon argues, are undertaking a worryingly selective approach when confronting their past, choosing only to address the glories and ignoring tragedy.

He added: "In the Czech Republic, the Jewish holocaust is well covered but, by comparison, the genocide of the gypsy people, the Roma, is almost uncommunicated. That is a story that should be told, but people are not banging a gong for it."

In Scotland, the two most recent tragedies - Lockerbie and Dunblane - were marked with gardens of rememberance and, while some people may prefer to destroy living memories of a tragedy, Lennon argues this isn't necessarily the best solution. He said: "There is no limit to how low human curiosity can get, but it is a tough call to just destroy buildings.

"For every 10 that go to a site, there will be one that gets interested and learns from it."

William Black is not convinced. The 26-year-old computer analyst from Paisley visited New York in February 2002 with his girlfriend and found they were the only two people who chose not to hop off the packed double-decker tour bus for a glimpse of Ground Zero.

Black said: "We felt it was a bit sick. It was five months down the line but they were still pulling bits of bodies from the rubble. The way the tours were marketed seemed wrong, saying "come down and see the destruction al-Qaeda has brought to America"."

Back home, a spokeswoman for VisitScotland said that though they do tap into the many ghosts and monsters that lurk around the country, this is as far as they go. She added: "We would not brand this dark tourism as these are history-based themes and help raise and stimulate interest in Scotland."

By 2008 more than 10,000 pupils from across the UK will visit Auschwitz as part of a nationwide educational project organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET).

HET chief executive Karen Pollock said: "It is going beyond the history textbook it makes them question further. It also allows them to shape the future by teaching young people to stand up and say something now, not wait till views, policies or actions have become entrenched."