What is TripAdvisor

This essay aims to explain the phenomenon and effect on tourism of the Balinese cemetery in the village of Trunyan, where the dead are not buried. It is a narrative enquiry combined with critical theory largely grounded in the scholarship of dark tourism and communication theory, coupled with content analysis of the online community's reviews from the TripAdvisor website. The study indicates that (1) connectedness to death suggests the existence of spirituality needed by people, at the same time indicating understanding of mortality; (2) social connections developed as a result of visiting Trunyan cemetery not only bring self-awareness and awareness of others, revolving around intrapersonal communication about spirituality and interpersonal communication among members of the online community, but also illustrate the development of dark tourism and conceptualise the role of tourists in building authentic experience as the essence of a death site's brand image.