Abstract

Dark tourism (travel to sites of death, disaster and collective trauma) is increasingly mediated by AI-driven content systems, but the conditions under which visitors accept AI interpretation tools in emotionally sensitive heritage contexts remain empirically unexplored. Our study examines the cultural, experiential and affective predictors of AI/immersive technology acceptance among Romanian dark tourism consumers. A quantitative cross-sectional survey (n = 232, predominantly urban respondents, January–March 2026) measured cultural belonging, prior visit experience, dominant emotional response, perceived educational value and technology acceptance; data were analyzed using non-parametric inference and bootstrapped mediation. The results are organized within a descriptive framework we term the Interpretive Legitimation Mechanism (ILM): perceived educational value fully mediates the effect of prior experience on AI acceptance (95.5% of total effect) and partially mediates the effect of cultural belonging (36.4%), while emotional state and gender conditionally moderate receptivity (fascination-dominant visitors show the highest openness and sadness-dominant visitors the lowest). These findings characterize the conditions of receptivity to AI mediation, a necessary precondition for any subsequent influence, and indicate that acceptance in dark tourism is primarily an interpretive and cultural phenomenon rather than a technological one.

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