The abandoned seaside town on pretty European island now a haven for dark tourism

A town that was once a hotspot for Hollywood royalty has become a hub for dark . The eerie ghost town is located on a pretty island and has taken on a second-life for travellers in recent times.

Varosha, which is close to popular holiday resorts like Paphos and Limassol, was once frequented by stars of the 1960s such as Elizabeth Taylor. However, the resort changed forever after the Turkish army invaded the island in 1974 and 15,000 residents were forced to flee. They abandoned their homes, businesses and immaculate beaches at the hands of the military invasion. As reported by , Varosha remains largely abandoned today with a number of empty buildings. While the area has lost its appeal to most holidaymakers, it has started to attract a different type of tourist.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the then Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, decided to reopen the area to visitors in October 2020. Accoridng to the latest statistics, around 1.8 million people have since visited the town, with most intrigued by its dark history.

Hubert Faustmann, a professor at the University of Nicosia, said: "The section found itself in the top tourist sites in terms of dark tourism, so they started to open up certain parts of Varosha, and it's now a tourist destination with guided tours, with e-bikes, vehicles and coffee shops."

He added: "Varosha is being used as a tourist destination, as a tourist attraction, without a single inhabitant prior to 1974 returning. It's changed in the sense that it's open to the public, but it's not open for return."

Varosha has been trying to repair its decaying image, with the town now offering a variety of facilities such as beach umbrellas and canteens. Varosha's struggling circumstances have also been discussed in Oslo by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Piero Fassino, the PACE rapporteur for Varosha, presented a report during the meeting after visiting last May. The Italian senator said he hoped Varosha could be rejuvenated into a "living town" again after his visit.

Dark tourism has long been a feature of the travel industry. It gained mainstream recognition with the Netflix show Dark Tourist, which captured weird and creepy traditions around the world.

Louise Joy, a blogger and founder of The Morbid Tourist, said: "Traditionally, dark tourism is visiting places associated with death and tragedy."

She added that TikTok has also made a huge contribution to the dark tourism industry in recent years. "The individuality on TikTok [helps] people seeing stuff that is different and you don't necessarily see that out there offline, like in books," she explained.