Beginning in September 2010, seismic events shook the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, resulting in significant losses for the tourism sector, most notably the devastated Central Business District. Tourism had to adjust especially following two major earthquakes, with visitors able to partake in disaster-themed tourist attractions or viewing the destruction as part of a self-guided tour of the city. Such activities fall into the realm of ‘dark tourism’, or travel to sites of death, disaster or destruction. Following a major disaster with significant media coverage, tourism organizations often scramble to alter the outsider’s perception of the disaster-struck destination. Using a qualitative case study, this thesis explores two dominant themes associated with post-disaster tourism. First, it gathers perspectives of disaster tourism experiences and tourism industry recovery from multiple stakeholders to explore how tourism following a major disaster is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. Second, it investigates how tourism advertising campaigns represented Christchurch, New Zealand and its inhabitants following the earthquakes. / Graduate / 0366