Dhaka, Oct. 17 -- Chinese travellers are increasingly paying to experience simulated natural disasters and visit sites of tragedy, as interest grows in a form of travel known as "dark tourism".

A tourist travelled over 1,300km from Chongqing in south-west China to Hangzhou in the east last year to participate in a disaster simulation after watching videos of typhoons and flash floods on the Chinese social media platform RedNote.

"I never experienced a typhoon. I don't know how it will feel and what will happen. I just have seen it on the news," she told The Guardian. "So that's why I want to go there to have a safe place to experience it and learn something."

She joined 20 other participants in a simulated flood scenario involving hund...