A ghost town is an abandoned village, town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters. The term is sometimes used to refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods which are still populated, but significantly less so than in years past.[citation needed]
Some ghost towns are tourist attractions: Barkerville, British Columbia; Bannack, Montana; Calico, California; Elizabeth Bay, Namibia; Pripyat, Ukraine; Kolmanskop, Namibia; and Oatman, Arizona among them. This is especially true of those that preserve period-specific architecture. Visiting, writing about, and photographing ghost towns is a minor industry.
A ghost town is an abandoned village, town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters. The term is sometimes used to refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods which are still populated, but significantly less so than in years past.[citation needed]
Some ghost towns are tourist attractions: Barkerville, British Columbia; Bannack, Montana; Calico, California; Elizabeth Bay, Namibia; Pripyat, Ukraine; Kolmanskop, Namibia; and Oatman, Arizona among them. This is especially true of those that preserve period-specific architecture. Visiting, writing about, and photographing ghost towns is a minor industry.