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Slum tourism

Summery

Do ”Slum tours” profit off the poor.
Lori Robertson writes on BBC travel website the article “Ethical traveller Column”.

Slum tourism is in a growth development. It has become a very popular travel destination, to go out and experience some of the world’s biggest slums.
American and European tourist agrees to pay highly amounts to visit slums like the Dharavi in Mumbai, India. “But is slum tourism profiting off the poor”, Tricia Barnett is asking. As former director of an English tourism concern, she is worried that the tour money spent by tourist, ends up in the hands of a local middleman, when the community are not involved. Chris Way is founder of the Reality tour and travels, who arranges the tours in Dharavi. He insures that the firm profit also benefits the poor. They have set up their own charity organisation, which among others runs a kindergarten and a community centre. The tours also helps to confront some stereotypes, turn down some prejudices and gives tourists a better understanding of socially and culture underneath the surface of the big city.

Outline

Slum tourism has a long history. Poor people have always been interested in how wealthy people might live, and it also works the other way around.

The two basic sides of the argument are pretty obvious. One side is, that it is wrong to exploit the poor and to violate their privacy. On the other hand, it is showing a better awareness and visibility on a lifestyle far from the one the tourists are used to living themselves. The tours properly elucidate some of the problems the people in the slum are dealing with daily.
And hopefully some of the profit from the tours will benefit the local to get better conditions, when charity organisations are raising founds which establish kindergarten, education centres and spare time activities.
It is understandable why the residents of the slum might fell their lives are being publicly displayed, then tourist are walking in front of their home with a camera around their neck.

But it is not like the tourists are stepping up in their living room. It is a free world and I can provide them for walking around my neighbourhood either. Besides that does the tourist agencies respect the privacy of the residents, it is not allowed for tourist to take pictures on the tour around the slum area.
John Luth can confirm this. On his blog is he writing an article about the positive spin on this travel as slum tourist in Dharavi. He is actually quite impressed over the condition of the slum.

Statement comment:

Kennedy Odede was born and raised in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Today is he a student at Wesleyan University, USA. In and article on The New York Times’ website he explains why all the attention from the tourists is not worth it, even though the money they spend on tours contributes to support and improve the economic and socially network in the society he came from.

“Slum tourism turns poverty into entertainment, something that can be momentarily experienced and then escaped from”. He says. He explains that he do not want tourist to judge his community on what they see from the outside and can experience on a couple of hours. And many foreigners come to the slum wanting to understand the poverty and then leave with, what they think is a better view of the situation. No matter how good their intentions are, would they never be able to understand what the conditions really implies. And a camera loaded with pictures will be the only thing they get out of it.

Essay:

Does slum tourism contribute to a greater understanding and tolerance in the world or is it just a matter of entertainment for rich people to go on a new kind of safari.
Everything we do no know of is always the most exciting. That is human nature to be curious and to have a desire for developing and exploring. But in this case there might come something good out of it. When wealthy people see who other people are living I poverty and far worse then them, they might want to take action and try to help and make a difference. Guess that many people who are living a wealthy life in America or Europe, do not raise money for charity organizations. Not because they are not aware of the problem, but because they can’t be sure of what and where their money goes to. We have to se it, to believe it. Like “Slumdog millionaire” which is an Indian film production from Bollywood. It has attracted so much attention, that tourist from al across the world wants to travel to Mumbai, to see where it all took place.

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