Poverty tourism

Poverty tourism or slum tourism is when wealthier people take a tour to see how the poorer people live. The interest to see how the other half lives is not new, as it is known: 

“SLUM tourism has a long history — during the late 1800s, lines of wealthy New Yorkers snaked along the Bowery and through the Lower East Side to see “how the other half lives.” *

But poverty tourism started around 20 years ago.

On the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, slums of Dhavari, India or slums of Kibera, Kenya, the number of tourists that pay local agencies to take them on tours keep increasing. These agencies are business that makes money on taking rich people to see how the poor people live. You might wonder that there is nothing so wrong about that, but as you probably know, the housing and infra structure of slums are not good, and the people that live there need to do their daily activities in the open, which includes washing, laundry, cooking and many times using what it would be a toilet. Now I know that I wouldn't like someone peeking on me while I would be doing any of the above. The tourists get off their buses and vans and take pictures as if the slum residents don't need any privacy.

In a NY Times article, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/opinion/10odede.html, a slum resident tell her experiences about poverty tourism:

" I was 16 when I first saw a slum tour. I was outside my 100-square-foot house washing dishes, looking at the utensils with longing because I hadn't eaten in two days. Suddenly a white woman was taking my picture. I felt like a tiger in a cage. Before I could say anything, she had moved on.

When I was 18, I founded an organization that provides education, health and economic services for Kibera residents. A documentary filmmaker from Greece was interviewing me about my work. As we made our way through the streets, we passed an old man defecating in public. The woman took out her video camera and said to her assistant, “Oh, look at that.”

For a moment I saw my home through her eyes: feces, rats, starvation, houses so close together that no one can breathe. I realized I didn’t want her to see it, didn’t want to give her the opportunity to judge my community for its poverty — a condition that few tourists, no matter how well intentioned, could ever understand.

Other Kibera residents have taken a different path. A former schoolmate of mine started a tourism business. I once saw him take a group into the home of a young woman giving birth. They stood and watched as she screamed. Eventually the group continued on its tour, cameras loaded with images of a woman in pain. What did they learn? And did the woman gain anything from the experience? "

The tourists take slum tours the better understand how the poor live, what sounds like a decent idea, but it is hard to believe that any good will come from tourists coming, taking pictures and leaving. 

The agencies justify their business by saying that they benefit the community. They say that their business increase awareness, employ local guides, and that their business instigate locals to make art or souvenirs to sell to the tourists. Some agencies - after receiving much criticism - give part of their profit back to the slum, in order to help the community.

What is your opinion?

Do you think slum tours should be banned or that it should continue? 

Do you think this kind of business should be better regulated? With can and can’t be done.

Do you think locals should have a say whether this tours are going to happen?

Share.

*Source: The NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/opinion/10odede.html

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