Slum tourism is one of the new types of tourism that includes visiting poor areas. Slum tourism was initially focused on the slums of London and Manhattan in the 19th century, but today it is increasingly flourishing in many parts of the world, including India, Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia, Detroit, etc.

History:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first time the word “Slumming” was used was in 1884. In London, wealthy people visited slums such as Whitechapel or Shoreditch to observe their living conditions. In 1884, the rich people of New York City started visiting the Bowery and Five Points, the poor immigrant neighborhoods.

In the 1980s in South Africa, black residents organized tours to teach whites in local governments how black people lived. Such tours attracted international tourists who wanted to learn more about apartheid.

In the mid-1990s, international tours were organized to the underprivileged areas of developing countries. These tours became very popular and were often run and advertised by professional companies. For example, in Cape Town, South Africa, more than 300,000 tourists travel to this city every year to visit slum areas.

Before the release of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008, Mumbai was a slum tourism destination. The concept of slum tourism has recently received attention from the media and universities. In December 2010, the first international slum tourism conference was held in Bristol. A social network of people active in slum tourism was created. Disadvantages Of Slum Tourism

Slum tourism destinations:

Slum tourism is mainly carried out in urban areas of developing countries, they are often named according to the type of areas visited:

• Township Tourism: South African townships are still noticeably divided into rich white suburbs and poor black townships due to the effects of apartheid and racial discrimination.
• Favela Tourism: In Brazil
• Asia: India
• Mumbai – Dharavi, which was made famous by the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
• Hidden tours of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia
• Social or religious divisions: New York City and Belfast, Northern Ireland

Slum tourism, especially in developed countries, focuses on poor ghetto areas. Jewish settlement tourism was first studied in 2005 by Michael Stephens in the cultural-critical magazine PopMatters. Ghetto tourism includes various types of entertainment such as gangster rap, video games, movies, television, etc., which allows its customers to travel within the city without leaving their homes. As Stephens says, “Digital media achieve more accurate simulations of reality. Trying to change emotions into desires is not only to see bigger and better explosions but also to cross racial and class boundaries and experience other lifestyles. The influx of international tourists to New York in the 1980s led to a successful tourism boom in Harlem.

advantages and disadvantages:

Slum tourism is a topic of many discussions. Both criticisms and defenses of this practice have been expressed in the pages of prominent newspapers such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the London Times, etc. An early criticism was that the opponents of slum tourism believed that “the lives of the poor become entertainment, in a way that they experience their lives for a moment and then escape.” “The pictures taken by tourists destroy the dignity of slum dwellers.” (Kennedy Odede, a Kenyan writer for the New York Times).

Tours provide employment and income for tour guides and an opportunity for arts and crafts workers to sell souvenirs and may generate investment in the regions. Studies on the ethics of slum tourism are ongoing, and forums for this discussion have been created to advance the conversation and provide reliable information.