1. Mireia Munoz Page 1
Slum Tourism: Is it Responsible?
Introduction
After conscious research about the slumming, favela, pro-poor tourism, I believe it is important
to know and understand the concepts of what is a slum or favela (as are known in Brazil), and
what is the Slumming movement that is creating an international debate in Responsible
tourism. In this essay I will argue that in its current state slum tourism is not being regulated
enough for it to be considered a responsible form of tourism.
“Slum:
- A squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people:
‘inner-city slums´
- A house or building unfit for human habitation.
Synonyms: ghetto, shanty town, favela in Brazil”
(TY - ELECT1 - "slum". Oxford Dictionaries.A1)
“Slumming:
Verb (slummed, slumming) (often slum it) informal voluntarily spend time in uncomfortable
conditions or at a lower social level than one’s own”. (Slumtourism.net)
The issues currently in international discussions within the travel industry about Slum tourism
or “Poverty tourism” (Outterson et la , 2011-12), are mainly focused on determining whether
this type of tourism is Responsible or not. Although, there is no further closure on this point as
yet, academic research, debates, and articles are still ongoing to arrive at a conclusion. I think
it´s important to remember what Responsible tourism is and the aspects or conditions, the
tourism industry should comply in order to be considered as such, as by the guidelines from
the Cape Town Declaration of Responsible Tourism in Destinations (2002), or from the
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism´s National Responsible Tourism Guidelines
(Booyens, 2010). Responsible tourism should as Harold Goodwin said be “ making better
places for people to live in and better places for people to visit”
(http://www.haroldgoodwin.info/rt.html)
History of Slum tourism
The phenomenon of Slum tourism dates back to Victorian England, in the nineteenth-century,
where some middle-upper class citizens from the UK wanted to explore “underprivileged
districts, which were perceived as dangerous and morally dubious” (Eveline Durr et la, 2012).
Soon this phenomenon extended to other cities in the USA, where the trend started to
develop as ´ethnic ´tourism, with the inclusion of tours through neighbourhoods mainly
formed by migrant communities from the same geographical area such as; China Town,
African-American districts, among others (Eveline Durr et la, 2012).
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New names re-naming this concept of tourism have arisen since then, such as “social tours”
,“reality tours” even some more specific as the “dark tours”(Bianca Freire-Medeiros 2008) ,all
of them operate, on the same original trend or bottom line, tours around impoverished areas
and on many occasions with high levels of violence and social conflicts. Also, there has been an
important increase of locations over the decades, specially growing with globalization and the
increase of international tourism as a global phenomenon, those tours have been made easily
available for tourist to visit; Township tours (South Africa) (Fabian Frenzel,2014), Favela tours
in Rochina (Brazil) and “The victims of Nazi holocaust” ( Bianca Freire-Madeiros, 2009), Tepito
tours (Mexico) and Trench town tours (Jamaica) (Eveline Durr et la, 2012), Gang tours (Los
Angeles) (Kevin Outterson et la, 2011-12), and many others locations around the globe.
Characteristics
About a billion people now live in ´informal´ settlements or ´slums´ (UN Habitat,2006). An
informal settlement normally lacking formal codes, urban planning, designs or structure in
their construction (Kim Dovey,2015). They are usually built by the local population living in the
settlement, and very often using recycled materials to build their own structures. Usually those
areas use leftovers of the terrain from the cities. However, they aren´t marginal to the cities in
economic terms as they are part of the city itself and therefore frequently have accesses to
transportations networks.
There are certain specific characteristics of the origins of each ´informal ´settlement. As an
example the origins of the favela in many cities in Brazil, were at the end of the nineteenth
century, when the abolition of slavery took place and, many people had to migrate to the
urban areas seeking work (Michael Barke et la, 2001). Low income rented properties and
buildings appeared in the cities, making the poorest migrant families unable to afford those
rentals. These families were forced to move illegally occupy any available land within the city
(Michael Barke et la, 2001). There are many common social aspects in all of them, such as the
low income family units, high rates of drug smuggling and violence, and the absence of
regulatory and efficient political policies to alleviate poverty (Kim Dovey, 2015).
Visitor’s profile
The media has also been involved in the increasing interest in ´poverty tourism´ with films such
“Slumdog Millionaire (2008)”(Kevin Otterson et la 2012), or the “City of Good (Brazil, 2002)”
(Biana Freire-Madeiros 2009) where Madeiros based on talks with tour operators in her
research, suggest that the film might be ´largely´ responsible for the increased interest in the
favela as a tourist destination. There is not a pre-determined age or social background profile,
for the participants of ´slum tourism´. However, research does suggest the need of tourists
searching for “alternative tourism” or “a real experience “(Bianca Freire-Medeiros 2009),
where interaction and the possibility of living the emotions of the ´other´, could occur.
Without entering in controversial between the need for tourist to experience the ´real ‘or as
“voyeuristic desires” (Fabian Frenzel 2014), I would like to mention the impacts this practise
might have for both, the visitor and the host communities. As the research from (Otterson et
la,2011-12) suggest, when “recognition justice” might not be guaranteed, the consequences
from the affected communities “will see a practise or policy as unfair if it privileges de cultural
terms of others over theirs without any relevant reason being offered or discussed” and social
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tensions might appear within. Also, the doubtful possibility for a visitor to fully understand
poverty in a visit to a home host during a tour (Fabian Frenzel, 2014).
The debate
Booyens declare that “tourism is increasingly being recognized for its economic potential and
its contribution to poverty alleviation” (Booyens, 2010), therefore tourism, and in this case
slum tourism, can play an important role in the alleviation of world´s poverty.
The description of ´slumming ‘made by Eveline Durr and Rivke Jaffe: “we understand
´slumming ‘as a tourist experience that involves visiting urban areas characterized by poverty,
squalor and violence” isn´t the only view of this concept. There is an extensive ethical and
moral debate on how this type of tourism impacts on the receiver communities, and it is not as
easy to quantify what the benefits are, and how those benefits plays a substantial role in the
mitigation of poverty from these ´informal ´settlements. As opposite, we find pro-poor tourism
associations such as (Propoortourism.info) promoting this type of tourism with campaigns
presenting practical advice and examples, trying to demonstrate how it can benefit
economically poor communities, stating the responsible tourism definition that “tourism can
contribute to making better places for people to live in and better places to
visit”(http://www.haroldgoodwin.info/rt.html).
Following the aim from the pro-poor tourism promoters and in certain cases political
promotions, as Frenzel suggest in his article to encourage slum tourism (Frenzel 2014), the aim
being to provide wellbeing to the slum´s citizens by bringing in tourism to alleviate poverty.
However, there are several case studies that show a failure in providing quantitative and or
positive numbers of success. As an example of this, would be the policy created in South Africa
promoting township tourism, aiming to change the mostly white ownership of the tourism
industry in the country, giving business opportunities to the local township residents (Frenzel,
2014). Unfortunately, there is no significant evidence towards a positive economic effect
resulting from these studies. Several problems are highlighted such as that most of the tour
operators providing the township tours are from outside the township, and come from a white
middle-class background, leaving the local business numbers remaining the same (Frenzel,
2014). One successful story from a township black entrepreneurial in Soweto, who became
successful, creating a completely new and different product from the rest of the tour
operators operating in his area. Therefore, It lead to a conclusive thought that in this case
success might be attached to the entrepreneur originality but not as a direct benefit from the
policies promoting slum tourism (Fabian Frenzel,2014).
Another example is Rochina favela in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where the favela was included in
2006 into Rio´s official tourist guide by a government initiative (Freire-Madeiros, 2009). Many
agencies and tour operators do business nowadays in the Favela offering many different tours
and products, with a very high level of competition among them, some of them have now
registered a brand. Tours offer the possibility to the tourist to visit day care centres where they
can directly contribute with donations (Bianca Freire- Madeiros, 2009). However, as Freire-
Madeiros states in her research, “cordiality of the Brazilian people is officially a key factor in
the promotion of Brazil as a tourist destination” and unfortunately violence is one of the
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biggest problems of Rochina favela. Freire-Madeiross also suggest in her research that profits
aren´t shared within the community (Bianca Freire-Madeiros, 2009). This lead to my
understanding, that there isn´t a clear policy to regulate slum tourism, and neither is there
substantial evidence pointing towards the success of poverty alleviation in the areas that slum
tourism occurs.
One of the biggest social issues as a consequence of poverty tourism, mentioned by many
researchers but especially by Frenzel, is the “territorial stigmatization”, and the “stereotyping”
of a community (Fabian Frenzel, 2014). As Frenzel states Symbolic aspects of poverty also
consist of shame and stigma that affects the poor and add to their economic misery” shame
can be transformed into Stereotypes when we talk about a community and also a negative
perception from “outsiders” creating a “territorial stigma” (Fabian Frenzel, 2014).
Conclusion
There are controversial debates within the tourism industry, and within sociology and
Philosophy researchers about moral, ethics and the need of policies to regulate and control
slum tourism as a practice. Earlier I´ve mentioned some cases where political campaigns were
directly involved on the promotion of slum or poverty tourism, without clear data or
conclusion on the success of these campaigns to mitigate poverty and to give growth
opportunities to the local communities. It is certain that the slum tourism as such, has had a
reactive measures for some communities involved, with the creation of local development
associations within the slums, such as The Trench Town Development Association (TTDA) in
Trench Town (Kingston, Jamaica), where locals are playing a much direct role in the promotion
of the community trying to improve the community reputation offering the tourist different
attractions within the community such as visits to the museum, to music studios, interaction
with local artist. Also they are collaborating to the local development from inside, giving job
opportunities as the local guides of those tours, are also local citizens from the community.
Unfortunately, the violence levels are still preventing many tourists to visit Trench Town
(Eveline Durr , Rivke Jaffe, 2012). However, there is still too much slums tourism, which is
being mainly promoted from external companies, as the cases presented earlier from the
Rochina favela or the Townships in South Africa, where the main promoters of slum tourism do
not have a direct collaboration to provide fair compensation or balanced internal
development. There is also not reliable data to confirm that these tourism schemes are
accepted by the visited communities, or aren´t coerced from a unique economical need. They
often created an internal social conflict within the communities that are in many cases created
by the interaction with the visitors, and the need to be adapted to satisfy tourist expectations
(Kevin Outterson et la, 2011).
My conclusion is that there is a real need for policies and regulations for tourism in slums.
There is a need to find a balance between the creation of poverty alleviating tourism policies
that place the emphasis on safeguard vulnerable communities and preventing social conflicts.
Consent needs to be monitored more closely, as Outterson, Selinger and Whyte suggest in
their research, and also to start being able to have measurable data, for development in the
areas where slum tourism is taking place (Kevin Outterson; Evan Selinger, Kyle Whyte, 201).
Long term strategies towards development and poverty alleviation within a more
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Mireia Munoz Page 5
comprehensive framework that weighs up the moral and ethical consideration of slum tourism
are vital.
Based on the above points, all the researched sources are suggesting a lack of data to quantify
and assess the goals set by the promoters of slum tourism to alleviate poverty. It is not
possible to have certainty that the guidelines of Responsible tourism are being met, I conclude
by saying that Slum tourism today, can´t be seen as Responsible.
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