Slum Tourism

“Slum tourism” is a growing form of international tourism that is found in many cities around the world. It has been fiercely criticized as voyeuristic, but defended as potentially contributing to poverty relief. In a narrow sense, slum tourism concerns short visits and guided tours through areas of urban poverty. More broadly, slum tourism can be described as a practice that addresses the relationship between poor and nonpoor and thus is connected to the “social question.” Slum tourism is related to a number of cultural and social forms that also address the poor–nonpoor relationship, including literature, film, and art. The economic impact of slum tourism has been discussed mainly with regard to the narrow definition of slum tourism as commoditized tours of poor neighborhoods. More recent approaches to slum tourism propose a broader understanding of its economic, social, and political impacts through the concept of tourist valorization.