Have you ever wondered if the people living in such squalor and filth ever complaint for the kind of life they are living, I think they are as happy as pigs in muck. Thank God that we humans have a tendency to adapt to whatever situation we find ourselves in. I think if there was a system by which these people’s happiness can be measured, it would give startling results indeed to find that their happiness measures on a much higher scale than people living in luxury, may be this is the reason why Poverty tourism is such a popular game for the rich, deriving happiness from supposed misery of others. I do not understand who is fooling whom.

I view tourism and poverty as two seperate items or agendas. Essentially, your focus is premised on gearing tourism to poverty stricken areas; thereby providing an opportunity for people to engage in understanding poverty through tourism.

Indeed, when one considers tourism as an economic (global) activity, it includes the management of visitors to different places worlwide through a structured and organised series of tours (i.e. travel, transport, “where to go?”, “what to do?”, etc), including different services (i.e. health, accommodation, transfer services, food and beverages, “how to get there?”, etc) and specific activities (sports, business, trade, entertainment, events, i.e. carnivals or parades, etc), heritage and history, arts and culture, nature, etc) that enrich the tourists’ experience and understanding (or appreciation) of visiting a particular country or place.

In addressing the concept of “poverty tourism” it could be interpreted in either two ways – firstly that “poverty tourism” engages local communities of such empoverised areas, and contributes genuinely to the quality of life of some people of those affected communities, in a positive and empowering way, with real measured values (i.e. where do tourists stay? do they stay at empoverished communities, i.e. a Bed and Breakfast, a guesthouse, etc, how much time do tourists spend at these communities, what can tourists do once they are there? how are people in these communities generate income from tourism, etc … the secondly, that “poverty-tourism” can be interpreted as a romantic interpretation of what it means to be impoverished, and hence leave a sad legacy to the communities affected by such a concept of tourism.

I have been fortunate to have worked in Alexandra, in Johannesburg, a small (approximately 350,000) township approximately 2,0 km from Sandton (a growing financial hub in Johannesburg, due to the decentralisation of the former Johannesburg CBD). Alexandra, like most empoverished communities (or townships) has its own pros and cons. Much intervention (or investment) has been spearheaded by local and provincial government to improve the infrastructure, services, etc. of that particular township. Included in the Alexandra Reconstruction Program, was a focus on tourism opportunities. I don’t want to expand too much on this program, but what is evident, is that it focused on areas within the township linked to a rich history of struggle (including the development of the Nelson Mandela Interpretation Facility) through a tourist route within the township. PArt of the project was not completed in its entirety, and this has resulted in “vacuum” in terms of the objectives of the project. One still requires to travel to Alexandra through a tour guide or tour operator ! With 350,000 people living in Alexandra, the project gave opportunity to about five tour operators ! Surely this is a poor contribution to the lives of people livng in the Alexandra township. The same is evident in Soweto ! However, the correct approach would be to certainly improve the infrastructure so that people may indivdually or collectively invest in these so-called poverty townships. Development in Soweto has been evidently significant and exciting, focusing on development of heritage sites of significance, commercial activities (i.e. there’s a shopping mall in Soweto), improving sports venues (i.e. the Orlando Stadium in Soweto), developing green open areas (i.e parks, and walkways, etc).

I have also been fortunate to visit the Favela of Bairro da Rocinha (near Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro). At the time of the tour, we were told when and when not to take photos (as some residents think tourists are police informers, and might be “spying” on drug trafficing activities),, but not once on the tour were we given the opportunity to engage with the communities (not even, to buy a simple coke to drink !) The Tour Operator had included food and drinks on the tour, and whilst we were given the opportunity to take a walk through a smallpart of the area, we did not have the opportunity to engage in the quality of life of people, nor did we have the opportunity to engage in some of the activities at the Favela !

In some respects, I beleive that the areas that are stricken with poverty have to be understood with respect to a number of factors (migration, work opportunity, land ownership issues, access to business, access to basic services – toilets, water, sanitation, electricity, etc), the management of such poverty areas, the access to health, the access to education etc. The notion of “poverty tourism” can be interpreted as extremely contraversial in this context !

If one takes a look at major tourism attractions world-wide, people generally go to specific place to visit specific sites of interest. For instance, in Paris, one would have to do the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the St Germain and St Michel Areas, the Notre Dame, etc …yet there’s an area known as Barbes-Rocherout near to Montemartre that has evidence of poverty (mostly migrant communities from North Africa, etc). It can be argued that the approach to extending tourism to empoverished communities is a correct one … but not simply for the fact that a tourist is to see poverty ! i.e. what is meaningful to people who live in these areas?, what stories are there to share?, what about business opportunities? etc …

Poverty is not a recent phenomenon …it has been in existence for many years ! And what may be defined “poverty” to one, can be described as opportunity and happiness for others ! “poverty tourism” can not be viewed in isolation from its broader contexts. If one makes places beautiful and pleasant to experience to everybody (both residents and visitors), tourism will flourish, our visits to many places will become memorable, “worth-going-to”, etc … Some poverty-sticken areas arise due to mismanagement of land and are generally driven by people in search of work closer to urban centres. It is noted that poverty exists in rural areas too.

I have been on a third trip to Rio recently, and did not contemplate visiting “favelas” again … simply because there is a repeat of the tour with no notable “gems” to visit …(by gems, I mean, places and activities that overwhelm one, that call for one to re-visit those places, etc) …. If tourism is to genuinely contribute to the lives of the poor, indeed one must ensure that people living in these empoverished communities have access to education and business-skills that allows them to mobilise and re-organise a localised economy which drives benefit from tourism …

I could go on …

Best wishes …

Nice article. In fact even though I am in Mumbai and pass by Dharavi frequently , I was not aware of the structured tours.

In fact , as global citizens we don’t have to feel guilty or pity towards the underprivileged. We just have to be more generous.

We have to start looking at the poor not as a burden, but “as resilient and creative entrepreneurs”. In fact todays poor will be the engine of growth for next next couple of years. In fact Dharavi is one such hub where lots of small time entrepreneurs make leather goods and other innovative products.

People comment here that these tours are “disgusting”. They seem to assume that poverty is something bad, evil, vilifying, something to be ashamed of. But it is not. Poverty isn’t bad, it’s just difficult. Life is harder when you’re poor, but not necessarily less fulfilling and definitively not less dignified. The point is, slum dwellers can be quite proud about their lives, about their struggle, about their courage and energy in the face of hardships we can’t even imagine.

This being said, I’ve been to Rio many times, and never have taken a favela tour. But all people that did told me that it was a great experience, that has nothing to do with voyeurism, but with showing the dignity and optimism of those we consider outside of society.