“Poorism†latest tourism fad?
Tourism’s cousin, or “poorism†is catching on everywhere.
“From the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the townships of Johannesburg to the garbage dumps of Mexico, tourists are forsaking, at least for a while, beaches and museums for crowded, dirty — and in many ways surprising — slums,†says The New York Times.
Critics charge that ogling the poorest of the poor isn’t tourism at all. The tours are exploitative, critics say, and have no place on an ethical traveler’s itinerary.
“Would you want people stopping outside of your front door every day, or maybe twice a day, snapping a few pictures of you and making some observations about your lifestyle?†asked David Fennell, a professor of tourism and environment at Brock University.
Proponents of slum tourism disagree.
“Tourism is one of the few ways that you or I are ever going to understand what poverty means,†said Harold Goodwin, director of the International Center for Responsible Tourism.
The crucial question, experts say, is not whether slum tours should exist but how they are conducted.
“Do they limit the excursions to small groups, interacting respectfully with residents? Or do they travel in buses, snapping photos from the windows as if on safari?†says The Times.
Many tour organizers are sensitive to charges of exploitation. Some encourage — and in at least one case require — participants to play an active role in helping residents.
By most accounts, slum tourism began in Brazil 16 years ago, when a young man named Marcelo Armstrong took a few tourists into Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela, or shantytown.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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