Slum Tourism

I've railed before against slum tourism, but I guess it's time to do it again.

The best part about this article about slum tourism around the world is the question the Times asks its readers, "Is taking a tour of a slum or other poverty-stricken area voyeurism or tourism? Um, both. Isn't tourism inherently voyeurism, at least when in the developing world? That's not a general slam on tourism, just a seemingly obvious statement.

But very little good comes out of this slum tourism. At the very best, local people will sell tourists a few trinkets. OK, whatever. But most people going on these tours are going to observe poverty on a superficial level. They might go back and tell their friends about it but they aren't really going to do anything. The article argues that poverty isn't going away if we don't talk about it. That's true but exploiting that poverty for profit isn't going to make it go away either. It's really pretty disgusting.

The article ends with this:

Mr. Fennell, the professor of tourism in Ontario, wonders whether the relatively minuscule tourist revenue can make a difference. “If you’re so concerned about helping these people, then write a check,” he said.

Yep. Your first-world banking account has much more potential to help people than buying a trinket from a hawker. If you want to fight poverty, awesome. But this exploitative slum tours are a new low in the dark history of tourism.