By Aisha Gawad
January 7, 2010
Slumdog Millionaire was a cute movie and all, but it left a rather disturbing phenomenon in its wake - slum tourism. It seems as if wealthy people are no longer content with visiting the Taj Mahal; now they have to see the “real” India. Apparently, the real India lies in the slums of Dharavi, and luckily for those white folks, the slum tourism business is booming there.
According to the ”Reality Tours and Travel” website (where “reality” is the new euphemism for dirt poor, apparently), “We do more traditional sightseeing tours, which can be combined with the slum tour in one action packed day on our slum and sightseeing tour!” I’ve never heard anyone so excited for slum life before.
But the trend is catching on past the slums of India and the favelas of Brazil and spreading all the way from Egypt to Los Angeles.
In Egypt, where tourism generates more than $10 billion in annual revenue, tourists used to content themselves to the comforts of Sharm el-Sheikh and the wonders of the Giza Pyramids. But maybe they drove past the fellaheen on the way and felt a teensy weensy bit guilty. You mean real Egyptians don’t live inside gold-encrusted pyramids? Now, the guilt of the white man can be assuaged by authentic, gen-u-ine Bedouin tours!
According to an NPR Feature, more groups are now offering tours of the Bedouin regions of Egypt and marketing it as “eco-tourism.” Watch as little desert boy rides a camel! Look at that nomad woman weaving a basket! See the tribal men in their long robes!
And in Los Angeles, one group is taking “reality tourism” to a whole new level. L.A. Gang Tours, which opened this month, charges $65 per adult to ride around the hood of South Central, Los Angeles. During the tour, guests can buy t-shirts and then watch as a graffiti tagger marks it on the spot. According to an article in the LA Times, organizers floated the idea of having kids shoot at the tourists with water guns and then selling shirts that said: “I Got Shot in South-Central.” Realizing that perhaps this gimmick was completely insane, they abandoned the idea.
Of course, most of these groups claim noble motives. L.A. Gang Tours is a non-profit with the mission “to create jobs for the residents of South Central, Los Angeles; to give profits from the tours back to these areas for economic growth and development,” according to its website. In Egypt, Bedouins can receive income by serving as guides and the same holds true for residents of slums in India and Brazil as well.
But I just can’t get over the concept of rich people trying to ease their consciences by leaving their plush hotels and “slumming it” for an hour or two during their 10-day vacation. So you see what it’s really like to live in a developing nation or a poverty-stricken neighborhood - what next? Do you go back home and feel better because at least you saw what other tourists did not? Do you do anything about it? Do you organize or advocate for the people whose homes and lives you gawked at? Do you even think about it again? Yes, you probably do - as you’re showing the photos from your digital camera to friends back home.
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