Sick of seeing historical monuments, parks, religious sites, markets, aesthetic scenery, and other "normal" tourist attractions when traveling to the global south, then why not go on a slum tour? These tours allow visitors to get a feel for the real conditions of how the majority of people live, but from afar and in safety. "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 a taste of locality." (See the New York Times, The Guardian)
But these tours raise questions about ethics. What is the responsibility of the tourist to the locals it views...almost like animals in a zoo. Who profits? Certainly not the locals themselves, even though it is their homes that are being toured, but rather the tourist agencies. It seems like another way to make a spectacle out of the impoverished. After all, who would want their home being turned into a zoo?
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