Tourism Review International, Vol. 18, pp. 237–252 1544-2721/15 $60.00 + .00 Printed in the USA. All rights reserved. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3727/154427215X14230549904017 Copyright © 2015 Cognizant Comm. Corp. E-ISSN 1943-4421 www.cognizantcommunication.com SLUM TOURISM: STATE OF THE ART FABIAN FRENZEL,*† KO KOENS,†‡ MALTE STEINBRINK,†§ AND CHRISTIAN M. ROGERSON† *School of Management, University of Leicester, UK †School of Tourism & Hospitality, University of Johannesburg, South Africa ‡Academy of Hotel and Facility Management, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands §Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, University of Osnabrück, Germany This article provides a view on the state-of-the-art literature on slum tourism. It points to the rapid growth of slum tourism research in recent years and highlights the main avenues that research has thus far explored in areas such as slum tourism history, slum tourist subjectivity, resident perspec- tives, slum tourism operations, economics, and mobilities. With the advent of slum tourism the rela- tionship of poverty and tourism has changed. Tourism is no longer only a means to fight poverty, but poverty is an attraction of tourism. This has consequences for the relationship of slum tourism to other forms of tourism where poverty functions as an attraction, like volunteer or developmental tourism. The article identifies research gaps as well as avenues for further research. Key words: Slum tourism; State of the art; Poverty alleviation; Mobilities; Development Introduction increased in the past 20 years, so has the number of tourists taking part in slum tourism. Recent esti- Research on slum tourism has evolved signifi- mates by the authors point to an annual number of cantly in the last few years and this is reflected in over 1 million slum tourists. Most of these tourists the appearance of an ever-growing number of stud- will go on 2–3-hour-long guided tours in slums and ies, the publication of edited collections and spe- 80% will do so in just two destinations: the town- cial issues, as well as the formation of a research ships of South Africa and the favelas of Brazil network that has held two international conferences (Fig. 1). Within these destinations South Africa has in the last 4 years. The growing research area is dis- township tours across nearly all the country’s larg- tinctly interdisciplinary, much like tourism studies est cities and towns, while favela tourism in Brazil in general. One reason for the expansion is, quite is mainly concentrated in Rio de Janeiro. simply, the overall growth of slum tourism as a Slum tourism is thus a mass tourism phenome- real-world activity. As the number of locations has non occurring only in few destinations and a niche Address correspondence to Fabian Frenzel, School of Management, University of Leicester, Ken Edwards Building, Room 329, University Road, Leicester, UK LE1 7RH. E-mail: [email protected] 237 Delivered by Ingenta to: NHTV Breda University of Professional Education IP: 194.171.178.174 On: Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:03:55 Article(s) and/or figure(s) cannot be used for resale. Please use proper citation format when citing this article including the DOI, publisher reference, volume number and page location. 238 FRENZEL ET AL. Figure 1. Expansion of slum tourism. form of tourism in a growing number of other des- Senegal and took part in a tour of a poor neigh- tinations. The growth of destinations as well as borhood there. And a volunteer tourist from the the spreading of the phenomenon is a fascinating Netherlands, who had participated in a township area of research. The routes of the traveling con- tour in Cape Town has developed the concept of cept of slum tourism are still to be explored. The the first slum tour in Kampala, Uganda as part of connections that exist between operators have been his job for an NGO. There are many more of these discussed only to a limited extent in the literature individual connections. One of the key operators in (Dyson, 2012; Freire-Medeiros, 2013; Meschkank, favela tourism in the favela “Complexo Alemao” 2011; Steinbrink, Frenzel, & Koens, 2012). Such had worked in coastal tourism in Bahia, before work has shown that one of the founders of slum sensing the opportunity of favela tourism develop- tourism operations in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum had ment after the cable car was built in Alemao (see been inspired by tours in which he took part in Rio LeBaron in this issue). Tourism operators in slum de Janeiro. More recently he has acted as consul- tourism destinations in southern Africa tend to tant to the development of a slum tourism opera- take inspiration from South African township tour- tor in Manila. Also, one of the first operators of ism. The concept of slum tourism is now floating favela tourism was inspired when he had visited freely as an option for tourism development across Delivered by Ingenta to: NHTV Breda University of Professional Education IP: 194.171.178.174 On: Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:03:55 Article(s) and/or figure(s) cannot be used for resale. Please use proper citation format when citing this article including the DOI, publisher reference, volume number and page location. SLUM TOURISM 239 countries. Within South Africa even in small towns Rio de Janeiro results from upcoming mega-events and cities township tours of one sort or another (Steinbrink, 2014). are organized. This “viral” spread of slum tourism The expansion of slum tourism and slum tourism is not restricted to the Global South, as homeless research also has to do with the nature of research. tours have developed across destinations in North- Previous reviews of the literature pointed to the ern Europe, adapted and changed to fit different overlaps that exist with other forms of tourism destinations (Burgold, 2014). (Frenzel & Koens, 2012; Steinbrink et al., 2012). A key role in this expansion is played by policy. Accordingly, certain practices can be described In the most frequently visited destinations—South both as volunteer tourism or slum tourism, while Africa and Rio de Janeiro—policy has promoted and they could also be labeled as dark tourism or as supported the expansion of slum tourism for social developmental tourism. The tendency of tourism and developmental ends and to aid the improvement academics to create niches notwithstanding, differ- of security. South African tourism policy and plan- ent empirical trends seem to converge over the rela- ning for townships started in the early postapartheid tionship of poverty and tourism. This relationship years. Key locations of the antiapartheid struggle, is no longer restricted to the effects tourism may like the area of Vilakazi Street in Soweto, saw the have on poverty, but equally concerns the reflec- creation of museums and the development of dif- tion of poverty as an attraction, a theme of tourism ferent sites of political heritage. Township tourism (Frenzel, 2013). development has been quickly seized upon as an In this article we chart the state of the art of slum opportunity of the white-owned mainstream tour- tourism research. First we address the research on ism industry, and policy has attempted to counter slum tourism’s history. The relationships between this trend to ensure benefits from this tourism are contemporary forms of slum tourism and histori- actually felt in the community. In the run up of the cal slumming are multiple and much can be learned 2010 FIFA World Cup, large-scale investment went from the long-lasting legacy of slum tourism as a into the creation and organization of new township social practice. Following this historical discus- tourism offerings like Bed and Breakfasts and new sion, we reflect research on the slum tourist, taking heritage routes (Naidoo, 2010). in the motivations and gazes that drive contempo- In Rio de Janeiro favela tourism has been part rary slum tourists. Slum tourists experience needs of urban tourism planning for over a decade with to be produced and the increasingly professionally plans for museums of the favela in Providencia operating slum tour operators and the principles (Menezes, 2012). With the Rio Top tour, inaugu- of their operations are still not broadly studied, rated as part and parcel of the pacification of the as our review shows. Pertinent to slum tourism favela Santa Marta, tourism development has also operations are the overall economics of the pursuit. been supported in the training of guides and the cre- This extends to slum tourism’s moral justification ation of promotional material and web pages where with regards to the question of who benefits from different tourism offerings are integrated. The most its development. While there is little evidence for ambitious tourism-related policy instrument, per- significant effects in purely monetary terms, some haps, has been the construction of the aforemen- attention has been placed on attempting to model tioned cable car to the favela Complexo Alemao. the symbolic valorization and its effects in slum This cable car has increased tourist numbers in the tourism. This includes the view of slum tourists as complexo, from zero to several thousand in just a cocreators of the destination as well as the observ- couple of years. The cable car was never meant to able role of slum tourism in some destinations in be a tourism attraction only, but tourism was part gentrification processes. An area long overlooked of the strategy to make the investment viable. Rio in the study of slum tourism is resident perceptions, de Janeiro followed the example of Medellin in although more research is starting to emerge. In the Colombia (Hernandez-Garcia, 2013). In the mean- last section we discuss new perspectives on slum time, two more cable cars are in construction in tourism, derived from a reflection on the mobili- Rocihna and Providencia favelas.