Can slum tourism be done right? Eric Weiner says yes

I believe that if the aim of this kind of tourism is to educate, then it could be quite progressive. Also if money was going straight to the community that is being affected by this kind of tourism, then I can see a positive side to that as well. However, both of those things are easier said then done. Hopefully the education aspect is taught to spark inspiration for change and to teach people that the causes of people living in poverty is not that simple. Also, by donating to the community, someone must make sure that the money is equally distributed or so it reaches the community in the best way possible. This is very hard to do because sometimes people get blinded by money and it ends up going to the wrong people for the wrong reasons.
Nevertheless, I don’t think slum tourism is impossible to do sustainabley, but they should also change the name (just doesn’t sound right to call it that).
I believe it was Nelson Mandela that said, “everything seems impossible…until it is done.”

I’ve seen this go disastrously wrong with Japanese tour groups – they travel through India on the pretense of “slum tourism” and actually panhandle for people who don’t recognize them as Japanese.

I agree, this type of tourism can be either exploitative or incredible informative and instrumental in building bridges of understanding. It all depends on how it is done. If it’s simply leading tourists around poverty-stricken slums to gawk at their plight, that’s not good. If, however, the locals are involved in leading it, showing visitors their own communities and work, participating in their own tourism, then I think it can be a wonderful thing.

There is a nonprofit organization that I profile in my book, called Salaam Baalak Trust. It was started by filmmaker Mira Nair (The Namesake, Vanity Fair) with proceeds from her movie Salaam Bombay, about street kids. SBT assists kids who are living in the streets or railway stations, and they run “City Walks” in which these very kids are the “tour guides.” It’s a really phenomenal thing.

I once took a tour of Dharavi, the slum in Mumbai where much of Slumdog Millionaire was filmed, by tour guide Deepa Krishnan of Mumbai Magic. I wrote about it here:
http://weightofsilence.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/the-slums-of-mumbai/

It was a really amazing experience, and Deepa talked at length about how many visitors to India see only the tale of two cities: Poor India and Rich India. But Dharavi could show them a third India, Deepa maintained – the India of the hard-working poor, who had hopes and dreams.