![]() ![]() The findings highlight how poverty tourism has become a double-edged sword for people living in slum areas. “Issues like inadequate sanitation – a topic which has been deeply politicised in recent years in South Africa – are too often glossed over, and the need for radical social and infrastructural change is invisible from their Tripadvisor reviews.” ![]() “It now forms part of an ever-growing ‘alternative’ tourism industry, which includes practices like ‘ecotourism’ as well as ‘voluntourism’ – a popular gap-year activity for young travellers from the global north.”īut she warned: “While township tours, if operated by local residents, may potentially offer certain economic benefits for these communities, we found that tourists’ reviews lead to a skewed representation of poverty and its causes, certainly in South African townships. “Over recent years, slum tourism has thrived across the world, fuelled by a growth in international travel, rapid urbanisation, and of course deepening levels of global inequality,” said lead researcher Dr Monique Huysamen, from the department of psychology at Bath. Writing in the journal Geoforum, the researchers suggest that this can lead to an unhealthy reframing of the debate about urban poverty. Overall, the majority of reviews represented residents as satisfied with their circumstances, with several reviewers remarking that they thought the children in the townships had better lives than those from privileged backgrounds. ![]() Only two observed that the vast majority of residents lived without toilets or running water inside their homes. However, the depictions often obscured the inequalities between poor residents and wealthy tourists.Īcross 452 Tripadvisor reviews only four remarked on water, sanitation or sewerage. Truly amazing people” “There are hardworking people in the township who are making life better for themselves.” But everyone here has hope and aspirations of getting a house and work. Typical responses included: “We learned so much, and it was wonderful to be in the community, to experience the friendship, the solidarity – to see a new future being built” “The level of poverty that these people live in is unbelievable. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |