Abstract

Slum tourism is an emergent tourism practice, which has recently gained an increased academic attention. This project explores the slum tourism enactment from a perspective of the producers of the slum tourism experience, through a comparative analysis of previous case studies in the slum, Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya and present case study in poverty stricken areas of the Philippines. This project is concerned with social science, where the researcher through qualitative research seeks to understand slum tourism in context-specific setting of poverty stricken areas in the Philippines, through an exploratory approach, and following the centrals of grounded theory. The present case study in the Philippines entails research on the slum tour operator, Smokey Mountain Tours (SMT), conducting tours in the slum, Smokey Mountain, on two social enterprises, Mabuhay Restop and Futkalero, operating in poverty stricken areas, and lastly, data from a police escort to the original Smokey Mountain slum. The Philippines has not yet been researched in slum tourism, thus this paper fills this research gab in literature. The contemporary literature remains limited and consists of overgeneralization and ambiguous understandings of slum tourism. In media, slum tourism has been regarded a controversial pastime, and is heavily debated based on stereotypes. This paper problematizes the current understandings of slum tourism, its terminology and practice, and critically discusses the paradoxes and silences. This paper studies new perspectives and patterns of slum tourism; it identifies that slum tourism comprises of different organizations, working in different settings but share similar moral imperative to provide an educational experience for the tourists and social impacts for the poor. This paper encourages slum visits, however stresses the importance of being accompanied by someone who can mediate between the visitor and resident.