Reasons for Poverty Tourism, Its Advantages and Disadvantages - Coursework Example

Poverty Tourism Introduction Poverty tourism is another word for slum tourism where individuals have organized tours to be taking people to visit the various slums in Africa, India and even Brazil which have the most famous slums in the world. Some of the most common slums include the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, Soweto in South Africa, Rio Favela in Brazil and the one Dharavi in India among many others (Robertson, 2012). Slums are urban areas that are overpopulated and those residents live in abject poverty and at the center of social ills not commonly found in other places. It is a clear depiction of the social stratification in these countries and which raises the curiosity of many people. The tour guides for such places have taken the advantage of people’s curiosity to see slums and organized tours to take them and charge them for the experience. The people on the slums however benefit minimally or in most cases do not benefit in any way at all from these visits by other people and mostly the white. The slum tourism has raised ethical issues and debates among many humanitarians as it is seen to break many ethical principles and move contrary to the ethical theories, a move that will be discussed in detail below. It is these ethical debates that bring the question of whether slum tourism is ethically acceptable or not. Reasons for poverty tourism According to the research by Hanrahan (2013), poverty tourism is becoming a lucrative business because of the influx of people seeking to view how the other half live. This curiosity is driven by the need to make them feel good or better about their current lives and they can only possibly do that if they view the miserable lives people in slums lead. The individuals feeling guilty about leading extravagant lifestyles or parents of children who want to show them how different life is and how lucky they are the most common customers of these poverty tours around the world. Whether this serves their purpose or fulfills their internal well-being and make them better people in society is yet to be known or researched about. When documentaries about slums come up in the media stations, the interests of many people is naturally piqued at how these people lead their lives and other even want to experience it while others just want to have a glimpse of it to believe that it is actually true. What results after this is an influx in poverty tourism with many white people being the majority aiming to see it for them to believe. A perfect example of this is the previous two world cup games which were hosted in South Africa and Brazil and which saw an influx of people seeking accommodation in the slums of Soweto and Favera (Robertson, 2012). This is not only for lack of accommodation but curiosity as to how they can live. The other reason for the increase in poverty tourism with organize tourist buses and tour guides such as the Reality Tours and Travel for Dharavi in India (Melik, 2012) or Favela Tour in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (Weiner, 2008) is for people to have a comparison of the slum people’s culture with their cultures. This is a perfect example of the virtue ethics where people are seeing promotion of the slum culture and in the process find a way to realize the potential for human lives (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). The poverty tourists get to make great comparisons of their culture and that of the slum people and this enables them make sense of some of the actions they see that is different from that of their own cultures. Research carried out on many of the tour operators in these slums indicates that the companies are in business just like any other business carried out in cities and seems legitimate enough. They are generating a lot of profits from providing the tours to the foreigners and curious individuals and they get an opportunity to even document these though photos (Hanrahan, 2013). Since they are not operating illegally, the governments of these countries and especially the local government must be allowing them to conduct this business which is lucrative and hence is aware of what is going on without dissuading it from taking place (Frenzel, Koens & Steinbrink, 2012). Many of these tour companies have been in business for years now and they are only adding to their profit and expanding their tour buses (Robertson, 2012). Advantages The basic principle behind care ethics that is caring about people who are vulnerable or those in need of support through caring them or supporting forming relationships with those who want to support them or are caring towards them (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). This is the ethical theory that those involved in the poverty tourism business use to justify their business and benefiting from the slums. They see their business as a way to support the slum people who are disadvantaged through taking to them people individuals interested in their lives as well as those who are supporting and caring towards the lifestyle they live in. This is somehow beneficial but to only a few who get lucky enough to be sponsored or get monetary gains from these tourists. People running these tour companies are in business as mentioned above just like any other business ethical issues involved or not. Not all of them are involved in charity work and especially those which have just started and are out to make profit. The owners of these businesses have simply taken advantage of the rising demand to visit these slums by tourists and have started the business to meet it (Hanrahan, 2013). In their bid to gain monetary returns, they create employment to others and majorly to some of the slum dwellers as tour guides or even drivers to the tour buses. It is this creation of employment as well as getting profits that is seen to be an advantage of this poverty tourism. Many of the tours services actually benefit the slum community by giving back to them through charities and this is the reason they have been in this business for long time. They use their profits from the tours to start projects such as the one started by Reality Tours and Travel in Mumbai of running the community centres and kindergartens or the non-profit company in Kibera for the children projects (Robertson, 2012). These are just a few examples of the way these tour companies and poverty tourism is benefiting the local people. There are other tour companies that require the tourists to aid in preparing food and clean water for the slum individuals before the tour and take it to them such as one in Mexico (Weiner, 2008). Disadvantages One of the ethical disadvantages of this poverty tourism is the encouragement and support of egoism. Egoism according to MacKinnon & Fiala, (2015) is taking an action that satisfies one’s desire, meets an individual’s need as well as promotes self-interests through their actions. This ethical theory perfectly explains the working of a capitalist society where people are purely individualistic and catering only towards their own self-interests without thinking about how their actions will affect others negatively or even positively. The tourists and business men taking and conducting these tours are in the process of benefiting their own self-interests and satisfying their desire to see how the other half lives or even justify their lives as better. All these are done at the expense of the slum people that are unlucky to be rich. The other greatest disadvantage and which is the sole conclusion in the debate on slum tourism is the fact that it leads to exploitation which is an ethical indication of lack of justice to the slum people over their privacy and lives (Robertson, 2012). The people in the slums form the bottom level of the social ladder and hence suffer from not having enough to even cater for their own basic needs. What they need is assistance to leave the abject poverty and not infrequent charities that only serve the purpose at the moment with no long time assistance being provided. The tour companies are making enormous profits and all at the expense of the slum dwellers whose privacy and problems are shown to the world to ridicule and mock. Utilitarianism is all about seeking the greatest amount of pleasure for a large group of people as possible. This is ethical theory is however abused with the onset and continual exploitation of the slum dwellers through the influx of the tour companies and tourists wanting to see and document their lives but not doing much to alleviate it for the long term. There is lack of any pleasure on the locals with the increase in tourists snapping photos at their miserable lives and using expensive cameras and dressed expensively. The slum is a vast area and hence it will take a lot more to elicit great pleasure for all those people or at least majority of them if only a few tourists and tour buses services are providing assistance to the people while the majority are only for aesthetic value to them. Every human being no matter their social class or current economic status deserves respect and autonomy. The autonomy is based on giving them a chance to make decisions about their lives, what they would like and would not like among other decision making abilities concerning them (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2015). Many of the slum dwellers were not provided with the chance to make decisions about whether they would like their lives to be put on the open to be studied or provide tourist attraction and hobby. Their respect as human beings is not considered and in fact they are treated similar to prehistorically artefacts or animals in a park or zoo where people go to view them and take photos. They need to be consulted before any of this tourism continues. Ethical acceptability When it comes to thinking whether the above discussion on poverty tourism is ethically acceptable or not, considerations of the basic ethical principles and theories such as the ones discussed above need to be considered. Are these ethical theories and principles being up held or abused by this type of tourism? Do the slum dwellers feel their respect, justice or autonomy is being violated more than they are benefiting? Are they getting more pleasure and support from these businesses more than they are suffering from them? These need to be examined in addition to the aspect of decision making the slum dwellers are allowed to have over this kind of tourism. If there are more negatives than positives or if the positives are majorly short term and hence for only short periods of time, then this slum tourism is not ethically acceptable (Frenzel, Koens & Steinbrink, 2012). The other most important consideration for ethical acceptability is on the level of respect being accorded to those living in slums. There are obvious benefits discussed about the presence of poverty tourisms within these slums but do they surpass the treatment of the people with respect and as humans rather than animals? This business creates more psychological harm to the slum dwellers that are dehumanized by making them a tourist attraction. This harm is not only for a few but the majority of the people as majority are the ones who are not benefitting from the businesses. As discussed above, the charities the tour companies have concentrated on are for the children in lower level of education while the rest continue suffering. Conclusion If the disadvantages of the poverty tourism surpass its advantages, then the conclusion is that there is lack of ethical acceptability over it and it should be reduced and eventually completely eliminated. If there is any slum tourism to be done, it should be after the lives of the majority these people has been improved or is headed towards improvement and people are coming to identify and appreciate the effort and the new projects and not the people (Frenzel, Koens & Steinbrink, 2012). This is the only way to eliminate the unethical principles and practices discussed above. Reference Frenzel, F., Koens, K. & Steinbrink, M. (2012). Slum Tourism: Poverty, Power and Ethics. New Jersey: Routledge. Hanrahan, M. (2013, May 8). Slum Tourism: Shanty Town Tours In Brazil, India, South Africa Give Travelers Glimpse At Poverty; Raise Ethical Questions. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/slum-tourism-brazil- india-south-africa_n_3237489.html MacKinnon, B. & Fiala, A. (2015). Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, Concise Edition. New York: Cengage Learning. Melik, J. (2012, September 24). Slum tourism: Patronising or social enlightenment? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-19546792 Robertson, L. (2012, March 7). Do “slum tours” profit off the poor? BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20120307-ethical-traveller-do-slum-tours-profit-off- the-poor Weiner, E. (2008, March 9). Slum Visits: Tourism or Voyeurism? The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/travel/09heads.html?_r=0 Read More