Attitudes towards slum tourism in Mumbai, India: analysis of positive and negative impacts

Abstract

Tourism has grown exponentially in the 21st century and continues to be one of the rapidly growing industries in the world in terms of revenue generation and employment opportunities. It covers not only travel services and boarding-lodging activities but a wide range of independent but related sectors like transport, accommodation, food and beverage, and entertainment, among others. Modern tourism is diversified and includes several odd types of tourism, like slum tourism, dark tourism, and sex tourism. This paper analyzes the case of slum tourism to Dharavi, India’s commercial capital and largest city as well as the benefits and disadvantages that such kind of tourism has. It also attempts to understand the opinion of the common people and slum dwellers on slum tourism, while observing if the ten principles of the “Global Code of Ethics for Tourism” (GCET) have been fulfilled in the country. The results show that overall, the principles of GCET are fulfilled but much is still left to be done. On the other side, most of the slum residents accept slum tourism as a reality that brings more benefits than damage to their living environment and are of the opinion that tourism brings prosperity to them and to the country.