In this month’s issue, we launch Travel Dilemma, a new occasional column presenting a controversial travel topic for consideration and discussion. This month our writer Paul VanDeCarr went on a walking tour of a Mumbai slum. What he found blew away our images of these poor areas (which for instance generate over $650 million in economic activity).
Before we assigned and published this story though we discussed whether the pros such as learning the stories of a marginalized community outweighed the cons including privileged Westerners seeming to exploit a developing society. We found his column enlightening and informative, giving us a newfound respect for a part of the city which we would have previously ignored or pitied.
Learn more, discuss
- Read his piece in last month’s issue. Subscribe here.
- Exploitative? Enlightening? Empowering? Immoral? Discuss! We’d love to know what you think. Join the discussion via the comments below or on Facebook.
- Read more about slum tourism.
Photo credit: Dharavi cricket photo by Andreas Grosse-Halbuer
The LGBTQ Travel Expert. Educator. Speaker. Author. 