The influencer was criticised for promoting slum tours. Photo / 123rf
The influencer was criticised for promoting slum tours. Photo / 123rf
A young American influencer has faced harsh public criticism for a TikTok video promoting a ‘Slum Tour’ she took in Mumbai, India.
Tara Katims, 24, regularly posts videos of her life and travels but one video has gained particular attention and not the good kind.
Katims was travelling India when she visited Dharavi, a residential area in Mumbai, commonly described as one of the world’s largest ‘slums’ with a population of 1 million people.
In a video, Katims said she found the tour on Airbnb and said she was “so glad” she went despite feeling “so nervous”.
According to the Airbnb listing, the ‘Dharavi slum tour’ costs 6 euros ($10.80) and is run by Jitendra, who claims to have run tours for more than 1000 people in the area.
Having grown up in Dharavi, Jitendra is passionate about offering tours that challenge stereotypes about these communities, Katims said in her video, which has more than 386,000 views.
“His motivation behind starting these tours was to help break the stigma that comes with growing up in the slums. People can be denied jobs after growing up in the slums”, she said.
Profits from the tour, which is rated 4.98 stars on Airbnb, are “reinvested back into the community”.
According to the listing, visitors are shown around the largest slum in India, beginning in the working district and moving through to the residential area while being told about locals’ everyday lives and social issues.
“We would love to give you an educational insight of the area, by visiting different neighbourhoods and discussing everyday life and social issues of the locals,” the listing states.
Katims said she also learnt about “the NGOs and organisations that are going in there to try to help it”.
The slum tour was the opposite of ‘touristy’ and Katims said people who preferred those kinds of experiences wouldn’t appreciate the tour.
People can “easily come to India and only see the beautiful parts, the reality is, this is how most people in Mumbai live” she said.
The video was originally posted in December but has resurfaced following recent criticism, with some accusing Katims of spreading misinformation.
“Absolutely not how ‘most’ of the people in Mumbai live,” one person commented, adding that Dharavi was large but still a fraction of Mumbai and Katims should “at least try to be accurate.”
Another said the claim was the “furthest away from reality”.
Others pushed back against the entire concept of a ‘slum tour’, claiming it was insensitive and akin to “promoting poverty”.
“This is so tone deaf! Those are people living normal lives and you think it’s a good idea to walk around their home and have the audacity to call it ‘slum tour’,” one person commented.
A woman from Mumai said Indians also take these tours, adding that the communities benefit by showcasing their “thriving” industries.
Several people pointed out that, no matter what Katims did, she would be judged.
“I live in Cape Town & people CONSTANTLY criticise tourists for not acknowledging the reality and ‘other side’ of the city, but also lose their marbles when tourists do,” one person shared, asking what the alternative was.
“It’s never a bad thing to learn about things like this,” one person wrote, adding that pretending like these places didn’t exist would be the truly ‘tone deaf’ thing.
“This is much better than going to a touristy area and being blind to the reality of developing nations,” someone seconded.
Tour operators have long offered guided visits to Dharavi, Mumbai's biggest slum. Photo / iStock
Are slum tours okay?
‘Slum tours’ have long been the subject of controversy but have been India’s most popular tourist attraction as recently as 2019, according to The Telegraph.
Recent research estimates one million tourists visit slums, favelas (in South America) or poor townships every year.
As critics of Katims’ video pointed out, the possible merits of such experience aside, the word ‘slum’ should be retired.
The UN defines a slum as “one or a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area, lacking in one or more of the following five amenities”. The amenities are durable and permanent housing, sufficient living area (no more than three people sharing a room), reasonable access to improved water, reasonable access to sanitation and secure tenure.
However, the term has accumulated derogatory connotations over the decades. As a result, experts such as Australian academic Alan Mayne, author of the book Slums: The History of a Global Injustice, recommend no longer using it.
It entirely depends on how you approach it and the type of tour you take, according to Fabian Frenzel, a professor from the Oxford School of Hospitality Management, and expert on slum tourism.
Many tours or guides simply exploit a vulnerable community to satisfy tourists’ curiosity (or assuage their guilt about holidaying in a destination with poverty) and make a quick buck. Many of these will also claim to give back to the community without any intention of doing so.
However, Frenzel argues there is a way people can visit these communities and empower local people socially and financially. The key lies in first checking why you want to have this experience. If it’s simply to look and photograph people like you’re at a human zoo, then post about it on social media, then stick to conventional tourist attractions.
However, if you want to learn more about these unique communities and their way of life and provide financial support here it’s needed, search for legitimate organisations that can prove they benefit the community. Hint: it will likely cost more than $10.
