Abstract
Since 2012, there has been a significant growth in tourism in inner city Johannesburg. Some of this tourism materialises as walking tours in disadvantaged and relatively poor inner city neighbourhoods, some of which were until recently considered no-go areas. In a paper published in Urban Forum in 2014 (Frenzel 2014), I have analysed this new phenomenon in the context of slum tourism. I define slum tourism as such forms of tourism where poverty and associated signifiers become central themes and (part of the) attraction of the visited destination. Following a broad empirical research project, Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017) have questioned whether the concept slum tourism should be used when discussing tourism in inner city Johannesburg. This paper forms a response to the paper of Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017).
Highlights
In their recent paper BDoes it look like a slum? Walking Tours in the Johannesburg Inner City^, Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017) present findings from their research on inner city tourism in South Africa’s largest city that I observed and first discussed in Urban Forum in 2014 in a paper titled: BSlum Tourism and Urban Regeneration: Touring Inner Johannesburg^ (Frenzel 2014)
My paper charted the emergence of new inner city tourism in Johannesburg in the context of urban regeneration and I focused on three tour operators in particular, asking about their intentions, the impact of their activities and the potential role of tourism in
Hoogendoorn and Giddy suggest, more critically, that by placing inner city Johannesburg tourism within the rubric of slum tourism, my paper might be contributing to territorial stigma and advancing urban marginality for these areas, and, inter alia, might be undoing the work attempted by tour guides
Summary
In their recent paper BDoes it look like a slum? Walking Tours in the Johannesburg Inner City^, Hoogendoorn and Giddy (2017) present findings from their research on inner city tourism in South Africa’s largest city that I observed and first discussed in Urban Forum in 2014 in a paper titled: BSlum Tourism and Urban Regeneration: Touring Inner Johannesburg^ (Frenzel 2014). The overall numbers of visitors has increased and the nature of some of the new tours seems to differ from the ones I observed in 2014 This changed situation makes the research effort by Hoogendoorn and Giddy very timely. Hoogendoorn and Giddy suggest, more critically, that by placing inner city Johannesburg tourism within the rubric of slum tourism, my paper might be contributing to territorial stigma and advancing urban marginality for these areas, and, inter alia, might be undoing the work attempted by tour guides. A third point of critique concerns my claim, that the slum tourism initiatives I observed in inner city Johannesburg may be better able to prevent displacement of residents in the urban regeneration process than public and private sector initiatives, mainly because they value the existing urban fabric.
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