Travel Guides

Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995, after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, and is one of the many urban areas in the world that combines great wealth with desperate poverty. Although Mumbai’s economy is growing year after year, over 50% of its population still live in slums, which is one of the highest percentages in the world. Alongside grand old colonial buildings and beautiful temples and mosques are smart new offices, industrial factories and vibrant markets, and the streets and roads are heavily crowded for much of the day, creating a chaotic, noisy atmosphere (it feels like all 14 million inhabitants are constantly on the move at once). Emissions are barely regulated throughout much of India, and the levels of pollution in Mumbai (especially in the hot, humid summer) will surprise and dismay many visitors. However, despite all of its faults this city has a lot to offer tourists, and is undeniably an energetic, exciting and friendly place.

Slum Tourism is a relatively new phenomenon, and has been widely criticised in the media for exploiting those living on and below the poverty line, and has been deemed ‘voyeurism’ rather that tourism. Some media types are calling this form of excursion ‘poorism‘, as it involves taking tours of some of the world’s most poverty stricken communities, and is said to have begun about 15 years ago in Brazil, when the company Favela Tour began to give guided tours around Rio De Janeiro’s largest and poorest shantytown or ‘favela’.