Slum tourism is a controversial pastime rising in popularity on a global scale. Known as ‘slumming’, it has been practised since Victorian times. In recent years, slum tourism occurs in more and more cities of the Global South. Township tourism across South Africa, favela tourism in Rio de Janeiro and slum tourism in Mumbai have grown to mass tourism dimensions.

This volume provides a collection of studies that shed light on the geographies of inequality in slum tourism from historical, sociological, political and anthropological perspectives. By connecting slum tourism to debates over the ethics and aesthetics of travel, volunteering, second homes and cross border mobility, the chapters provide ample ground for an understanding of slum tourism as transversal terrain in which questions of global equity come to the fore.

Based on unique and in depth research from across the globe, the collection forms an indispensable resource for scholars and students of tourism and the geographies of inequality as well as those interested in questions of representation and tourist experience.

This book was published as a special issue of Tourism Geographies.