Favela Tours

Once a place that visitors to Rio de Janeiro approached with apprehension, the city's favelas have become attractions that draw tour groups. Even so, touring them is still framed as a departure from ordinary sightseeing, a detour for travellers seeking something unfamiliar.

This study examines what has led to the rise of tourism in these communities and why they hold such appeal. It focuses on the ideas of difference and authenticity that visitors, mainly from Western Europe and North America, attach to the favelas.

Drawing on ethnographic research with guides, local residents and tourists, the author traces how forces operating locally and globally have combined to bring favelas into Western tourism. In this account, the tours serve as a way of producing otherness and then absorbing it into the tourist experience.