Promoting Favela Storytelling in the Tourist Visitation: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Slum tourism mainly occurs in urban areas of develo** countries, in spaces devoid of urban infrastructure. Slums are the result of rampant capitalism, inadequate urban planning, and a lack of investment in essential public services. The desires of tourists to slums converge around the most tangible experiences: smells, sounds, and labyrinthian streets and slum environments. Also, tourists search for overnight stays in the slums of South Africa, Namibia, and Rio de Janeiro, although this is not a general rule in other parts of the world. The experience provided by slum tourism relates to the representation of slums in literature, films, and video games. This preliminary approach aims to evaluate the role of favela storytelling as an antecedent in the slum tourism experience, namely, on other constructs such as favela attributes, sensorial attraction, ghetto excitement, and cultural experience. A range of practical implications is provided for favela tourism managers, marketers, and favela-guided tours, namely, on the importance on the training the storytelling skill by the stakeholders. The new vogue of favela tourism forces us to challenge and revisit the power relationships that exist within contemporary tourism and the host–guest relationship. Regarding methodology, our study is an exploratory approach that will present a conceptual model based on previous studies. Future studies should make it possible to measure causality relationships through structural equation models. As an interdisciplinary approach, this research contributes positively to the development of theory in relationship marketing and tourism contexts in favela management (theoretical implications). At the end, guidelines for future work will be presented.