Tag Archives: global development

Provide input on Guardian.co.uk Global Development Podcast

This month’s Global development podcast will look at the ethics and economics of travel to developing countries and ask what tourism can contribute to local development.

For the current episode they are asking for questions that people would like to ask to be put to their panellists for the podcast. For this episode the first panellist is Tricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern, a UK charity with a mandate to fight exploitation in the global tourism industry. The second panellist is Jonathan Mitchell, co-author of Tourism and Poverty Reduction: Pathways to Prosperity and research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), where he leads the institute’s work on tourism. The podcast is presented by Madeleine Bunting.

One of the topics that are mentioned on this matter is slum tourism and its ethics. Some questions that may be discussed are: What can explain the boom in “ethical tourism”? What role can tourism play in economic development? Can travel to developing countries do more harm than good? And how (if at all) can tourism be made to work for the world’s poorest people?

This is a good way to ask some questions or pose an idea to these experts in their field. If you have any questions or comments that relate to these matters or touch upon different elements of slum tourism, or would like to hear from certain people on the topic, let them know by commenting on their website. Most current comments are on voluntourism so it would be good to get more ideas on slum tourism on there as well. The podcast is recorded coming Thursday (28 April) so please be quick.

If you have any problems posting, or if you would prefer to comment anonymously, you can email the Guardian at development@guardian.co.uk and they will add your thoughts to the debate.