Slum' tour operator bags global award
Himanshi Dhawan
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Madrid
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Does poverty sell?
Ask one-time waiter Krishna Pujari. On Wednesday night, Mumbai-based Pujari's Reality Tours and Travels was honoured by the global travel body for running a sustainable tourism business while contributing to the community .Reality tours received the “Tourism for Tomorrow“ award instituted by the World Travel and Tourism Council for its controversial slum tourism, “showcasing“ Asia's largest slum Dharavi for tourists.
The tour, which has completed 10 years, has a Delhi edition in Okhla's Sanjay Colony . An ecstatic Pujari said, “This was a totally unexpected win. We faced so much hostility when we started. But thanks to the people of Dharavi, their spirit, we have been able to do so much.“
Reality Tours runs a school, youth empowerment and vocational training classes and boasts of 2500 beneficiaries in Dharavi where 80% of the company's profits go. Films like Slumdog Millionaire haven't hurt either and business is doing well with over 18000 tourists taking the “slum tour“ in a year. But Pujari has come in for criticism from several quarters for “marketing poverty“.
Ask one-time waiter Krishna Pujari. On Wednesday night, Mumbai-based Pujari's Reality Tours and Travels was honoured by the global travel body for running a sustainable tourism business while contributing to the community .Reality tours received the “Tourism for Tomorrow“ award instituted by the World Travel and Tourism Council for its controversial slum tourism, “showcasing“ Asia's largest slum Dharavi for tourists.
The tour, which has completed 10 years, has a Delhi edition in Okhla's Sanjay Colony . An ecstatic Pujari said, “This was a totally unexpected win. We faced so much hostility when we started. But thanks to the people of Dharavi, their spirit, we have been able to do so much.“
Reality Tours runs a school, youth empowerment and vocational training classes and boasts of 2500 beneficiaries in Dharavi where 80% of the company's profits go. Films like Slumdog Millionaire haven't hurt either and business is doing well with over 18000 tourists taking the “slum tour“ in a year. But Pujari has come in for criticism from several quarters for “marketing poverty“.
