Favela virtual tour: Alternative mobilities in favela tourism during COVID-19 pandemic

Authors: dos Santos Moraes, C.M., De La Vega, B., Frenzel, F., Rega, I. and Mainard-Sardon, J.

Pages: 126-137

ISBN: 9781032124292

DOI: 10.4324/9781003224518-10

Abstract:

A few elected favelas in Rio de Janeiro have become a tourist attraction. In the 2000s, the State recognized these neighbourhoods as tourist spots and encouraged the presentation and touristification of favelas in the historical, social, and economic context of mega-events attracting investments to these areas. Consultants, analysts, and technicians were hired to carry out studies on the tourist potential of favelas and train their residents to work in tourism. However, since 2016, a series of economic and political crises in Rio have unfolded and caused a sharp reduction in the number of tourists, as well as in investment in these areas. With the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the situation got worse and tourism projects in favelas were completely paralysed. In this context, a group of researchers based in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and in the United Kingdom, in partnership with favela residents, have initiated the project Lockdown Stories. The project intends to evaluate the impact of the pandemic in favela tourism and to produce virtual tours as a strategy of impact mitigation with the aim of keeping favelas within the global tourist flow, albeit virtually. In this sense, this chapter describes four virtual tours carried out in Rio’s favelas in 2020 and analyses what should be done to convert favela tourism into virtual attractions and how favelas were virtually reinvented.

Source: Scopus