Press Coverage

QUOTES - PRESS OVERVIEW - INTERNATIONAL PRESS
- NATIONAL PRESS - BLOGS

Quotes

"Immediately we are in another world. Tiny streets wind like tunnels through buildings packed so close together you can hear the sounds of two televisions competing with each other from houses on either side of the street. Blasts of air hit you from either side: hot air from a bakery, cool air from someone's fan."

-The Independent (UK)

"Insightful tours of Dharavi are run by Reality Tours and Travel."

-Lonely Planet

"Far from being the exploitative experiences I'd anticipated, they opened up a world that I felt privileged to enter- one which allowed me to make a brief but meaningful connection with the locals and, in turn, their country."

- Condé Nast Traveller

"The sledgehammer smells - animal hides, burning plastic, paraffin - were periodically sweetened by the miraculous waft of freshly baked bread. The density of humanity, far from being oppressive, was exhilarating."

"In four hours no one begged from me; no one asked: 'Where from sir?' No one tried to sell me miniature backgammon sets or take me to his brother's 'good price' shop. Nor did anyone question or visibly resent my presence. In truth, they were busy and I was irrelevant."

"The brilliant thing about the Dharavi tour was that it showed the poverty and populousness of India in a positive light."

"The tours are conducted with exemplary sensitivity, and the co-operation of the residents."

-The Daily Telegraph (UK)

"It seemed to me that the purpose of the tour was not to generate pity, but understanding."

-Smithsonian Magazine (USA)

"Reality Tours and Travel operate compelling trips out of Dharavi."

-Rough Guides

"Looks like a win-win situation so far."

-Mid Day

"As these guides have a good rapport with the locals and industry owners here, they also get positive response from them."

-Afternoon

Press Overview

Please find below articles, blogs, discussions which we have managed to find on the web about the company and the tours.

If you do a search on the internet, you will find a lot of the articles listed below

It does not include articles which we do not know about or have been unable to retrieve off the internet.

We have included articles which have been critical about the tours. We are happy to defend our position regarding the accusation "poverty tourism"- a phrase which some of the media have decided to use. Our position is expressed in some of the articles below and also in the FAQs. Where we believe we have been significantly misquoted or misinterpreted, we have included some clarifying comments.

International Press

BBC News- 18 April 2006
This article relates to their program "World Business Report", aired by BBC World.
Please scroll half way down page to get report on Dharavi and the company

The Independent (UK)- 25 July 2006

The Daily Telegraph (UK)- 14 October 2006
See bottom of page 2 to page 5 for write up of slum tour

Mingpao (Hong Kong)- 10 January 2007
This article is in Chinese.

Smithsonian Magazine (USA)- March 2007

Podster.de (audio)- 3 March 2007 /
Fair Unterwegs (text) - 24 May 2007 (Germany)
This report covers a tour in March. It's in German.

Asahi Shimbun- English Edition (Japan)- 21 March 2007

Marketplace Radio (USA)- 19 June 2007
This report (text/audio) covers a tour that some American students did in March 2007.

Condé Nast Traveller- November 2007

The Economist- December 2007
This article does not mention specifically our tours but talks about Dharavi and what makes it such an interesting place.

The Daily Telegraph (UK)- 25 February 2008
See end of article for write up about our tour.

New York Times (USA)- 9 March 2008
The article looks a slum tourism worldwide as a growing phenomenon. Click on discussion forum to read other readers' views about the topic

National Press

Mid Day- 18 June 2006
We do not intend to take tourists around the Bhandup slum, as the article says

DNA- 19 August 2006

Afternoon- 24 August 2006

Times Now- 28 August 2006
This article relates to a report aired by the TV channel with a subsequent live debate involving one of the owners of our company Krishna, and the two tourists that went on the tour. We felt that the programme took a very biased view, saying that we were showcasing the poverty in Dharavi- they were very reluctant to acknowledge and discuss the positive sides of the tour such as highlighting the industry, destroying some people's negative view about Dharavi and the benefit to NGOs.

The article states that this has been a good money making machine for the "so-called" tourist company. On the programme they quoted one of the owners Chris saying that there was lots of money to be made from the tours, although they were unable to name the source of the quote. The programme seemed unwilling to mention that we donate 80% of our profits after tax to NGOs- fair enough to question this but to ignore it and say that we were profiting from the tours was disappointing.

The programme interviewed some slum-dwellers who said that they were angry that we were showing their poverty. When we speak to the residents and explain what we are doing, we get a very positive reaction. We doubt whether the TV company gave the residents that they interviewed a full picture about the objectives of the tour.

The Week- 14 October 2006
Scroll down to Saturday 14 October to see article

DNA- 5 February 2007
The first page says that the page cannot be found but scroll down to see the article.
We believe that the people interviewed in the story were probably not given the full facts about the intentions of the tour- to show the industry and hard-workingness of the residents. We certainly have not spoken to any of them.

Hindustan Times- 25 June 2007
This article talks about the Community and Education Centre that we set up in May 2007.

Mumbai Express- 26 August 07
This article also talks about the Community and Education Centre.

Blogs, Travel Forums etc

TravelBlog- January 2006
Please scroll to bottom of page to get report on Dharavi and the company.

IndiaMike Travel Forum- 31 May 2006
This discussion forum discusses the pros and cons of the slum tours.

Metroblogging Mumbai- 30 August 2006
This contains an article about our slum tours from "The Economist" and then there is a discussion about its pros and cons.

MagePs Lab- 12 May 2007
One person's account of the tour, with photos.

Travel Blog- 7 Dec 2007
Two people's account of the tour.

Bhanno, Dhanno and Teja- 9 Dec 2007
One person's account of the tour.