A travel influencer was destroyed online after documenting her “slums tour” in Mumbai, India, on social media.
In 2024, influencers are vital to the traveling industry as 70% of brands reported working with them. Unfortunately, there are instances where travel influencers are accused of exploiting communities for their own betterment.
She visited the Mumbai slums last year
Tara (@tarkatims) is an influencer who boasts over 14k followers on TikTok and a further 17k on Instagram. She primarily posts content around her travels, which over the last few years has seen her fly to Mexico City, Nepal, India, and Egypt.
At the end of 2023, Tara found herself in India where she posted content about street food, her favorite outfits, and her visit to the iconic Taj Mahal.
In one of her videos, Tara said one of her favorite parts was visiting the slums, which sparked the comment: “Your favorite thing was a tour of the slums? Interesting. It sounds like it would be exploitative but I’m looking forward to your follow-up video.”
Tara addressed concerns in a follow-up video where she revealed that she’d seen the listing on Airbnb, which is controversial enough without actually going on the tour.
Tara shared a range of footage from the tour whilst also revealing that her guide wanted to “break the stigma” around growing up in the slums.
Shockingly, she is not the only travel influencer to have enjoyed a day out in the slums, many of whom shared footage on TikTok.
The influencer was attacked for her slums tour
As you might expect, Tara’s video sparked massive pushback in her comment section. Very few comments were positive, with one even branding her “evil.”
One person wrote: “Is slum supposed to be your aesthetic or something? Bruh.”
“Using the world SLUMS tour is NOT going to help break the stigma,” another said, as a third added, “You saying the money from these “tours” go bck to the ppl but their poverty is not your entertainment go give that money in a better way please.”
