Slum tourism: factores positivos y negativos. Aproximaciones al caso de un barrio popular en la ciudad de Medellín- Colombia/ universidad nacional de Colombia

Tourism has become an important engine and source of economic development and social transformation, constituting one of the sectors with the major contributing cause to the GDP of the most visited cities and countries, so new trends increasingly emerge according to the visitor preferences. Among these are listed adventure, cultural, ecotourism, and community-based tourism. The latter, which occurs especially in urban areas, generally depressed, architecturally, culturally, or socially transformed, has an impact on its inhabitants, both positive and negative. On the one hand, it makes it possible to increase income through services and the sale of goods such as food and souvenirs, but it can also have negative effects due to the increase in leases, rents, utilities and/or the discomfort caused by noise and high visitors’ traffic. This paper aims to identify the main impacts of the development of communitybased tourism in the Comuna 13 of Medellín and describe the perception of tourists, traders, local community leaders, and residents of this neighborhood. Although tourism in this area of the city has increased exponentially, state involvement is necessary to establish controls that make tourist activity more sustainable, but it is also important to highlight the awareness on tourists’ end regarding the negative effects they can cause in the territories visited.