Slum tourism is a type of tourism that involves visiting impoverished areas, which has become increasingly prominent in several developing countries like India, Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia The concept began in poor sections of London and by 1884 had started in Manhattan.

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of the word "slumming" to 1884. In London, people visited "slum" neighborhoods such as Whitechapel or Shoreditch in order to observe life in this situation. In 1884 the concept moved to New York City to the Bowery and the Five Points area of the Lower East Side where people visited to see "how the other half lives."

In the 1980s in South Africa "township tours" were organised to educate local governments on how the black population lived. It then attracted international tourists that wanted to learn more about apartheid.

In the mid-1990s, however, international tours began to be organized in the most disadvantaged areas of developing nations, often known as slums. They have grown in popularity, and are now often run and advertised by professional companies. In Cape Town, South Africa, for example, upwards of 300,000 tourists visit the city each year for such purposes.