Follow Christiane on social media:
What time is Amanpour on CNN?
Check showtimes to see when Amanpour is on CNN where you are. Or watch online.
On vacation, poverty is the new luxury
By Lucky Gold, CNN
“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” – the long-awaited biopic of the life of Nelson Mandela – opened last week to glowing reviews in New York and Los Angeles.
It is opening this week in London, and has already has broken the box office record in Mandela's homeland of South Africa.
It was sixteen years in the making; so much in the rainbow nation has changed that filmmakers had to find new locations for iconic sites like the infamous shanty-town of Soweto, where middle-class housing and shopping malls have replaced many of the dusty streets where Mandela once walked.
Now imagine a world where you can experience the old Soweto – complete with central heating, optional breakfast and Wi-Fi.
Emoya Luxury Hotel and Spa – a five-star game resort some 250 miles from the real Soweto – is offering a safe and sanitized shanty town experience for its wealthy tourist trade.
Forget Disneyworld – you and your family can walk manicured dirt roads, past colorful shacks made of corrugated tin, with outdoor toilets and open fires and even roaming animals, and you can still bed down in comfort in your all-electric hovel.
It's called poverty tourism, or “poorism,” and it's not unique to South Africa.
In Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai walking tours of some of the world's largest slums are a popular draw.
Callous exploitation, or consciousness-raising?
One thing's for sure: poverty is the new luxury.
@camanpour on Twitter
You dont need pay this expansive hotel, just give a little love to the poor people and you'll feel how they live!
Throughout this great pattern of things you actually receive a B- just for hard work. Where you lost everybody was first in your facts. As they say, the devil is in the details... And it could not be much more true here. Having said that, permit me say to you what did work. Your writing is certainly incredibly engaging and this is most likely the reason why I am making an effort in order to comment. I do not make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, while I can certainly see a leaps in logic you make, I am not necessarily convinced of how you seem to connect the details which in turn help to make your conclusion. For the moment I shall subscribe to your position but hope in the near future you connect your facts better.
http://soundcloudshop.livejournal.com