Ghetto Tours: Thoughts?

I work in the tourism industry and have noticed a ton of Europeans who have an interest in visiting hoods (mostly Germans, Dutch, Swedes, and Poles). I have even had some Asian tourists ask me about it.

It's gotten to the point where I'm legitimately considering opening up hood tours. Basically, foreign tourists would pay me to drive them around safely and I would have some contacts so they could get out and visit a corner store etc. or periodically take pictures.

I would start in Oakland (I work in the Bay Area tourism industry) but could see expanding to places like Philly, LA, Chicago, Detroit, NYC (places where foreigners are likely to go or be within a day trip of like Gary or Trenton).

So to foreigners: Would you do a hood tour if you visited America? If so which city?

And to Americans: Would you do a hood tour? Maybe you never saw your cities ghettos or drug dens but have always been curious. Or maybe you want to check out new ghettos but don't know a safe way to go about it.

I have a lot of experience with hoods having lived in a bunch of cities and I could totally set this up I think.

I'm afraid of a PR blowback though. I can imagine some people would not be too happy about a bunch of European tourists taking pictures of American ghettos through bus windows.

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  1. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    For a similar business idea check out township tours in South Africa, taking tourists to ghettos.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I will check it out. I've heard of slum tours in other countries

      It's like quantum mechanics really: the act of tourists observing the hood rats on a regular basis will alter the hood to the extend it won't be real™ anymore.

      I'd pay for a genuine tour of the ghettos if I were rich but I'm not so I'd just drive through and get shot to get the real american experience.

      How so? The hood isn't going to disappear because people drive through it. Do you think a tour bus driving through a druggie tent zone is going to make druggies disappear?

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Not him but, at the very least it's a curated experience compared to idk walking into a shit neighborhood alone so its not the same thing, but more broadly, the presence of foreign tourists dropping cash in the neighborhood contributes to gentrification of the place so it will become less ghetto over time.

        I think there's already a market for this in Oakland, you could have a whole day itinerary or a few hours, go to some sites like where the Black Panthers started, where the Ghost Ship warehouse fire happened, maybe take them to a taqueria in the hood for lunch then check out some famous places for street art and talk to people in local businesses in the ghetto like barbers and car shops. End the day with some lotto tickets and malt liquor from your favorite store.

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    It's like quantum mechanics really: the act of tourists observing the hood rats on a regular basis will alter the hood to the extend it won't be real™ anymore.

    I'd pay for a genuine tour of the ghettos if I were rich but I'm not so I'd just drive through and get shot to get the real american experience.

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    black guy from the hood here

    If it's your dream to do it, try it. I'd maybe keep an expense for an armed security guard escort, however. Police looking uniform. Could be yourself if you feel so inclined.
    Try to do daytime hours only to start off. Nights are WAY more risky.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I think when they get out that we will need private security for sure. One or two should do it.

      And I think night will be fine too maybe we'll make less stops. But a tour bus is unlikely to be targeted.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Yup. I had a guy tried to rob me at a gas store and only thing that saved my ass was the cashier took his double barreled shotgun out and aimed it at his head lol. We were both very suprised. I was leaving and he heard the commotion of me getting knocked down. Thank God.

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Euros are fricking stupid lmao

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Don't blame us for being fascinated by third worlders

  5. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Boston has some cool fricking ghettos near Chinatown. Bring a skateboard!!!

  6. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    >So to foreigners: Would you do a hood tour if you visited America?
    absolutely
    you need to guarantee my safety
    bonus points if im allowed to shoot at the local wildlife

    >If so which city?
    Baltimore, because i really liked the wire

  7. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Take them to the ghetto but have a contact teach them how to pack a blunt.

  8. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Lmao I love every single thing about this. Godspeed OP I so badly hope you are serious and do it. Please, please record it all for posterity. You should also play pranks on them like leave some Chinese tourists at a particularly dangerous corner for a few hours, just as a prank bro they will love it. But seriously, this is an amazing idea

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Send some niglets to try and sell them their rap cds

  9. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    The difference between the slum tours one can find in developing countries and this idea, and I think it’s a critical one, is that extant slum tours are conducted by people from and with connections to these slums. They usually include visits to various charities or community organizations that actually interact with locals in positive ways.

    If you’re just a random outsider tourist white guy dragging foreigners around in a sealed, armed SUV to look at poor people as if they were zoo animals, you’re going to piss people off.

    If you’re black and from West Oakland and can make friendly introductions to local businesses or people who get something out of it? Viable business idea. If you’re just coming from Alameda to show people how shitty West Oakland is? Enjoy getting chased out and/or shot sooner or later, and you’ll deserve it.

  10. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Romanian here. I have travelled to Tondo Manila, berlin kreuzberg, dubai pajeet ghettos, sham shui po in hk, druggie town in istanbul etc. You get to see a raw "real" part of the city that's not designed for tourists and looking good, experience their life and also the adrenaline of going around somewhere like that. It's like poorgay safari

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I think Tondo is the only one of those that I'd be scared in.

  11. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Hungarian here. I wouldn't ever do this with security or some random white guy pretending they know the area. You better ask your own customers on what they want, cause they clearly have a different idea.

  12. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I lived in Detroit for a couple of months. As long you don't stop the vehicle for anything you can drive through the ghetto no problem. I would never stop or get out of a car though. If you are talking about walking through the ghettos, then good luck. You might as well sign then up for life insurance first

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Nobody is going to mug you if you're normal looking, tall, and or jacked (so long as you're not a manlet). Ghettos are not dangerous if you're minding your own business. You guys are like a bunch of nerds in high school that think that everything and everything can hurt them. Of course it's different if you're a woman.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        >Ghettos are not dangerous if you're minding your own business
        Yeah, most of the time, I would agree. Sometimes it's difficult to mind your own business. In one gas station there was a guy so jacked on something he was trying to fight everyone in there, another time this 50yr old black man wanted to fight because I was white and was using "black" transportation. I did wander around the nicer ghettos without much issue though

  13. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    might be viable, if they government is still getting rid of MRAPs for cheap

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      nah, get a 1996 dodge caravan, like Kendrick Lamar, looks understated and would add to the experience, plus any more than about 4 odd Europeans would definitely draw attention.
      96 Caravan's aren't expensive, I'd find one from some type of geezer (if fricking possible) and make sure it's got an engine that is in good condition and running well, because not many chrystlers from the 90s are really on the street today for one reason or another and the brand reputation for longevity especially around the late 90s to the mid 2000s was dodgy. I'm honestly unfamiliar with the 3.3/3.8 platform that they worked with but it seems to have been used in quite a few vehicles. Whatever you do make sure it isn't a fricking van with a tour company advertising banner on the side, that'd be the sort of tacky shit that would draw media attention.
      I'd keep it on the down low, advertise on travelling sites with a edgy slant and keep a low profile as far as the frequency of tours, or at the very least make sure you aren't making a tourist trap in the middle of Compton at one or two particular food spots
      I.E.

      Not him but, at the very least it's a curated experience compared to idk walking into a shit neighborhood alone so its not the same thing, but more broadly, the presence of foreign tourists dropping cash in the neighborhood contributes to gentrification of the place so it will become less ghetto over time.

      I think there's already a market for this in Oakland, you could have a whole day itinerary or a few hours, go to some sites like where the Black Panthers started, where the Ghost Ship warehouse fire happened, maybe take them to a taqueria in the hood for lunch then check out some famous places for street art and talk to people in local businesses in the ghetto like barbers and car shops. End the day with some lotto tickets and malt liquor from your favorite store.

  14. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    The American pavement ape safari experience.

  15. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Fingay here. Yeah i'm interested in rust belt ghettos. Detroit and Flint, Michigan; Camden, New Jersey; East St. Louis with Chicago, Illinois; and Gary, Indiana in particular. Maybe a little Memphis, Tennessee from the south.

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