Rio de Janeiro has recently become a new tourist destination, where visitors no longer come only for classic monuments such as Christ the Redeemer or the Sugar Loaf cable car, but also for a unique experience in the city’s largest favela, Rocinha, writes Euronews. The new attraction, named “Heaven’s Gate Terrace”, involves climbing onto the roofs of the favela to be filmed with a drone, which captures an impressive panorama that combines the expanses of the favela with the city’s luxurious coastline.
This experience, which has gone viral on social networks, is only accessible through a guided tour organized by the local company “Na Favela Turismo”, founded by Renan Monteiro. The tour includes traversing the narrow alleys of the favela, meeting local artists and performing capoeira, providing an authentic and safe perspective on life in the community.
The initiative also responds to security concerns, after in 2017 a Spanish tourist was shot during a conflict between police and traffickers. To protect tourists, the company has developed a mobile application that allows guides and the community to communicate in real time about possible police operations, to postpone or cancel tours.
Critics accuse that this trend would “romanticize poverty” and idealize an environment controlled by traffickers, but Monteiro claims that the goal is precisely to change the negative perceptions and prejudices related to the favela.
For Romania, this phenomenon brings into discussion how tourism can influence the perception of disadvantaged areas and the importance of responsible tourism, which supports local communities without exploiting them. Also, the example of faves in Brazil highlights the need for safety measures and collaboration between the authorities and tourist operators, a relevant aspect for areas with security problems in Romania or other European countries.
This article is an English translation and adaptation of the original Romanian article on Lista Scurtă. Read the Romanian version.
