<b>Exploring the Socioeconomic Viability of Slum Tourism in sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study in Lusaka, Zambia</b>

While slums are integral to urban fabrics in the Global South, they also present concerns to city planning, evoking questions of voyeurism, stigmatisation and power. Tangible publications on slums and slum tourism (ST) are primarily centred on Asia and present generic narratives of impoverished urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper adopts a mixed method to explore the viability of slums as valuable urban tourism assets in Kalingalinga, Zambia and introduces a conceptual framework to facilitate its practical application. The study further investigates relationships between ST and socioeconomic dimensions of health care service quality, education resources, economic stability and social integration, using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings revealed ST's unique position in enhancing visibility and sustainability of slum resources and advances ST as a novel lens to navigate power dynamics and interdependencies among slum inhabitants, policy makers and tourists. The paper also unveils STs positive correlation with three slum socioeconomic factors and the proposed framework extends the debate on agency and legitimacy of slum spaces, contributing to knowledge on slum, questioning representation and the exclusion of dwellers voices in shaping tourism narratives.