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Journal of Heritage Tourism
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjht20
The spatial narratives and representation of
slavery and colonial heritage on guided tours in
Amsterdam
Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong & Simone Berg
To cite this article: Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong & Simone Berg (06 Aug 2024): The spatial
narratives and representation of slavery and colonial heritage on guided tours in Amsterdam,
Journal of Heritage Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/1743873X.2024.2382483
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2024.2382483
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Published online: 06 Aug 2024.
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The spatial narratives and representation of slavery and colonial
heritage on guided tours in Amsterdam
Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong
a,b
and Simone Berg
a
a
Cultural Geography Chair Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands;
b
School of
Tourism and Hospitality Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg,
Johannesburg, South Africa
ABSTRACT
Amidst increasing societal discussion on slavery and colonial heritage,
tourism has emerged as a potential avenue to address such concerns.
Yet, tourism and tour guiding suers from a paradox. On the one hand,
tourism narratives can form a part of an oppressive strategy in colonial
approaches against socially excluded and marginalised groups while on
the other hand, tourism can oer counter-narratives with progressive
potential in transforming mindsets and enlarging perspectives. This
article explores these conceptual issues in the context of guided city
tours in Amsterdam utilising a qualitative case study design involving
participant observation and interviews. We identify the spatial narratives
tour guides use to (re)present slavery and colonial heritage, and the
factors shaping these narratives. We make two main contributions to the
literature. Firstly, we identify how the need for positive atmosphere and
good vibes are central to the extent to which tour guides are willing to
engage tourists with slavery and colonial narratives in the city. Secondly,
we oer a spatial mapping of slavery and colonial heritage narratives
oered on tours through Amsterdam. Our study therefore contributes to
evidencing how tourism, and tour guides hold transformative potential
in dealing with slavery and heritage in an European urban setting.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 15 April 2024
Accepted 16 July 2024
KEYWORDS
Amsterdam; colonial
heritage; guided tours;
slavery heritage; spatial
narratives; tour guides
Introduction
Tourism is a potential worldmaking force and tour guides in particular play a key role in shaping
the socio-cultural imaginary of people, places and events. Within guided tours, both the narrative
and the performance of tour guides have a significant inuence on the creation of meaningful
experiences for tourists. However, tourism and tour guiding suer from a paradox and their world-
making potential is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, tourism is seen as a significant element
in oppressive strategy in colonial approaches against socially excluded and marginalised groups
(Chambers & Buzinde, 2015). On the other hand, tourism has long been recognised for the pro-
gressive potential in transforming mindsets and enlarging perspectives (Hollinshead et al., 2009;
Reisinger, 2013; Sheldon, 2020). Thus while tourism and tour guiding has the potential to make
visible ignored aspects of the world, they can also be used to actively erase the histories and heritage
of other people, times and places through narrative absences and caricatured imaginaries. This
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this
article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
CONTACT Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong emmanuel.adu-ampong@wur.nl
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM
https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2024.2382483
paradox is particularly relevant in the context of the spatial representation of slavery and colonial
heritage within tourism.
A large number of studies in the extant literature has focused on slavery and colonial heritage
tourism in formerly colonised spaces of Africa (Araujo, 2010; Teye & Timothy, 2004; Yankholmes
& McKercher, 2015), settler colonies of American plantations (Alderman et al., 2016: Buzinde &
Santos, 2009; Small, 2013) and in the Caribbean (Best, 2017; Jordan & Jollie, 2013). Relatively
few studies have focused on the colonising spaces of Europe (Beech, 2001; Casbeard, 2010) although
this is changing with recent emerging work such as Boukhris (2017), Adu-Ampong (2023) and
Knox (2024). Amidst increasing societal discussion about dealing with the slavery and colonial heri-
tage in European countries, there is a need for more research on the role played by tourism in this
worldmaking process. This explorative study uses the case of tours in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
to identify how slavery and colonial heritage is represented by tour guides and the factors that shape
these narratives.
We make two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, we identify how the need for positive
atmosphere and good vibes inuences the extent to which tour guides are willing to engage tourists
with slavery and colonial narratives in the city. Secondly, we oer a spatial mapping of slavery and
colonial heritage narratives oered on tours through Amsterdam. Our study therefore contributes
to evidencing how tourism, and tour guides hold transformative potential in dealing with slavery
and heritage in a European urban setting. In the sections that follow, we first review the literature
on slavery and colonial heritage tourism before moving on to the research methods. Next we pre-
sent the key findings followed by a discussion section and then we draw some conclusions.
Tour guides, spatial narratives and the representation of slavery and colonial
heritage
The (re)presentation of heritage sites through tourism is an important factor in shaping tourist
experience and satisfaction. Tour guides play a major role in how heritage is presented and what
tourists learn. Outside of visitor centres and museums, guided walking tours and tour guides in par-
ticular are the most significant mechanism of cultural education for heritage (Mak et al., 2011).
Tour guides are a significant inuence in shaping tourists’ visit from being just a sightseeing
tour to becoming a memorable experience (Hansen & Mossberg, 2017). This is done through
the use of their communication and service skills and their knowledge and interpretation of a des-
tination’s sites and local culture (Ap & Wong, 2001). Tour guides have a choice in which narratives
to (not) tell, which locations in the city to (not) show and which specific historical events to (not)
recount at which stop and to which depth (Ababneh, 2017). The choices made by tour guides are
inuenced by several factors such as: the ocial company position or national level governmental
policies (Long & Reeves, 2009); the guides’ own sense of identity and connection to the heritage in
question (Lim & Aylett, 2007); the composition and perceived interests of the tourists (Io & Hallo,
2012; Wong, 2013) and; the desire to entertain and educate tourists (Potter, 2016). While a combi-
nation of these factors is always at play, the need to create a positive atmosphere for tourist satis-
faction tends to an overarching consideration for tour guides (Hansen & Mossberg, 2017).
Tourism at heritage sites can therefore be prone to historical errors when a positive atmosphere
for tourist satisfaction becomes the ultimate goal. Particularly in the context of slavery and colonial
heritage, the quest for a positive atmosphere means glossing over themes that confront visitors with
uncomfortable aspects of the past. This is because atmosphere, as an aective feeling of how we
experience a space or place, is ephemeral. Consequently, tourism’s (re)presentation of slavery
and colonial heritage is often fraught with tensions and contradictions (Buzinde & Santos, 2009;
Small, 2013). Tour guides play an important role in sustaining and/or subverting tourism’s narra-
tives that exclude and/or gloss over aspects of enslavement and colonialism (Alderman et al., 2016;
Hanna, 2016; Potter, 2016).
2 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
As Gandy (2017, p. 357) explains, ‘atmospheres are both experienced and created: they encom-
pass extant features of emotional and material life as well as its staging or manipulation.’ In the con-
text of such staging, Zhang and Pearce (2016) have shown how guides use jokes to control the
atmosphere of a tour and hence stories that do not easily lend themselves to humour can be glossed
over. Thus in staging certain narratives in a given space, tour guides make a choice as to which
atmosphere to create and can therefore choose (not) to confront visitors with elements of the
past that can challenge dominant perceptions of the spatial narratives.
Spatial narratives, following the work of Azaryahu and Foote (2008) and Ryan et al. (2016), have
come to be seen as how space becomes a narrative medium for the (re)telling of historical events
across time. Applying this idea of spatial narratives, Hanna (2016) and Hanna et al. (2019) have
detailed the selective process through which the routes, stories and museum exhibits of guided
tours are spatially arranged in the context of former slave plantations in the American South. Insights
from these studies calls for paying attention to the when, where and how tour guides construct nar-
ratives about the past in a given space and the experiences of visitors thereof. The construction of
spatial narratives according to Azaryahu and Foote (2008, pp. 183–184) tend to follow strategies
based on the spatial and temporal scale of specific events: (1) narratives positioned at single points
or places; (2) narratives arranged as linear or sequential paths, routes or trails; (3) narratives depicting
complex spatial and temporal sequences over large areas or spanning long time periods and; (4)
hybrid narrative strategies using combinations of the previous types. In this process, tour guides
and site managers make choices as to how to spatially arrange tour routes, the stories to (not) tell
at which sites and how to create an overall aective experience for visitors. Thus, irrespective of
the strategy adopted, the spatial narratives need to be seen as selective elements that are used to create
a given atmosphere for visitor experience – either reinforcing or contesting dominant narratives.
Guided walking tours and tour guides are therefore important ways of evoking aective
responses to spatial narratives as they integrate stories with the material landscapes to activate
the cultural memories that are often rendered invisible (Casbeard, 2010; Foote & Azaryahu,
2007; Knox, 2024). This process has been conceptualised by Adu-Ampong (2023, p. 2) as the embo-
died absence of the past which he defines as
… the awareness of the physical presence yet narrative absence of the shared history, heritage and role of Afri-
can-descent people in European societies … [which] is challenged and activated through tourism encounters
of slavery and colonial traces which trigger an evocation and reconstruction of personal and collective
memories.
The idea of the embodied absence of the past highlights how tourism, and tour guides hold trans-
formative potential in dealing with slavery and heritage either by glossing over these or rendering
them visible for visitors. This is in part accomplished through what Ormond and Vietti (2022) calls
the ‘tools of tourism’ – guided tours, guidebooks and tourism maps – that facilitate opening discur-
sive space for the dicult questions of the absences and presences of the (re)presentation of slavery
and colonial heritage in European urban tours. These tools of tourism which are the basis for gen-
erating the spatial narratives are available in all forms of tours. Yet, studies in this area have tended
to focus on specialised tours which are explicitly focused on counter-mapping and counter spatial
narratives (Adu-Ampong, 2023; Boukhris, 2017; Casbeard, 2010; Knox, 2024). For instance, Adu-
Ampong (2023) focused on the Black Amsterdam Heritage Tour (BHAT) which has the expressed
goal of counter-mapping and counter-narratives that make visible the ‘hidden histories’ of the Afri-
can diaspora, slavery and colonial history of the Netherlands (Adu-Ampong, 2023). Boukhris
(2017) also argues that the establishment of the specialised Le Paris Noir tour was because the tra-
ditional production of tourism narratives in Paris have made invisible the slavery and colonial heri-
tage of the city and in France as a whole. Yet the question remains as to what extent this embodied
absence of the past and counter-narratives are present on general city guided tours.
In the context of increasing memory politics and societal discussion about dealing with the slav-
ery and colonial heritage in European countries, there is need for more research on the role played
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 3
by tourism. The present study focuses on exploring how tour guides on general city tours of
Amsterdam (re)present the spatial narratives of slavery and colonial heritage of the city.
Case study and methods
The choice of Amsterdam, the Netherlands as a case study is based on a lacuna in existing work that are
predominantly focused on slavery and colonial heritage representation in tours in former colonised
country destinations and those on former plantations in the Americas. Relatively few studies have
focused on the spatial narratives of general city tours in the colonising spaces of Europe. In the Nether-
lands, the slavery and colonial past was for a long time kept outside of national historiography
(Nimako, 2012; Wekker, 2016). The seventeenth century in particular is accorded a pride of place
and seen as one of the most important moments in Dutch historiography. This period is seen as
one where Dutch trade, science and arts propelled it to the summit of the global economy of that
time and has come to be known as the ‘Golden Age’. Much of the narrative on this period has focused
on the ‘miraculous’ story of how a ‘small and relatively remote country as the young Republic should
nevertheless have been so advanced politically, economically and culturally’ (Prak, 2005: 2, quoting
Huizinga). Increasingly dissenting voices have emerged to show how this ‘miracle’ of the Dutch
‘Golden Age’ was built on the exploitation of other people, land and resources through slavery and bru-
tal colonialisation. This has created dissonance around the term amidst ongoing public debates in reck-
oning with the past. In this context, this study sought to explore the spatial narratives about slavery and
colonial heritage, particularly in the seventeenth century, (re)presented by tour guides in Amsterdam.
It is in the past 10 years that the urgent calls to address this past have received broad societal
acknowledgement with increased societal discussion on the topic (Adu-Ampong, 2023). There
have been three levels of ocial apologies on this past: the Mayor of Amsterdam on 1 July 2021,
the Dutch Prime Minister in 19 December 2022 and on 1 July 2023 the Dutch King oered his
apologies on behalf of the Royal Family for their role in the slavery and colonial past. Therefore
by focusing on Amsterdam as a capital of a former colonising country, we seek to make a distinct
contribution to the literature. We oer a baseline of the current spatial narratives oered on general
guided tours in the context of changing societal discussion on the slavery and colonial past. Future
research would then be able to trace how tour narratives adapt to include new societal discussions.
Underlined by an exploratory interpretivist approach, this study utilises a qualitative case study
design to explore the representation of slavery and colonial heritage by tour guides in city tours of
Amsterdam. By adopting an interpretivist approach the observational focus was on the behaviour of
tour guides in their work setting, how they interact with the tourists and the narrative they use in enga-
ging with the sites on their tour. The study does not only focus on the narratives presented on the tours,
but also on the meaning behind those stories and the tour guides’ own interpretations and understand-
ings (Mason, 2002). Data collection was conducted by the second author over a period of six weeks
between December, 2022 and January 2023. The main data collection methods utilised were participant
observation of tours and semi-structured interviews with tour guides. The selection of which tours to
study was based on the following criteria: (i) the tours are general city tours about Amsterdam, (ii) the
tours are guided tours, (iii) half of the selected tours are free tours and the other half are paid tours, (iv)
both walking tours and canal boat tours are selected within the paid tours category. These criteria
ensured a broad selection of tours that reects the dierent types of general tours oered in Amsterdam.
After approaching a number of tours that fit the selection criteria, a total of eight guided tour(s)
(guides) agreed to participant observation. Consent for observation and recording of the tour guide
narratives was secured at the start of each tour. During the tour, the tour guide has been observed in
their natural working environment with attention to the tour guides’ narratives, the meaning
behind the narratives and what shapes these narratives. Furthermore, the interaction between
the tour guide and the tourists was also a point of attention, such as the questions asked by the tour-
ists. While attending the tours, the route of the tour and stops where the guides presented their stor-
ies were mapped out with a special interest and focus on the locations and narratives connected to
4 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
the so-called Golden Age. Observational notes were taken during the tour, which were expanded
and detailed at the end of each tour. The tour guide narratives at each stop were recorded and tran-
scribed to form the basis for data analysis (Table 1).
While all tour guides were happy to give consent for the participant observation of their tours, not
all of them were willing to participate in the semi-structured interviews. Consequently, in the end, five
tour guide interviews have been conducted for this explorative study. Semi-structured interviews has
been chosen as this method allows the researcher to listen to the participant, adapt the interview ques-
tions and ask follow-up questions that are based on the specific context and information shared by the
participant (Klandermans & Staggenborg, 2002). The interviews with tour guides were conducted
either on the boat or in a nearby cafe immediately after a guided tour. Interviews were recorded
and subsequently transcribed, and on average lasted for 30 minutes. As part of the informed consent
process, it was agreed to secure the anonymity of tour guides, the tour companies they work for and
the names of the specific tours. Therefore pseudonyms have been used in reporting the research
findings. The table below gives a quick snapshot of the tour guides interviewed Table 2.
Data analysis entailed an iterative process in which an inductive coding approach has been cho-
sen in line with the explorative nature of this research. Data consisted of the fully transcribed inter-
views, participant observation notes and recordings of tour guide narratives on tour. The interview
transcripts were analysed with the use of ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software through a pro-
cess of open, axial and selective coding (Boeije, 2010). During coding the transcripts were read sev-
eral times to identify and annotate important statements in relation to the research questions. After
these coding process, the transcripts were re-read to ensure that codes reect the data and that all
Table 1. Overview of participant observed tours.
Table 2. Overview of interviewed tour guides.
Tour Guide Snapshot biography
Tim (Red tour) Tim is a Dutch young male in his late twenties who is originally from Leiden but has been living in
Amsterdam for 10 years. He has been working as a guide in Amsterdam for about 7 years, first guiding
cycling tours and now guiding ‘free walking tours’
Tess (Blue tour) Tess is a Dutch young female in her late twenties who lives in Beverwijk – a small city close to Amsterdam.
She has been working as a tour guide for only 9 months at the time of the interview
Hannah (Pink
tour)
Hannah is a Portuguese female in her thirties who has been living in Amsterdam for the past 7 years. She has
been working as a guide for 5 years
Lucy (Brown
tour)
Lucy is an Irish female in her early twenties who has been living in Amsterdam for 1.5 years now and for just
as long has been working as a guide
Max (Green tour) Max is a Dutch male in his late thirties who has been living in Amsterdam for his whole life. He has
been working as a guide for two years now
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 5
relevant fragments have been picked up through the coding process. Furthermore, a thematic analy-
sis was also carried out on the notes from participant observation, notes on the tour routes, the
stops involved on the route and a summary of tour guide narratives at each stop. A number of reoc-
curring themes emerged from this process and the exibility of the thematic analysis enabled pat-
terns within the data to be analysed and interpreted (Willig & Rogers, 2017).
Tour itineraries, routes and stops
During the participant observation, it was found that for four of the ‘free walking tours’
(Red, Orange, Yellow and Green tours) there were on average nine sites on the itinerary route
where the guide stopped to tell a story. Out of these nine stops, there were on average two or
three sites where the guide discussed themes related to the seventeenth century, colonialism and/
or slavery. The two ‘paid walking tours’ (Blue and Purple tour) included an average of ten stops
on the route walked. On these tours, the narratives concerning the seventeenth century, colonialism
and/or slavery were told at an average of two or three stops. In addition, the Pink and Brown ‘canal
cruises’ highlighted an average of 14 sites during the boat tour. For these ‘canal cruises’, there were
an average of three stops along the route where themes of the seventeenth century, colonialism and/
or slavery came up. The Pink and Brown ‘canal cruises’ tours are by boat and tend to follow dier-
ent routes with few overlaps, given the many canals in the city centre of Amsterdam. The main
canals used include the Herengracht, Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Golden Bend or Houseboat
alley, and the open harbour. The boats often slowed down whenever significant landmarks and/
or touristic sites were to be highlighted and stories about those places told.
For the ‘free walking tours’ and the ‘paid walking tours’, the stops and storylines for both were
fairly similar, with some few exceptions. The most significant stops that were part of most of the
walking tours are highlighted on the map in Figure 1.
In addition to these major sites, the guided tours always stopped at any of the many dierent
coeeshops found throughout the city centre of Amsterdam. In the Netherlands, coeeshops are
places where cannabis is legally sold and used.
Spatial narratives about the seventeenth century, slavery and colonial heritage
During participant observation, it became clear that all tour guides except Tess (Blue Tour) used the
term ‘Golden Age’ in their narratives about the seventeenth century. The term was used mostly to
refer to the pride associated with the power and wealth the Dutch accrued during this period. Most
of the guides who made use of the term ‘Golden Age’ did so without any further explanation about
the exploitation that sits behind the term and the contentions associated with it. It was only during
the Orange ‘free walking tour’ that the guide while using the term ‘Golden Age’ in reference to the
seventeenth century shortly emphasised that the ‘Golden Age’ also has a dark side that is less posi-
tive. The guide then oered counter-narratives about colonialism and slavery. For the remainder of
this section, we trace the spatial narratives by focusing on some of the key stops on the tour and
assessing the narratives told there.
The Dam Square
Known as the historical heart of the city and the central public square, this was the location for the start
of four out of the six ‘walking tours’ (Red, Yellow, Green and Blue tour). Here, the guides introduces
their tour and lay the foundation for the rest of the tour narratives. As Tess (Blue tour) explained,
I think the Dam is the most important, that’s where it all starts … because that’s where you actually start telling
about the history, the origins of Amsterdam. You know, you start with the basic explanation. Yes you have to
understand that first before you can show the rest.
6 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
The main themes oered at this site included the Royal palace, the Dutch Royal Family, the origins
of Amsterdam, the National monument, the Red-Light district, the New Church building and other
typical Dutch cultural aspects. The seventeenth century was only a small part of the narratives told
at this location but all guides talk about the Royal palace which dates back to the seventeenth cen-
tury and served as the city hall during this time. The guides starting their tour from this location
also briey touched on the growth of Amsterdam during the seventeenth century by mainly high-
lighting the Dutch shipping eet, the trade, and the power and wealth of the Dutch in this period.
Several of the guides pointed out the golden ship on top of the Royal palace, as can be seen in Figure
2, as a symbol to explain about the shipping eet and trade that took place in the seventeenth cen-
tury. However, colonialism or slavery were absent in the narratives told on the Dam Square, except
in the narrative of the Blue tour for which the guide gave a brief introduction on the origins of the
VOC and related this to colonialism.
The VOC headquarters
De Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) – the Dutch East India Company – was established
by the States General of the Dutch Republic in 1602 to protect the state’s trade in the Indian Ocean.
The VOC grew rapidly with a monopoly charter and became the first company to be listed on the
Figure 1. A map of the city centre of Amsterdam showing key stops on the tours (Authors’ own illustration – not drawn to scale).
Notes: (1) The Dam Square: The central square and historic heart of Amsterdam, where the National monument and the New church are located; (2)
Headquarters of the VOC and WIC: The former headquarters of the trading Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company
(WIC); (3) Canals (the major ones within the city centre)): such as the Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht, Oudezijds Voorburgwal, Oudezijds
Achterburgwal; (4) The Begijnhof An inner court that dates back to the Middle Ages and houses Amsterdam’s oldest wooden house, a Protestant and
Catholic church; (5) The Waag: Originally the city gate of Amsterdam; (6) Rembrandt house A museum and the former home of the famous painter
Rembrandt; (7) Anne Frank house: A museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank; (8) Jewish quarter: The neighbourhood that was home
to the Jewish community from the sixteenth century until their persecution during World War II; (9) Beursplein: A square where the national monu-
ment the Beurs van Berlage is located. This monument symbolises the birth of the global stock exchange in Amsterdam.
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 7
newly developed stock exchange in Amsterdam. In the seventeeth and eighteenth century, the VOC
was the world’s largest trade and shipping company with state power to negotiate treaties, wage war,
engage in slave-trading, establish colonies, coin money as well as take and execute prisoners on land
or at sea. This all-encompassing power of the VOC brought significant wealth to the Netherlands.
One of the former VOC headquarters building features as a stop on all on the walking tours.
From the participant observation, it was clear that this VOC headquarters (Figure 3) was the
most important place where stories related to the seventeenth century were told. Four out of the
six ‘walking tour’ guides (Orange, Yellow, Blue and Purple tours) presented their main narrative
related to the seventeenth century at this site which now serves as a University of Amsterdam build-
ing. The narratives of all these guides were completely focused on the themes of wealth and power
of the seventeenth century and no other themes were touched upon. During the observations, it was
noticed that the stories of the Orange and Yellow ‘free walking tour’ guides, who spoke for about
10–15 minutes, were significantly longer than those of the Blue and Purple ‘paid walking tour’
guides, who spoke for only a few minutes. Here, the guide of the Purple ‘paid walking tour’ focused
her story on the VOC’s power and wealth. She explained the size of the shipping eet and empha-
sised that the VOC was the most powerful and richest in the world. She also drew attention to the
fact that many of the people involved in the VOC were Jewish. She indicated in the interview that
she mentioned this because her husband was Jewish. She also talked about the function of the VOC
headquarters in the past and today.
The guide of the Blue ‘paid walking tour’ clearly had a dierent focal point in her story. When
asked what stories connected to the seventeenth century and Golden Age, Tess explained that; ‘Well
in this tour we talked more about the origins of, what it yielded and how the VOC operated a bit and
about the West India Company as well. So I talk about that a little bit.’ She says she mainly talks
Figure 2. The Royal Palace on the Dam Square.
8 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
about the VOC and the West Indies Company (WIC), which was also evident from the obser-
vations. What she did not specifically mention during the interview but became clear during the
observations was that she clearly placed a lot of emphasis in her narrative on the darker side of
this period. She explained about the rise of the VOC, the power and wealth they had and the
fact that although the VOC is called a trading company they actually colonised a lot through pro-
cesses of oppression and murder, and paid very little for spices in the colonies. She then spoke about
the rise of the WIC and the trade in sugar and slaves while emphasising the colonisation of
New York, the Caribbean and Suriname. She concluded her story with the bankruptcy of the
VOC and WIC and emphasised that the colonies remained intact until after the Second World
War. Although her story was fairly short, it was clearly noticeable that she felt it was important
to emphasise the darker side of this past as a counter-narrative to the more dominant ‘wealth
and power’ narrative. During the interview she elaborated on her reasoning for this by noting that:
So I go into a bit of detail but not super deep into the details about what exactly happened back then in Indo-
nesia for example … I think it has to do with several reasons. With the fact that you don’t really have some-
thing you can show. We are in front of the building then, the headquarters of the VOC but I don’t really have
anything else … I personally like to have a visual, something to show. What it looked like or a globe or a pic-
ture, that kind of things. You don’t walk past that … and this isn’t really the tour to go into all that much detail
either. I certainly think it’s an important subject to talk about, which is why I do but I don’t go into super deep
detail because it’s just a casual history tour.
Thus while the guide considers it important to talk about colonialism and slavery, there is hesitation
to go into great depth because she is unable to show something visual beyond the building itself and
the tour is considered as a casual history tour – in contrast to a specialised tour like the Black Heri-
tage Amsterdam Tour.
Figure 3. The former VOC Headquarters.
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 9
The narrative of the Orange and Yellow ‘free walking tour’ guides was a bit longer and diered in
certain aspects. Both guides talked about the rise of the VOC who traded spices such as nutmeg,
cinnamon, clothes and black pepper in Asia. Both guides referred to the large shipping eet and
the power and wealth of the VOC across the world. Only the guide of the Orange ‘free walking
tour’ mentioned that the Dutch colonised a lot, naming some of the many colonies. Furthermore,
both guides explained in detail about the birth of the stock exchange and the high financial divi-
dends that were distributed. The guides mentioned how all these developments led to an enormous
growth of Amsterdam and brought much wealth to the city. It was highlighted how the VOC was
the richest and most powerful business organisation in the world. The guide of the Orange ‘free
walking tour’ ended his story by indicating that it is also important to highlight the darker side
of the Golden Age. He talked about the involvement of the Dutch in slavery and exploitation
and how the Dutch government recently apologised for this.
The WIC headquarters
Like the VOC, De West-Indische Compagnie (WIC) was founded in 1621 as a trading company in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was granted a monopoly charter from the State General
of the Dutch Republic for all trade and shipping west of the Cape of Good Hope. This involved pri-
marily trade and shipping of slaves from the west coast of Africa to the plantations of the Americas
and Caribbean. The building that once housed the headquarters of the WIC therefore features pro-
minently on the tour routes.
The Red ‘free walking tour’ guide presented his main narrative concerning the seventeenth century
at the WIC headquarters. Here, his narration focused almost entirely about the seventeenth century.
He began by recalling the story he had earlier talked about in terms of the alternation of religion in
Amsterdam, from mainly Catholicism to mainly Protestantism. He narrated how Amsterdam became
a republic and fought an 80-year war with the Spanish at the time. He further narrated the wealth
generated by Spanish and Portuguese trade in spice, oil and slaves and how the Dutch wanted in
on this wealth. It is in this context, he explained, that the VOC and WIC came into existence and
experienced great growth in the seventeenth century. He highlighted the trade in spices, oil, textiles
and slaves. He then went on to discuss the emergence of the Stock Market in Amsterdam, which was
open to all and brought a lot of economic exibility. Because of all these developments, Amsterdam
grew enormously during the seventeenth century and the VOC and WIC became the most powerful
and richest in the world. In addition, the guide also clearly emphasised the Dutch involvement in
colonialism. He mentioned the many Dutch colonies that were scattered all over the world and
that many country and place names originate from the Dutch language and/or Dutch place names.
Finally, he ended his story by briey discussing the fall of the VOC and WIC. It was striking that
every time the guide talked about trade, he clearly mentioned the trade in slaves as well. However,
this was only naming and he did not elaborate on what exactly it entailed. During the interview,
he explained why he does not elaborate on the details about themes such as slavery on his tour:
The fact is that people don’t come for a story about slavery. People come for a big story. I believe going to a
dierent environment is stressful. It is fun stress but it is stress. My tour is to give meaning to that city so that
they feel much more at home and understand things. Slavery is not the main point … . Usually the mood just
goes down [when the details about slavery comes up]. They want to have a good time for two hours so to go
into slavery is just something very dicult to come out of again. … It’s very dicult in terms of atmosphere to
get out again because you give people a sense of guilt and that’s very dicult as an entertainer tour guide to get
out of that because that’s not what people come for. People come very much for fun, I want to have my expec-
tations plus some extra.
Tour guides such as Tim on ‘free walking tours’ rely on tips from tourists and hence the concern
about not generating negative atmosphere and experiences on the tour. This issue about atmos-
phere, tourist discomfort and mood management is an important point that we will return to in
the discussion section.
10 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
The Waag
The Waag (Weigh House) is a fifteenth century building and the oldest remining non-religious
building in Amsterdam that was listed as a national monument in 1970. It was originally built as
one of three city gates as part of the Amsterdam city walls. With numerous changes in use functions
over the centuries, the seventeeth and eighteenth century saw the transformation of the former city
gate into a weighing house in the 1600s. Here, all assortment of goods were weighed including
goods that were brought from the colonies and through the exploitation of the VOC and WIC.
It was in 1819 that the last item was weighed here as the Waag fell into disuse as a weighing house.
The Waag (Figure 4), served as one of the locations where the Purple ‘paid walking tour’ guide
referred to the seventeenth century. She pointed out some of the changing uses of the Waag such as
the use by guilds for such things as teaching. Here, the anatomy guild in particular was highlighted
as well as how the famous painter, Rembrandt, depicted the building in one of his paintings. In
addition, the guide focused her stories on the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish community in Amster-
dam throughout history. She discussed Amsterdam during the Second World War, the German
occupation, the persecution of the Jews and the hunger winter. She also talked briey about Amster-
dam in the 1960s, including hippies and drugs. The bulk of her narrative at this site focused on the
seventeenth century. The guide explained the rise of the VOC and how that contributed to the
growth of Amsterdam. She explained that trade was done in those days and that this brought a
lot of wealth. She specifically highlighted trade with Japan and talked about how special that was
as the Dutch were the only ones allowed to trade with Japan because they built harbours. She
also briey mentioned that the Dutch had colonies in the Caribbean and South Africa. A striking
observation was that the guide, in her narrative, indicated that she felt it was important to highlight
Figure 4. The Waag with three different guided tour groups in foreground.
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 11
that many people automatically think of the wrong things that happened in the seventeenth century,
such as slavery, but she was of the view that the Dutch also did good things, such as building har-
bours. It must be pointed out that the guide also spoke about the Netherlands being very honest
about the dark side of the past. She highlighted the apology for slavery by the Dutch government.
She also indicated that the Netherlands is trying to create more awareness by updating history
books and creating exhibitions in museums.
The canals
The founding of Amsterdam as the most watery city in the world started with the building of a dam for
which the city got its name. In order to manage water and defend itself the first canals were dug. The
expansion of the city in the Middle Ages therefore required the further digging of new canals. However,
it was not until the seventeenth century that the most ambitious of canal building project was embarked
upon in the city. Fuelled by the wealth generated through the slave trade and colonial exploitation, the
three major canals of the city (Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizergracht) were built and completed
around 1660. The result was a quadrupling of Amsterdam’s population and the developed maze of an
ecient system of navigable interconnecting canals that facilitated trade in global merchandise.
During the two ‘canal cruises’ (Pink and Brown), it was found that there were no specific stops
where guides talked about the seventeenth century. The guides mainly told stories about the seven-
teenth century while cruising along the main canals, such as the Herengracht and Prinsengracht.
The boats however slowed down on the canals so that guides could highlight significant sites
that came into view such as the canal houses and the ‘Golden Bend’. The Pink ‘canal cruise’
guide also referred to the Dam square, the Hortus Botanicas and the Maritime Museum. The
Brown ‘canal cruise’ guide while cruising along the Prinsengracht spoke briey about Amsterdam
in the seventeenth century. She recounted the rise of the VOC, going into the trade and large ship-
ping eet. The wealth and power of the VOC were highlighted. The story focused mainly on the
function of the canals and canal houses at the time. She also explained how the stock market
emerged in the seventeenth century. Both colonialism and slavery were not highlighted at any
point in the whole seventeenth-century narrative.
During the interview, Lucy the guide told the researcher that her employer instructs them to not
go into sensitive or political themes. She explained that her employer ask to exclude themes like
colonialism and slavery in her narratives because, ‘The main thing is we don’t want to look like
we are glorifying them or anything.’ She is supposed to stick to the spice trade and not go into sen-
sitive or political parts of this seventeenth-century history because it can make people uncomfor-
table. During the interview, she explained that some guides still prefer to highlight the issue of
colonialism or slavery but she would rather not name it at all:
Well I wouldn’t say we would ever prohibit people from talking about it but I would say that it is advised to not
to. For obvious reasons. I would say that many dierent speakers like I said, they might mention the word
slavery because they feel it is … they talk about the black page in their history and I think that that is fine
but personally on my tours I would rather not mention it at all.
The Pink ‘canal cruise’ guide (Hannah) on the other hand talked more about the seventeenth cen-
tury. This guide first highlighted Dam Square, talking about Amsterdam in the seventeenth century
and the origins of the VOC. Later, when cruising along the Herengracht, she talked about the canal
houses that date from the seventeenth century and how certain architectural features and symbols
showed wealth. Further on the route, the Hortus Botanicas was highlighted, which is a greenhouse
that preserved plants brought back from the colonies. Finally, Hannah also talked about the seven-
teenth century as we cruised past the Maritime Museum which she mentioned served as a ware-
house for spices and gunpowder and today serves as a museum. Here, she also highlighted the
replica of a VOC ship which lies next to the museum, elaborating on its use for trade. She spoke
about how the Dutch owned New Amsterdam which is New York today. She also explained the
12 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
rise of the stock exchange. In her story, the focus was mainly on the power and wealth of the Dutch.
She only briey mentioned colonialism and slavery did not come up at all. In the interview, she
explained why she did not discuss colonialism and slavery in depth. Strikingly, Hannah stated
that she does talk briey about the involvement of the Dutch in slavery during her tours but she
did not do so on the observed tour. She explained that,
Well normally, when I pass the Herengracht or when we have to go around, still from the open harbour we point
out. I let them know that of course it was the most wealthiest company but they did trade in a way that was not of
course correct because they did trade with human beings. We call slavery … I try not talk too much because
nobody really cares. The last time I tried to talk about that, there was not a really good feeling on the boat.
When pressed on the avoidance, she stated that,
I try to say it in subtle way, where I do make clear that that has happened … You have to really … if you want
to talk about history then you also have to show the dark side because there was one … I do know but it is just
like in this tour, most of the people just want to be on the boat. Of course, they want to know about history so I
point it out in the most subtle way and if they ask me well … what does it consist of? I will tell them.
It appears that the avoidance of colonialism and slavery in the narratives of the canal cruises is
mainly due to concerns over aecting the atmosphere of the group and the perception that tourists
have other interests.
The Red, Orange and Green ‘free walking tour’ guides referred to the seventeenth century at one
of the canals in the canal belt. For the guide of the Green ‘free walking tour,’ this was where the main
story related to the seventeenth century was told. The Red and Orange guides also focused their
stories such as housing in Amsterdam, the Red-Light District and prostitution. During these two
tours, the stories related to the seventeenth century were mainly focused on the canal houses, as
can be seen in Figure 5. Both guides explained how these houses originated from the seventeenth
century and how they served as merchants’ houses and warehouses for the storage of goods gath-
ered from the trade in that time. In addition, attention was paid to the architecture of the canal
houses. Here it was explained that the canal houses are narrow because that determined the amount
of tax that the people had to pay, how certain architectural features showed how rich or powerful
the person who lived there was and how the hooks at the top of the canal houses were used to lift up
goods to store these high and dry. Whereas the Orange ‘free walking tour’ guide kept his story
superficial and short, the Red ‘free walking tour’ guide delved somewhat deeper into the topic.
In his narrative, he elaborated more on the goods that the Dutch traded in the seventeenth century.
The trade in textiles and spices was highlighted, but in addition this guide also addressed the trade
in slaves. He clearly explained how the Dutch set up a system in which they traded not only goods
but also human beings in North-America, South-America and Africa.
For the Green ‘free walking tour’ guide, the Herengracht was the location where he told his main
story linked to the seventeenth century. When he was asked during the interview about the most
important stories linked to the seventeenth century and Golden Age that are part of his tour, he
reected that:
But yeah I try to talk about the WIC and VOC and what happened in that time. I address some of the buildings
and the canals and of course the Dam is a very important one … I talk about the rise of the VOC and the WIC,
the trade, the colonies, Indonesia, the Molukken. That mainly. I find it a very interesting topic and a very
important part of the history of Amsterdam. So, I address it quite a lot in my tours. I think I talk about it
way more than other guides. Just because it interests me and I think it is a big topic.
Thus Max from the green tour considers themes related to the VOC and WIC, the canals and canal
houses, trade and colonialism as most important in his tour. While he perceived that he speaks
about the seventeenth century more than other guides, the observations showed that this is not
the case. It was observed that he talks about these subjects nearly as much if not less than what
the other guides did on their tours. In his story, he discussed the growth of Amsterdam in the seven-
teenth century. He started his story with the rise of trade, mentioning that the trade was mainly in
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 13
spices. The rise of the VOC and WIC was highlighted and the inuence of the Spanish, British and
Portuguese in the seventeenth century was also briey mentioned. The narrative focused on the
power and wealth of the Dutch. Further, colonialism undertaken by the Dutch was also discussed
at some length. The guide explained how the Dutch colonised Indonesia and Suriname, among
others. What was striking was that initially slavery was not discussed at all in the guide’s narrative.
However, as we walked on, one of the tourists asked whether the Dutch also traded in slaves, to
which the guide briey replied that the WIC did indeed do so but the main focus was on the
trade in spices. After this, the guide immediately moved on to another topic. Later in the interview
Max explained why slavery is not included in his narrative:
… I try to not really go too deeply into the sensitive topics like slavery. Of course it is really important to address
this but I try not to because it is just my goal to entertain the people and you just notice that the people do not
like it. … it brings down the mood of the people. That is just what it is. So I try to not go into those parts.
It quickly becomes evident that although the tour guide considers it important to talk about slavery,
he does not do so because he perceive his tour as one of entertainment – and therefore feels talking
about slavery generated negative atmosphere, feelings and reactions from the tourists. This is very
much in line with the sentiments expressed by Tim on the Red ‘free walking tour.’
Positive atmosphere and good vibes: how tour guides circumvent the spatial
narratives of slavery and colonial heritages
In this paper, we sought to understand how tourism, particularly walking and boat tours, deals with
slavery and colonial heritage in an urban setting. To this end, we explore the spatial narratives about
Figure 5. Canal houses on the Herengracht with a tour boat on the water.
14 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
slavery and colonial heritage (re)presented by tour guides in Amsterdam. A total of eight guided
tours were followed through participant observation from which five of the tour guides were inter-
viewed. Our findings evidence the double-edged nature of tourism’s worldmaking potential. As
others have rightly pointed out, tourism can promote a widening of perspective on the past and
a transformation of mindsets (Hollinshead et al., 2009; Sheldon, 2020). Yet at the same time, tour-
ism can become an accomplice in oppressive strategies of excluding marginalised group histories
and making invisible narratives on unattering aspects of the past (Chambers & Buzinde, 2015).
In the following section, we highlight three main discussion points that emerge out of our findings.
Firstly, our findings shows the challenge and opportunities of tourism in providing a balanced and
nuanced representation of the past. On the tours studied, the dominant spatial narratives about
Amsterdam in the seventeenth century are largely constructed from the perspective of power and
wealth. This framing therefore tend to exclude aspects of the past that undermine the cultural imagery
of wealth and power commonly associated with the idea of a ‘Golden Age.’ Although a hybrid narrative
strategy is mostly used by tour guides vis-à-vis the framework of Azaryahu and Foote (2008, pp. 183–
184), it was clear that the narratives (re)presented on the tours tended to be focused on single points in
time and on the specific place/site in question. This results in glossing over the slavery and colonial
heritage narratives that connect these specific places/sites to other places and time. Thus, while the
tour guides in this study (re)present the colonial heritage in their historical narratives, that of the slav-
ery heritage is more often excluded, with only half of the tours observed including this part as well.
Moreover, even in the few instances of inclusion, there is very limited elaboration of how the slavery
and colonial heritage past underpins the wealth that built Amsterdam. Clearly, there is selectivity in
which narratives are told at a given site and hence what comes to be eventually considered as heritage
(Ashworth, 2003; Lowenthal, 2011). This is evidenced in the construction of the spatial narratives on
the tours in Amsterdam where the uncomfortable aspects of the past imbued in a given site are delib-
erately excluded and only the less controversial elements are kept in the narratives.
Secondly, we extend research on the key inuences on tour guides’ construction of heritage nar-
ratives. Guided tours are based on a developed itinerary that determine which route(s) through the
city are to be taken, which sites and sights to show, and which narratives to tell and to what depths
at which stops. A number of factors can inuence this process including the goal of the tour, com-
position of tourists, employer requirements and the goal of the tour (Buzinde & Santos, 2009: Levy,
2017; Peck, 2010; Potter, 2016; Wong, 2013). We found that guides are conscious of the perceived
interests of tourists and hence remain open to adapting their tour narratives to meet such needs.
This meant that for much of the time on the observed ‘walking tours’ it was the basic facts
about Dutch culture, food and history of the city of Amsterdam that were oered. For the ‘canal
cruises,’ guides perceived that tourists just want to relax on the boat and hear interesting stories
about the city that are not too confronting. However, the interviews brought up several cases
where the tour guide went into more detail on themes such as colonialism and slavery when the
tourists originate from former colonised countries by the Dutch. This is a well-established issue
in the literature of how tour guides constantly adjust their narratives, as found in studies of planta-
tion tours in the US (Alderman et al., 2016; Buzinde & Santos, 2009). This situation was also a
reection of both implicit and explicit rules of the tour companies to prohibit tour guides from
going deep into the unsavoury parts of the heritage narratives. Thus, for all tours except the ‘free
walking tours,’ the employer had a significant inuence on the route and narratives presented in
the tour. Furthermore, a key inuence on tour guides’ selectivity of spatial narratives related to
their perception of their own role in the tourism production system. A number of tour guides
saw themselves as entertainers and hence sought to (re)tell stories that had humour and entertain-
ment value. Stories about slavery and colonialism therefore had to be glossed over because, although
being educational, such topics dampen the mood on the tours. This discomfort and dampening of
the general mood on the tour was noted during participant observation.
Finally, a key insights from our study relate to the concerns with the atmosphere and vibes on a
tour. This appears to be a significant factor in shaping the spatial (re)presentation of slavery and
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 15
colonial heritage narratives on the tours observed. The ease and willingness of tour guides to provide
any in-depth narrative on this heritage was conditioned on the sense that doing so will (not) spoil the
atmosphere amongst tourists. This is consistent with research from Zhang and Pearce (2016) who
found that guides resort to using humour in creating a positive atmosphere and good vibes for tour-
ists. Thus, several of the tour guides admitted to skipping the stories of slavery and colonialism, even
at sites that embodied these stories, because such stories do not lend themselves to jokes or jibes, have
a negative impact on tourists’ moods and/or could evoke negative reactions within the group in ways
that do not accord with curating a positive atmosphere of good vibes. This situation is particularly
acute with ‘free walking tours’ that depend on donations from tourists. Since giving a positive feeling
throughout the tour becomes essential to increasing income, tour guides become weary about nega-
tive reactions (Wong, 2013). In this sense, atmosphere and negative vibes mainly refer to issues of
embodied aect on tourists and the discomforting feelings that can be produced in the slavery and
colonial heritage tourism encounter. The aective experience of the atmosphere of a given tourism
encounter can be ephemeral and tour guides can easily switch between confronting and comforting
narratives. However, in our study, the tour guides choose to focus mainly on curating a positive
atmosphere only. This highlights the double-edged sword of tourism as on the one hand having
the progressive potential to make visible dicult aspects of the past (Hollinshead et al., 2009), and
on the other hand having the tendency to actively erase dicult heritage because of perceived discom-
fort of tourists and need to create good vibes. Here, further research can explore how visitors experi-
ence such atmosphere and vibes and the extent to which they would prefer to be confronted with
confronting spatial narratives.
Tourism as a cultural production can shape collective memory and therefore oers an important
avenue for new interpretive possibilities (Foote & Azaryahu, 2007; Watson et al., 2012). As Buzinde
and Santos (2009) have noted, it is often a challenge to present the full history when it comes to sites
associated with slavery and colonialism. However, this challenge is one that need to be faced head-
on in order to develop transformative tourism experiences that make visible key aspect of the past
that have been rendered absent in national narratives (Adu-Ampong, 2023). The ‘tools of tourism’
(Ormond & Vietti, 2022) – guided tours, guidebooks, and tourism maps – provide opportunities for
even general city tours to be designed in ways to both educate and entertain tourists as they encoun-
ter varied spatial narratives. In the extant literature, it appears that such opportunities tend to be
taken up by specialised tours instead of being included in other standard city tours. For instance,
the findings of Boukhris (2017) are about a specialised tour (Black Paris Tour) which provides a
counter-hegemonic narrative that, set against the dominant monolithic tourism imaginary of
Paris, centres Black heritage, slavery and (post)colonial history of France. Similarly, Adu-Ampong
(2023) talks about how the specialised Black Heritage Amsterdam Tour seeks to make visible the
‘hidden histories’ of the African diaspora, slavery and the colonial history of the Netherlands
from the seventeenth century onward – which is largely absent in the other general tours on
oer in the city. In light of the findings from this current study, the remaining question then is
how can non-specialised city tours ‘expressly undertakes the memory work of counter-mapping
dissonant heritage’ (Adu-Ampong, 2023, p. 103590) in order to (re)activate tourist sites as lieux
de mémoire [sites of memory] (Nora, 1989) of often neglected aspects of the slavery and colonial
past?
Conclusion
Exploring the spatial narratives of slavery and colonial heritage by tour guides in Amsterdam
reveals how these narratives get selected, at which points they are told and to what depth, and
the key factors that shape this process. The main locations common to both ‘free walking
tours’ and ‘paid walking tours’ include the Dam, Beursplein, the headquarters of the VOC or
WIC, the main canals, the Begijnhof, the Waag, the Rembrandt house, the Anne Frank house,
the Jewish quarter, and one of the many coeeshops in Amsterdam. For the ‘canal cruises,’ the
16 E. A. ADU-AMPONG AND S. BERG
boat slows down at various sites such as the Skinny Bridge, the Jewish quarter, the Hermitage, the
Maritime Museum, the Hortus Botanicas, the Rembrandt House, and some of the many canal
houses. Tour guide narratives focused mainly on the basic facts about the city such as housing,
Dutch food, bicycle culture, coeeshops and drugs, the Red light district and prostitution,
Amsterdam’s three X’s, art, and the Dutch royal family. In addition, tour guides also focused
on history and cultural aspects such as the origin and development of Amsterdam, the switch
in religious form, the miracle of Amsterdam, the seventeenth century, the second World War,
the canals and canal houses.
In terms of the narratives on the seventeenth century all tours touched on similar themes con-
structed from the dominant narrative frame of the ‘Golden Age,’ growth of Amsterdam, the VOC
and WIC, stock exchange, trade, shipping eet, power and wealth of the Dutch, canals and canal
houses, and the Royal palace on the Dam. The themes of slavery and colonialism were only partly
included in the narratives of tour guides and not in all tours. However, they were not included in all
tours. Two tour guides do not cover the topic of colonialism at all. Furthermore, the topic of slavery
was excluded from the tour guides’ narratives in four out of the nine tours. Thus while most guides
generally do highlight the colonial heritage, the slavery heritage is more often excluded from nar-
ratives and is found in only half of the tours. Key inuences on the narratives told by tour guides,
particularly the ‘paid walking tour’ and ‘canal cruises,’ include the script from their employer with
fixed routes and the perceived interests of tourists. A significant inuence on the seventeenth-cen-
tury narratives told was concerns about atmosphere and vibes. Tour guides sought to curate a posi-
tive atmosphere of good vibes and did not want to elicit negative aective reactions that are prone to
emerge when talking about slavery and colonial heritage.
This paper respond to calls for critical approaches to tourism research in postcolonial Europe
(Adu-Ampong, 2023; Boukhris, 2017; Knox, 2024). We provide insights into the complex processes
in which general guided tours in Amsterdam approach the (re)telling of the narratives that frame
the history of the city in relation to slavery and colonial heritage. By focusing on ‘free walking tours,’
‘paid walking tours’ and ‘canal cruises,’ we identify the challenges of harnessing the transformative
potential of guided tours in engaging with dicult heritage and collective memory. Tour guides
play a key role in the production and consumption of meaningful experiences in the tourism
encounter. It is important that the spatial narratives provide a nuanced perspective on slavery
and colonial heritage that are (re)presented at the various stops and sites of a tour. While positive
atmosphere and good vibes are key, it is important to also challenge tourists with the confronting
narratives of the complex histories of the places they visit. The words of tour guides can etch the
spatial narratives of places on the minds of visitors.
Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong acknowledges with appreciation the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Veni Grant
with number VI.Veni.201S.037, under which this current research was made possible.
Notes on contributors
Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong is Assistant Professor in Cultural Geography, Wageningen University, the Nether-
lands, and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He researches on the geo-
graphies of slavery and colonial heritage tourism in relation to the politics of cultural memories.
Simone Berg recently graduated with an MSc degree in Tourism, Society and Environment from Wageningen Uni-
versity and Research, the Netherlands. Her research focusses on heritage tourism and socially sustainable commu-
nity-oriented tourism developments.
JOURNAL OF HERITAGE TOURISM 17
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