A look at the consumption behaviours along Ghana’s slave routes.

This study examines the consumption behaviours of four types of visitors to sites associated with the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Ghana. A questionnaire was used to elicit information regarding sites they intended or actually visited, perceived differences regarding site experiences and impressions of the heritage product itself. The results show that visitors were highly selective in their consumption patterns, although the sites in the country’s south were the major attractions and generators for all purposes. There is evidence that trip motive and connection to slavery influence consumption behaviour, as some visitors are willing to invest effort, expense and time to consume truly unique learning experiences. The findings were interpreted as evidence that site managers may need to design strategies using visitor profile and consumption patterns to deliver a coordinated and integrated appeal to the target visitor group

Rethinking slavery heritage tourism

This paper argues that the investigation of slavery heritage within a ‘thana’- or ‘dark’ tourism framework invariably fails to appreciate the subtleties, power relationships and various contestations that are at play in both the presentation and consumption of former Transatlantic Slave Trade (TAST) sites. Instead, the authors argue that a combination of Halbwachs’ collective memory theory and Tunbridge and Ashworth’s concept of dissonant heritage can provide a deeper understanding of tourism linked to such sites. A study of TAST sites in Ghana identified six key groups of stakeholders involved in the interpretation of slavery heritage, each with its own agenda, desire to remember or forget slave memories and desire to compose different narratives. By analysing collective slave memories, the study proposes a framework that demonstrates that tourism to TAST-related sites is complex and nuanced because it relates to the nature of the historic event itself, intrinsic qualities of TAST-related sites in terms of current relevance and the closeness of the event or site to each stakeholder.School of Hotel and Tourism Managemen