Summary After briefly examining the plantation-as-hotel model, this contribution focuses the remainder of its attention on the conversion of plantation slavery into entertainment on the Caribbean island of Barbados. First, and by way of contextualization, it is shown that an extensive and well-documented history of plantation life exists, one that is drawn from early accounts of travelers, missionaries and others, as well as later expert commentaries offered by indigenous and extra-regional scholars. Second, it is argued that the tourism industry has largely ignored or been highly selective in borrowing from this rich source of material in its attempt to supply the sort of a-historical diversion which it believes its clientele enjoys. Examples provided include the Open House Programme of the Barbados National Trust, the annual Crop Over Festival and Plantation Spectacular dinner shows. Finally, a few suggestions are advanced in order to try and understand the success of this type of tourism. They include references to postmodernity, nostalgia, dark tourism and varieties of promotion.
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