Travel agency TUI has apologized for a description accompanying a trip to the former Dutch colony of Suriname which included the phrases ‘step into the shoes of our brave forebears” and “taste the atmosphere at the plantations.”
The text was highlighted on Instagram where it was met with indication from, among others, anti-racism group Kick Out Zwarte Piet (KOZP).
TUI has since changed the wording in its brochure. “We hang our heads in shame,” TUI said in response to the Instagram post. “Undoubtedly, the copywriter had no malice in mind but we understood completely how hurtful this was, and how stupid we had to be for not flagging it up.”
Suriname was a Dutch colony from 1667 until 1954. Until the abolition of the slave trade in 1863, its plantation economy depended entirely on slave labor.
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