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Tourism in Cuba attracts over 2 million visitors a year, and is one of the main sources of revenue for the island. With its favorable climate, beaches, colonial architecture and distinct cultural history, Cuba attracts visitors from around the globe. Cuba remains cut off from its traditional market, the United States, due to the ongoing embargo, and visitors come primarily from Canada and Europe. The impact on Cuba's socialist society and economy has been significant, leading to complaints that the state has fostered a form of divisive wealth apartheid on the island. Tourist areas are highly concentrated around Varadero Beach, Cayo Coco, and the beach areas north of Holguin, as well as Havana.

History

Cuba has long been a popular attraction for tourists. Between 1915 and 1930, Havana hosted more tourists than any other location in the Caribbean. The influx was due in large part to Cuba's proximity to the United States, where restrictive prohibition on alcohol and other pastimes stood in stark contrast to the island's traditionally relaxed attitude to leisure pursuits. Such tourism became Cuba's third largest source of foreign currency, behind the two dominant industries of sugar and tobacco.

A combination of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the end of prohibition, and the second world war severely dampened Cuba's tourist industry, and it wasn't until the 1950s that numbers began to return to the island in any significant force. During this period American organized crime came to dominate the leisure and tourist industries, a modus operandi outlined at the infamous Havana Conference of 1946. By the mid-1950s Havana became one of the main markets and the favourite route for the narcotics trade to the United States. Despite this, tourist numbers grew steadily at a rate of 8% a year and Havana became known as "the Latin Las Vegas".

Immediately upon becoming President of Cuba after the Cuban revolution of 1959, Manuel Urrutia ordered the closing of many bars and gambling halls associated with prostitution and the drug trade, thus effectively ending Cuba's image as a hedonistic escape. A new governmental body, the National Institute of the Tourism Industry (INTUR), was established to encourage more tourism; taking over hotels, clubs, and beaches making them available to the general public at low rates. Tourist board chief Carlos Almonia announced a program of huge investment in hotels and the creation of a new airport. But fears of Cuba's post-revolutionary status amongst Americans, who constituted 8 out of 10 of visitors, meant a rapid decrease in travel to the island.

In January 1961, as relations between the nations deteriorated, tourism travel to Cuba was declared by the U.S. State Department to be contrary to U.S. foreign policy and against the national interest. Tourism that year dropped to a record low of a mere 4180, forcing a dramatic downsizing of Cuba's tourist plans. Visitors to Cuba during the 1960s, 70s and 80s were comparatively rare. The number of tourists to the island did increase slowly, but it wasn't until 1989 that they were to equal pre-Revolutionary numbers.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused a crisis in the Cuban economy. The Soviets were Cuba's chief trading partner, and had effectively sheltered Cuba's sugar industry with large subsidies for 30 years. The lack of economic diversification during this period, and the sudden loss of key markets sent the country into a deep economic depression known in Cuba as the Special Period. The crisis precipitated an urgent need to find new avenues of national income.

Policies were drawn up to satisfy the growing tourist markets of Canada and Europe with an aim to replace Cuba's reliance on the sugar industry and gain much needed foreign currency rapidly. A new Ministry of Tourism was created in 1994, and the Cuban state invested heavily in tourist facilities. Between 1990 and 2000, more than $3.5 billion was invested in the tourist industry. The number of rooms available to international tourists grew from 12,000 to 35,000, and the country received a total of 10 million visitors over that period. By 1995 the industry had surpassed sugar as Cuba's chief earner.

Foreign Investment

Foreign investment in the Cuban tourism sector has increased steadily since the tourism drive. This has been made possible due to constitutional changes to Cuba's socialist command economy, to allow for the recognition of foreign held capital.

By the late 1990s, twenty five joint foreign and domestic venture companies were working within Cuba's tourist industry. Foreign investors and hoteliers from market based economies have found that Cuba's centralized economy and bureaucracy has created particular staffing issues and higher costs then normal. An additional factor cited by foreign investors is the degree of state involvement at the executive level, which is far higher than average.

The influx of foreign capital, and associated capitalist management methods, led outside observers to question whether Cuba's socialist system could survive the resulting transformation. Fidel Castro responsed in 1991,

"In the conditions of a small country like Cuba... It is very difficult to develop... relying on one's own resources. It is for this reason that we have no alternative but to associate ourselves with those foreign enterprises that can supply capital, technology, and markets."

Castro was also of the belief that despite the undeniable influence of "capitalist ideology", socialism would prevail both in Cuba and the wider "battle of ideas".

Health tourism

As well as receiving traditional tourism revenues, Cuba attracts paying health tourists, generating revenues of around $40m a year for the Cuban economy. In 2002 more than 5000 foreign patients travelled to Cuba for a wide range of treatments including eye-surgery, neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinsons disease, and orthopaedics. Most patients are from Latin America although medical treatment for retinitis pigmentosa, often known as night blindness, has attracted many patients from Europe and North America.

Some complaints have arisen that foreign "health tourists" paying with dollars receive a higher quality of care than Cuban citizens. Former leading Cuban neurosurgeon and dissident Dr Hilda Molina asserts that the central revolutionary objective of free, quality medical care for all has been eroded by Cuba's need for foreign currency. Molina says that following the economic collapse known in Cuba as the Special Period, the Cuban Government established mechanisms designed to turn the medical system into a profit-making enterprise, thus creating a disparity in the quality of healthcare services between Cubans and foreigners.

Casa particulares

A "Casa particular" ("private house") is a private residence in Cuba converted to allow paid lodging, usually on a short-term basis, they are akin to the Bed and Breakfast residences elsewhere. Casa particulares are typically operated from a single-family residence and are a very popular choice for tourists. Prices can range between 15 and 30 Euros per night, or less for longer stays, and thus the casas provide a more viable option for young or independent tourists. A stay in a private casa allows tourists more opportunity to mix with local Cubans, and engage in Cuban cultural life. This stands in contrast to accommodation in a state-run hotels, where current regulations mean that foreigners are not permitted to invite Cuban guests to hotel rooms.

Allegations of tourist apartheid

Cuba's tourism policies of the early 90s, which were driven by the government's pressing need to earn hard currency, had a major impact on the underlying egalitarianism espoused by the Cuban revolution. Two parallel economies and societies quickly emerged, their demarkation line was represented by access to the newly legalised dollar. Those having access to dollars through contact with the lucrative tourist industry suddenly found themselves at a distinct financial advantage over professional, industrial and agricultural workers.

Barstaff, hotel receptionists and Taxi drivers became the coveted occupations in urban Cuba, and by 2006, permission to operate a private taxi cab service could cost up to $500 in bribes. Musicians have also found a radical shift in their economic status. El Nuevo Herald reported that the $200 a month one band percussionist receives to perform to tourists in Old Havana is more than 30 times what he would receive from the Cuban government for the same work.

The support base of the Cuban revolution gradually eroded as tourism led to increases in crime and prostitution, particuarily the form of sex tourism known in Cuba as jineterismo Internationally, the Cuban government appeared to be turning a blind eye in hopes the dollars jineteras earned would help overcome the Revolution's worst economic crisis.

An even graver phenomenon was the appearance of what has been described as a kind of apartheid in Cuban society : Native Cubans found themselves excluded from many activities that were reserved solely for foreigners - a development that inverted the revolutionary ethic proclaimed by the first government of 1959. Restrictions on access to hotels, resorts, beaches, and restaurants allocated for the benefit of tourists also appeared to flatly contradict Article 43 of the Cuban constitution, which guarantees all Cubans, 'without regard to race, skin color, religious belief, or national origin,' the right to 'lodge themselves in any hotel,' 'be attended in all restaurants and establishments serving the public,' and 'enjoy the same spas, beaches, social clubs, and other centers of sport, recreation, and leisure'. The measures, though not explicately defined by the Cuban penal code, were covered by catch-all laws against the 'harassment of tourists', which were familiar to other Caribbean nations such as neighbouring Jamaica.

In 1992, during the early period of Cuba's tourist boom, Cuban President Fidel Castro defended the newly instituted policies in a speech to the Cuban National Assembly. He described the moves as an economic necessity that would need to be maintained for as long as the country had a need for foreign currency and no other means of acquiring it.

According to Castro, the government were "pondering formulas" that would allow Cubans to use some of the tourist facilities as a reward for outstanding work, but believed that giving Cubans access to amenities at the expense of paying foreign tourists would ultimately be a counterproductive move for the economy; "For every five Cubans staying two or three days in one of those hotels, the country would have one less ton of meat to distribute to the people,".

As the policies became more visible to both Cubans and international observers, the term "tourist apartheid" entered common currency. In addition to evidence of the term being used by Cubans, the phrase has been widely used by non-Cuban sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica, United States Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, members of the United States Congress opposed to the Cuban government, political columnists, and others. Human Rights Watch condemned the practice, Paul Hare, British Ambassador to Cuba from 2001 to 2004, viewed "tourist apartheid" as a "particularly distasteful" aspect of Cuban society.

In response to the accusations, Fidel Castro described such analysis as a "perfidious, perverse, cynical" campaign to present the current situation as "a case of discrimination". Raul Taladrid, Cuba's deputy minister for economic collaboration in 1992, said that the style afforded tourists was "a bitter pill for some to swallow, especially the young," but tourism was being promoted because "we have a high, fast rate of return on our investment. Our biggest difficulty is getting foreign exchange so we can reach a new economic equilibrium."

See also

• Human rights in Cuba
• Apartheid outside of South Africa
• Corecom
• Friendship store
• Intershop
• Pewex

External links

• Wikitravel article on Cuba

References

• International Tourism and the Formation of Productive Clusters in the Cuban Economy Miguel Alejandro Figueras
• Hugh Thomas, Cuba the Pursuit of Freedom
• Richard Gott, Cuba a new history

Footnotes

1. One Caribbean - 2004 Cuban tourism statistics
2. ^ International Tourism and the Formation of Productive Clusters in the Cuban Economy Miguel Alejandro Figueras
3. History of Cuba written and compiled by J.A. Sierra
4. Revolution to revolution: why is tourism booming in Cuba? Chandana Jayawardena
5. Tourism Development for the Cuban Economy. Rockefeller center online.
6. Hotel and tourism development in Cuba Cornell University.
7. ^ Gunn, Gillian. The Sociological Impact of Rising Foreign Investment Template:PDFlink, Georgetown University Cuba Briefing Paper Series, "Tourist Apartheid", January 1993.
8. Cuba sells its medical expertise BBC News
9. Cuban Medicine Today by Dr Hilda Molina Center for a free Cuba - link fails 16.9.06
10. ^ Ternto, Angelo : Castro and Cuba : From Revolution To The Present p114
11. ^ http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/news/world/cuba/16032860.htm Cuba: dólares ahondan las diferencias de clase El Nuevo Herald
12. "Jinterísmo, Tourist Apartheid and the State for Itself? Evaluating the Nature, Purpose and Impact of Cuba's Radical Reforms and State Capitalism since 1993", History 362a, Colony, Nation and Diaspora: Cuba and Puerto Rico, course syllabus, Yale University Faculty of History. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
13. A Cultural Primer: Tourist Apartheid & Jineterismo, Frommer's Travel Guide to Cuba, 2006. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
14. Facio, Elisa. During the Special Period, Global Development Studies, I, 3-4 (Winter 1998-Spring 1999), 57-78. Republished in DES: A Scholarly Journal of Ethnic Studies, Volume 1 Number 1, University of Colorado Department of Ethnic Studies.
15. "Cubans, who earn an average of £8 a month, not afford to enter Havana's new five-star hotels. Even if they have dollars - either from working with tourists or from remittances sent by relatives overseas - they are barred from tourist hotels or resorts. There are no signs on hotel doors, but the ban is very real - thanks to a catch-all law against 'harassment of tourists'. Cubans call it 'tourism apartheid'." Rennie, David. Cuba 'apartheid' as Castro pulls in the tourists, The Daily Telegraph, 08/06/2002.
16. Jamaica Sweeps Off Its Welcome Mat New York Times
17. Catering to Foreigners Instead of Cubans Puts Castro on Defensive Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, August 9, 1992
18. "Cubans refer to the disparity between the high life of tourists and their own austere, declining standard of living as “tourism apartheid.” Foreign tourists frequent dollar restaurants and dollar stores, use dollar taxis, eat food and use transportation that Cubans cannot, and spend no time standing in lines for goods and services. The government’s need for hard currency has led it to reverse its anti-tourist stance and to give foreigners preferential treatment." Facio, Elisa, Toro-Morn, Marua, and Roschelle, Anne R. Tourism, Gender, and Globalization: Tourism in Cuba During the Special Period Template:PDFlink, Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems, Volume 14, Spring 2004. pp. 120-142.
    ° "Cubans, who earn an average of £8 a month, not afford to enter Havana's new five-star hotels. Even if they have dollars - either from working with tourists or from remittances sent by relatives overseas - they are barred from tourist hotels or resorts. There are no signs on hotel doors, but the ban is very real - thanks to a catch-all law against 'harassment of tourists'. Cubans call it 'tourism apartheid'." Rennie, David. Cuba 'apartheid' as Castro pulls in the tourists, The Daily Telegraph, 08/06/2002.
    ° "Along the way, the vagaries of what one young Cuban described, rather nervously, as tourist apartheid were at least as stunning and abundant as the towering royal palms." Karaeulter, Kirk. In Cuba, 2 Worlds Bridged by a Dollar Sign, The New York Times, June 11, 2000.
19. "However, the increased dependence on foreign tourism has been accompanied by growing concern over illegal activities (notably prostitution and drug trafficking) and socioeconomic inequalities, wherein tourist areas are provided with many comforts and conveniences that are unavailable to the general public—a situation sometimes described as a “tourism apartheid.”" Cuba, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006.
20. "Moreover, workers in Cuba’s tourist sector--at resorts where native Cubans are prohibited unless they are on the job--have been prohibited by a Ministry of Tourism regulation from accepting gifts, tips, or even food from foreigners, in a further attempt at increasing the tourist apartheid that exists on the island." Background Note: Cuba, United States Department of State, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, December 2005.
21. "If Castro is sincere in his desire for international respect, he must earn that respect. He must stop throwing Cuban journalists and peaceful activists into prison, stop tolerating sexual tourism, stop promoting tourist apartheid, stop religious discrimination, abandon censorship, end his internal embargo of information, stop panhandling for international credits and other hand-outs, and permit others to carry forward a true transition to democracy in Cuba." Remarks by Adolfo A. Franco, Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, USAID, University of Miami Cuba Transition Seminar, October 17, 2002.
22. "Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R.-Fla., an outspoken Castro opponent, said she would oppose the National Trust's effort. "I will first verify how the permission process took place, then why the U.S government believes that historic preservation in a terrorist country is of our national interest, why U.S. citizens should want to use monies to refurbish a tourist site in a tourist apartheid society," she said." Dart, Bob. Bell Tolls for Hemingway House in Cuba? Template:PDFlink, COX Newspapers, June 2, 2005.
23. "...the result, in part, of Cuba's 'tourist apartheid,' which bars ordinary Cubans from mixing with foreigners in hotels, restaurants, and beaches." Jacoby, Jeff. The U.S. embargo and Cuba's future, Jewish World Review, March 22, 2002.
    ° "Quite simply, Castro cannot allow the distribution of a book in Cuba that talks about how blacks were not allowed equal access to restaurants, beaches and clubs in the United States. It would remind Cubans of their own tourist apartheid policy, which bans them from places built for foreigners who pay in dollars or euros." Martinez, Guillermo I. No more fuel on fire, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 15, 2006.
24. "And the signs in hotels reading 'Solamente Turistas' should finally be taken down ." Nordlinger, Jay. A Cuba Policy to Cheer, National Review, May 21, 2002.
    ° "U.S. tourism under current conditions would freeze in place Castro’s tourist apartheid, and likely exacerbate it." Calzon, Frank. Should American Taxpayers Subsidize Fidel Castro?, Center for a Free Cuba. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
25. Human Rights Watch. CUBA'S REPRESSIVE MACHINERY: Human Rights Forty Years After the Revolutionas, III. IMPEDIMENTS TO HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBAN LAW, June 1999. ISBN 1-56432-234-3
26. Hare, Paul. U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Latin America and the Caribbean, Revista: Harvard Review of Latin America, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, Spring 2005.
27. ^ Catering to Foreigners Instead of Cubans Puts Castro on Defensive Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, August 9, 1992

• Economy of Cuba
• Cuban society
• Tourism in Cuba