Is the growth in Cuba’s tourism sector a blessing or a curse?

Cuba’s tourism sector has grown dramatically in recent years. The number of visitors increased from 326,000 in 1989 to 2.2 million in 2007; tourism constituted 43 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2007. Many people see this growth as a threat to the island’s socialist political system, and some Western observers do not believe that the benefits outweigh the problems.

Many observers question whether Cuba can accommodate even more middle-class tourists from capitalist countries without affecting its socialist political system. Critics claim that Western tourists are ‘infecting’ the Cuban population with capitalist problems, such as prostitution, individualism and consumerism. For example, they claim that jobs in tourism are attracting workers from the healthcare sector. Environmentalists fear the impact of mass tourism on the island’s ecology. 

Research from London Metropolitan University, in the UK, argues that these views are too pessimistic. Some observers see the use of tourism to earn foreign currency as proof that Cuba has finally embraced capitalism; in fact, tourism may have enabled the socialist system to survive. It has benefited the majority of the population and helped the economy to withstand the collapse of the USSR and the tightening of the US economic embargo in the 1990s.

The author dispels some other myths about tourism in Cuba:

• Tourism has not damaged the medical sector: only some doctors and engineers have turned to more lucrative self-employment in tourism, and the healthcare system is stronger than ever.
• Prostitution only exists on a limited scale. It does not stem from desperation or drugs (both seen as western ‘evils’) and the government actively works to discourage it.
• Evidence that tourism has eroded revolutionary commitment is largely anecdotal; in fact, tourism workers have voluntarily donated over US$11 million to social services since 1995.
• There is no risk of Cuba’s economy becoming over-dependent on tourism. Tourist numbers have remained stable in the last three years, during which time the export of nickel, biomedical products and medical services has become more significant.

Cuba’s tourism ‘boom’ has been mostly beneficial. Foreign currency earnings may have led to some economic and social complications, but successful planning by the government means that tourism expansion has largely overcome these problems.

• The government uses foreign currency revenues (mostly US dollars) to service debts and fund the ration system.
• Advertising and selling medical services to tourists is used to fund treatment for Cubans.
• Ecotourism projects are funding conservation projects, for example the restoration of Old Havana.
• Tourism revenues have been used to set up a scientific organisation to ensure ecological considerations are in place; the World Wildlife Fund claimed that Cuba is the only nation developing in an ecologically sustainable way.
• The government’s emphasis is on increasing earnings from the existing number of tourists through improving the quality of tourism services, rather than radically increasing tourist numbers in the short term.

Source(s):
‘Cuba’s Tourism “Boom”: a Curse or a Blessing?’ Third World Quarterly 29 (5), pages 979 to 993, by Stephen Wilkinson, 2008

Funded by: London Metropolitan University

id21 Research Highlight: 14 September 2008

Further Information:
Stephen Wilkinson
International Institute for the Study of Cuba
London Metropolitan University
Tower Building
166-220 Holloway Road
London N7 8DB
UK

Tel: +44 207 1332405
Fax: +
Contact the contributor: stephen.wilkinson@cubastudies.org

International Institute for the Study of Cuba, London Metropolitan University, London, UK

Other related links:
‘How pro-poor is tourism? New practices can reduce poverty’

‘The island advantage: practices for prospering in isolation’

'Can the private sector mainstream pro-poor tourism?'