Tourism in Cuba - Impact On Cuban Society and Tourism Apartheid

Impact On Cuban Society and Tourism 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 demarcation line was represented by access to the newly legalized U.S. 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.

Bar staff, hotel receptionists and taxi drivers became the coveted occupations in urban Cuba and, by 2006, permission to operate a private taxicab 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 in tips performing to tourists in Old Havana is more than 30 times what he would receive from the Cuban government for the same work.

To ensure the isolation of international tourism from Cuban society, it was to be promoted in enclave resorts where, as much as possible, tourists would be segregated from Cuban society. This was not lost on the average Cuban citizen, and the government tourism policy soon began to be referred to as "enclave tourism" and "tourism apartheid".

In 1992, as Cuba entered the period of severe economic austerity, 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. According to Castro, the government was "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".

Until 1997 contacts between tourists and Cubans were de facto outlawed, and Cubans seen in contact with tourists were regarded as potential thieves by police. Global human rights groups complaints, and the upcoming visit of Pope, helped cause an about-face, although such contacts are still frowned upon, with standard harassment such as police identification checks for any Cuban seen in contact with a tourist common. Tourist identification is usually not checked unless the tourist has dark skin and is mistaken for Cuban. Despite the restrictions, average Cubans thrive on Cuba's tourist industry, and many simply see the policy as inevitable.

Jineterismo, the sex tourism industry in Cuba, has been closely associated with tourism apartheid; with some claiming that the only Cubans allowed into the resorts as a group were prostitutes, the jineteras, whilst the Cuban government claimed that its restrictions on Cubans were part of its policy to combat prostitution and hustling. According to Elisa Facio, the government turns "a blind eye in hopes the dollars jineteras earned would help overcome the Revolution's worst economic crisis.

Colin Crawford, of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, has suggested that tourist apartheid might become a permanent regression to the pre-revolutionary state of Cuban society, while Saundra Amrhein and Tamara Lush point out the irony of the situation: "That tourism has brought exclusive resorts, segregated hotels and a general playground for foreigners swinging through the island looking for Caribbean romance. Ironically, these are precisely the circumstances the revolution worked 40 years to erase."

The policy of restricting certain hotels and services to tourists was ended by the government of Raúl Castro in March 2008. As well as officially allowing Cubans to stay in any hotel, the change also opened access to previously restricted areas such as Cayo Coco. However, access remains very limited in practice, as the vast majority of Cubans do not have access to the hard currency needed to stay in such hotels.