Tourism in Cuba is an essential economic factor to the country development structure. The tourism in Cuba revolutionize immediately Raul Castro took over the country as the President after his brother. However, Cuba has faced a huge challenge of Communism, which has left the country in an economic crisis. The paper will address some of the growth, which has been generated by tourism systems to the country economic, political and social systems. The challenges, which Cuban tourism faces also, will be outlined in the research study. Additionally, some of the suggestions on how to solve the tourism problems will also be outlined effectively. The emerging trends in Cuban Tourism will also be analyzed in the following research below. The research mainly will analyze the correlation between the political, social and economic systems in relation to tourism systems in the country. Finally, all the methodologies used in analyzing the research will also be outlined in the efficiency in the following research. The critical analysis of the research also will be outlined based on the findings on the tourism structural services.
1.1 Background of the Study
The Cuban country has undergone through a number of changes from political, economic and social following Raul Castro’s took over country’s top leadership from Fidel Castro. The end of communism also left Cuba in turmoil economically, making it necessary for the government to raise hard currency. Tourism industry has been seen as an alternative way to generate a “quick fix.” The restructuring of the government programs by the new administration have seen the disruption factor to Cuba’s previous core economic programs. Some of the new economic principles includes, setting up of private enterprises, allowing foreign investors. These have been vital in tackling Cuba’s existing economic stagnation. Also, the new administration has done a lot to reduce the number of workers that relied on state employment opportunities. These new reforms by Raul’s administration saw the beginning of new entrepreneurial spirit portrayed by the Cuban especially those that depended on private businesses. These changes have caused a heralded new ventures being created as well as the expansion of cooperative and private sectors for the first time in a long over four decades (Morris 2017).
Cuban political and socio-economic changes and Tourism sector
In 2015, Cuban restored its diplomatic relations with the United States of America during the epoch of President Obama, and this boosted their tourism industry. The lifting of travel sanctions by the US government gave Cuba the opportunity to host more visitors as American citizens, flocked Cuban embassy in USA to process travelling document to the island country (Balslev and Velazquez 2018). This was a new opportunity for Cuba to make its mark as cultural and heritage destination in the world. The small steps that the country have taken despite the doubtful political future have contributed to an upsurge in international visitors especially from the united states of America who had the objective of experiencing Cuba before it is transformed (Morris 2017). Hospitality business has been booming and between the years of 2014 to 2017, it grew by 30% (National Statistic Office of Cuba 2017). Also, accession of Castro Raul to their top leadership of the country brought in new reforms both political and economical. For the first time in five decades, the country passed foreign and investment law allowing those that are not citizens to have investments in their country. The trade embargos have also been uplifted making the country open for trade with other countries around the world.
The critiques of Cuban tourism development by those referred to as “anti-revolution” portray Cuba as an old inflexible country that still dwell in the past (Medina-Labrada 2016). The news that Raul will retire in 2019 is already causing panic and confusion politically. This is believed to cause an impact, either negative or positive on its tourism industry performance. The country would have to make some constitutional changes to usher in a new dawn. This can be the presidential tenure and replacement of hereditary leadership system. The objective the country has now as far as change is concerned is to move from socialism and embrace a mixed economic system. For that reason, political stability stable is essential for the growth and development of the Cuba’s economy with tourism business as the major driver.
Owing to this reforms and political changes, there have been emerging trends in the Cuban tourism industry. It is therefore necessary to examine how tourism business in the Island of Cuba has been evolving around the country’s socio-economic and political issues (Spencer 2016). More ever this paper details the troublesome political structure of Cuba and its relationship with the development on tourism.
Research Problems
It has been claimed that, the prevailing political and economic ideology of country shapes its tourism sector. Furthermore, in the case of Cuba, which, since the end of revolution in 1959 has remained one of the world’s leading tourism destination? However, the country has faced many political challenges including the trade embargo during the epoch of Fidel Castro. It is critical to mention that the diplomatic relations between Cuba and United States of America, which has been severe due to their different political structures, have affected Cuban tourism industry especially in regard to visitors from the USA. The Fidel Castro rule that lasted for over four decades was also full of controversies such as human rights violation and dictatorial governance. Nevertheless the country has experienced tremendous challenges in the tourism sector in post-Fidel era as well as the new formed friendship with other states and USA. Forthwith, it is proper to contextualize the emerging trends and challenges in Cuban tourism sector in relation to political structure and policies.
Empirical studies and literatures have focused on physical features in Cuba and how they drive tourism industry. For this study the focus will be analysis of the political changes and their influence on contemporary trends and challenges experienced in Cuban tourism sector.
Research Questions
i. How has political changes influenced the emerging trends in tourism industry in Cuba?
ii. How did Cuban citizens engaged in self-employment due to mainstream socio-economic policies?
iii. Why and how are the various types of ‘effective capital’ consumed in the contemporary context of Cuban Tourism?
Research Aims
Many scholars have explored the contribution of tourism industry based on Cuban economic development. Despite, this no study has been carried out to examine the emerging trends and challenges in the contemporary Cuban tourism in relation to political ideologies. The research aims to provide knowledge on impact of political policies on tourism industry in Cuba.
Objectives
To answer these research questions, the study was guided by the following research objectives:
To examine the relationship between political changes in Cuba and emerging trends in tourism industry
To establish the challenges experienced in the tourism industry as a result of Cuban political changes.
To scrutinize political processes within which tourism has developed and its implication on Cuban and its people
To identify contemporary landscape that shapes Cuban tourism industry
To evaluate various measures to be adopted in order to increase the productivity and sustainability of tourism sector in the country
Significant of the Study
The study fulfils the desire of tourism industry in Cuba to understand how the country’s political affairs affect its market dynamics. It also adds knowledge on the management of the tourism sector in country. Additionally, the study will act as reference materials for further studies on the political and economic factors based on their relationship with tourism.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will revive the existing literatures and body of knowledge that has been developed by other scholars regarding the themes outlined in the study objectives.
Scholars have discussed various issues regarding the tourism sector in the island of Cuba. Jordan, Boley et al. (2018) asserted that Cuba’s current economic situation is in transition due to changing circumstances and the evolvement of its tourism industry. The work by Latkova et al. (2016) recounts and examined destination image aspect of Cuban tourism development and argued that expansion of private enterprise tourism in relation to planning and policy plays a big role in economic development of contemporary Cuba.
According to Simoni (2017) carried out a research on the dynamics in the tourism industry as Cuban citizens grab the opportunity that came with the government allowing private citizens to invest in tourism industry. The study found that workers are abandoning their professional jobs and getting into tourism business.
Role of the Government in tourism development
The government of Cuba used the thriving tourism industry to market its diversity of services and the use of local resources. Also, the government has noticeably liberalized policies for the foreign investors in the country (Fullerton, Broyles et al. 2017). This has led to an upsurge in revenue collected from tourism sector. The reforms experienced in various sector are attributed to the new administration. Raul’s taking over leadership of Cuba ushered in period of reforms including changes in the political ideology, and the growth of private sector. He also reduced the number of citizens that depended on government employment opportunities by empowering local private investors. Therefore, the country allowed access to tourism joint enterprises. Additionally, the government legalized self-employment in tourism sector where the citizens were free to invest in tours and travel as well as other hospitality ventures. This led to the restructuring of tourism industry toward competitiveness and entrepreneurial flexibility (Cervino &Cubillo 2005).
Cuban Tourism Industry
Travel and tourism businesses in Cuba count for 9.9% employment opportunities in the country or 513,000 jobs as at 2017 (WTTC, 2017). This increased by 2.4% in the year 2018 to about over 5500,000 jobs which is 10% of the whole employment opportunities in the country (WTTC 2017). Further, as stated by Perez-Lopez (2013), opening the market for foreign investment has also contributed to promotion of Cuban tourism activities and the industry as a whole. Anfuso et al. (2014) stated that by examining and categorizing beaches and other tourists’ attraction sites, the government has been able to give specific support to coastal scenic businesses. Sights in Western Cuba 43 in number are categorized from top grade to low class. As observed by World Travel and Tourism Council (2017), the revenue from hospitality business in Cuba will have grown by 5.0% in mid 2018 and another 3.9% by 2028.
Political and Socio-economic issues affecting Cuban tourism industry
Carnally and Carmichael (2016) created a conceptual model that demonstrates how the government public policy has influenced the formation of a destination image, in Cuba. In this model by Carnally and Carmichael (2016), the United States foreign policies and its stand on the relationship with Cuba was analysed. The findings revealed that the image of Cuba as the leading tourism destination in an economy like Cuba that is solely driven by political structure, is influenced by powers of the government. This is because the government can use its powers to manipulate the image of the country as a potential destination for international visitors. Therefore, the recent changes in the political ideologies must have influenced the perception of international tourists as far as Cuba tourism industry business is concerned hence the recent upsurge in the tourists’ volume in the country. Moreover, another political point of view, examined how far the country can tolerate tourists from Western Countries devoid of compromise the socialist values reinforced by revolution (Wilkinson 2008).
The Progressive scientific Journal “Tourism Planning and Development” (2018) portray Cuban Tourism as uncertain due to the political system of the country. The abundant Western visitors in Cuba are perceived to impose their capitalistic way into the island country. This could make Cuba to go back to the period before and also the major contributor to criminal activities such as, prostitution, drugs and robbery (Wilkinson 2008). Some left stream sympathizers such as Wilson (2016) observed that tourism is the instigator, and the vehicle for the incidences of new drug dealers in the country. Wilson (2016) further argued that the reasons why Cuba is able to accommodate large number of tourists without damaging the system is because the tourists from western countries and do not consider plans within centralized state when making their trips to Cuba.
Reasons for tourists visit to Cuba
Tourist visit Cuba for variety of reasons. First is because of its revolution ideologists and political system that they have maintained for a long time since 1959 (Babb 2016). Visitors travel to Cuba to find more information on the ideologies that aided revolution. In addition there are those that visit Cuba to meet Castro, the revolution leader (Babb 2011). Babb, (2016) claimed that these blend of factors driving tourists to Cuba accounts attributes to the experienced global guest and facilitates economic growth in the country. Also, there are students and scholars who like travelling to Cuba for cultural studies and hence make part of tourists (Baerenholdt et al. 2004). However, the perception of tourism is that it alters behaviour, as well as shape attitude of visitors (Schwartz 1997). Tourism industry has transformed many countries socially, economically and culturally from their monoculture economy, Cuba cannot be the only exception.
Caribbean islands are known to be knotted in the socio-emotional countries and commoditisation of glamorous and natural landscapes for foreign visitors. Cultural depiction of visiting the sites in Cuba, as viewed through the lens of colonialists, is explained in the work of Morgan & Pritchard (2017). The study by Wilson and Latkova (2016) revealed that, visitors from the United States of America tourists view Cuba as a “forbidden fruit”, implying that it is pleasing to visit as the relic of communism. By fulfilling the enchantment and the political ideas before revolution, the tourism industry in Cuba has performed well even with unintended consequences that comprise of social inequalities and illicit trade (Babb 2011). Anthropological opinion as shown by Simoni (2013) in evaluating encounters between the Cuban citizens and foreign visitors showed that there are high degree of inequalities, gross misunderstanding, and reciprocal acts of exploitation. This can negatively impact the tourism sector.
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the methodology that was used in the study. It outlines research philosophy and design, research strategy and approach, data collection methods, and data analysis methods.
Research Philosophy and design
Research philosophy and design refer to a certainty which was held in the way data in a certain phenomenon are required to be collected, interpret and examined in a given set of study. Afuso, (2014) refers to philosophy as a set of relations found in a given institution. This study applied interpretive research philosophy where the elements in the study were interpreted and involvement of human interest in the research project. According to Lewis (2015), interpretive research philosophy seeks to deeply understand the topic of the study by applying observations or interaction. This study will observe the tourism trends and relates it with political system and changes. This philosophy was adopted because it enables researcher to examine enables researcher to see how the social reality can be constructed through meaningful conclusions.
Quantitative research design was applied in this research. Quantitative design focuses on the objective measurements, statistical or numerical analysis of data. The study used secondary data which was collected was from various scholars whose work relates to socio-economic and political issues and their relationship with the changes experienced in tourism industry.
Research Strategy and Approach
The research used a qualitative approach based on the secondary data which was collected from different databases and literatures. The quantitative method, initiated the methods that were suitable for an interdisciplinary tourism research system. In the case of this research paper example are drawn from the reports, literature works and travel guide books.
Data collection
The data was collected from online databases such as searches and the relevant academic journals and the articles based on Cuban Tourism in connection with the political system and foreign policy. However, the data was selective on the textual analysis style as the main method of data collection. There were over 15 scholar books which were used based on tourism in Cuba. Additionally, my research was extended to the online resources which were narrowed down by the use of the keyboard searches such as the Google scholar. Furthermore, the research data was gathered through the use of hyperlinks, citation and recommendations which involved the body of the research based on the specific research questions.
3.4 Reliability and Validity
According to Morgan & Pritchard (2017), reliability issues are one of the systems which are associated with the subject in discussion towards the study system of the research system. However, the extent of time which was used in answering the same instruments was basically obtained from the instruments of the organizational structure. The other researchers, however, used the same in obtaining and generating the same results while using the same system structural system. Validity method was also applied based on the scientific research method used in the research study. Some of the key factors which were considered include, the appropriate timescale for the study, appropriate methodology chooses, the sampling method of the study and secondary data collection.
Accessibility Issues
The accessibility which was encounter during the research study included unrealizable online searches, un-updated journals and low articles services. These accessibility issues hindered the research progress.
Limitation Study
There are various limitations which the research methodology faced while obtaining data on tourism systems in Cuba country. One of the limitations which the organization faced was in the formulation of research aims and objectives. The research and formulation were aimed at a broader dimension which will cover various research structures in the organizational system. Data implementation and collection also serve as a huge challenge to the growth and stability of the of the organizational policies systems.
Data Analysis
The secondary data was checked due to the period which the data was collected and the information which was in a period of five or more years. However, the data analysis was carried through a descriptive statistical method. The descriptive method analyzed a broader perspective of the information concerning data system structures. However, the statistical information was applied by the use of the Excel method which generates the relationship between the variables in the study.
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter presents analysis of the secondary data collected from various sites and scholars. The findings are based on the five main objectives of the study.
The relationship between political changes and emerging trends in the tourism industry
The first objective of the study was to examine the relationship between political changes in Cuba and emerging trends in the tourism industry. This was analyzed using descriptive statistics to compare the trends in the tourism industry from different years that Cuba experienced various political changes (Stephenson and Bianchi 2014).
Descriptive Statistics
Year
2003
2007
2008
2010
2013
2015
No. of visitors
321,000
204,090
212,909
2,205,928
2,542,123
3,872,212
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
The trend in tourism volume in Cuba from 2003 until 2015 has been on the rise. Between 2003 and 2007, the number of tourists fell 36%. This can be attributed to the US sanctions that occurred in 2004. In the following years, 2007 to 2008, the number of tourist rose by 4.3%. This is not surprising as there was a major political change when Fidel resigned from the country’s top seat. From the period Raul took over leadership of Cuba to the year 2015, when Havana restored diplomatic relations with Washington, the number of tourism rose by 1718% reaching all times high (Thomas, Kitterlin-Lynch and Lorenzo 2015). This is evidence that political changes have an impact on the emerging trends on the Cuban tourism sector.
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
The graph showed the analysed trend in tourism industry when Fidel Castro and seven years later with him out of power. The period between 2003 and 2007 showed mix trend a rise and fall of tourist level. However the increase of tourist number from 2008 to 2015 has been steadily going up.
Country
2005
2015
Dominican Republic
4,562,606
7,689 770
Puerto Rico
30, 69000
39,988,909
Cuba
321, 546
3,872,212
The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
Cuba has been one of the most preferred tourists’ destinations in the Caribbean Islands at number three behind Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.
Major political and socio-economic evident that defined tourism performance in Cuba
Notable political changes
Mean number of tourists “000”
Revenue million $
1991, collapse of USSR
124
9.4
1996 Trade embargo introduced by USA
75
2.2
2000 sale of drugs to Cuba approved by US house of representatives
164
119.5
2002 UN-Human Right criticised Cuba on its human right record causing diplomatic crisis
71
2.1
2002 introduction of socialist system of government following criticism by president George Bush
121
6.6
2003 EU halts high-level official visits to Cuba in protest at the country's recent human rights record
74
5.5
2004 US sanctions restrict Cuban family visit
65
3.3
2008 Raul ascends to power, salary equality policy abandoned, EU lifts sanctions
212
135.5
2011 National assembly approves economic reform encouraging private investment in hospitality and tourism industry and other sectors
1200
234.43
2014 EU and Cuba restores ties
2234
456.5
2015, US eases travel ban and lift sanction on Cuba
3872
578.56
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
There has been a decrease or increase in the number tourists depending whether the political change is negative or positive as far as the image of the country is concerned.
Correlation analysis was then carried on the table above. The results are as shown below
Correlation between Number of visitors and revenue from tourism industry
Number of tourists
1
Revenue
0.524
1
The correlation between number of tourist and revenue is positive one. This therefore means that if the political changes discourage foreigners travelling to Cuba, the revenue would also go down showing how political policies affect the tourism industry.
Challenges experienced by the tourism industry as a result of political changes
The second objective of this research was to establish the challenges experienced by the tourism industry as a result of political changes. It was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Most studies and databases showed that the decline in the volume of visitors is the major challenges the country’s tourism sector has been experiencing. This is demonstrated by 67% of the data collected (Planas et al. 2015).
Challenge
Percentage according to previous studies
Decline in the number of tourists
67%
Low revenue that can be used to expand and improve the sector
23%
Low investment by the local people on tourism related ventures
10%
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
When there is a negative political change, tourism industry face a challenge of declined number of tourists, low revenue from the sector and low investment by local people which therefore causes unemployment.
Political processes within which tourism has developed
Another study objective was to scrutinize political processes within which tourism has developed and its implication on Cuban and its people. This objective was analysed using descriptive statistics of percentages.
The result is as shown in the table below
Political process
Percentage
Improved diplomatic relationship with EU
14%
Improved relationship with USA, especially Obama policy of 2015
56%
Lifting of trade Embargo and ease of travel ban by international community
30%
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
From the data, tourism has developed through various political processes such as improved relationship with the United States of America has contributed significantly to the development of tourism sector in Cuba (Sweig and Bustamante 2013). For the periods Cuba experienced negative global image due to socio-economical and political crisis, the country experienced low visits. This is because; the EU and the US discouraged their citizens from visiting Cuba.
Contemporary landscape that shapes Cuban tourism industry
The fourth objective of the study was to identify contemporary landscape that shapes Cuban tourism industry. These are the features that attracts tourist to Cuba. Analysis of this objective was done using descriptive statistics.
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
Old Havana is the highly visited tourists’ attraction site in Cuba. The finding implies that in all tourists who visit Cuba, 23% of them would have visited Old Havana.
Measures to be adopted in order to increase the productivity and sustainability of tourism sector
The last objective of this research paper was to evaluate various measures to be adopted in order to increase the productivity and sustainability of tourism sector in the country. This was also analysed using descriptive statistics. From the findings, some of the measures that can help increase performance of tourism are as shown in the table below
Factor
Percentage score
Foreign Collaboration in the Tourism sector
26%
Government incentive and motivation to key actors in tourism sector
24%
Legislations that aims to give more space to private investment in the tourism industry
22%
Government policies that aims to encouraging domestic tourism
17%
Environmental protection policies especially on tourism attraction sites
11%
Source: The Havana Consulting Group (2013)
The data shows that collaborating with foreign investors would increase the volume and performance of tourism industry in Cuba. This implies that the firm will not only earn investors
