The Hershey sugar mill in Cuba: from global industrial heritage to local sustainable tourism development

ABSTRACT

Although now abandoned, the Hershey sugar mill represents much of Cuba’s history, heritage, culture, and economy. The associated company town, nature gardens, and electric rail line remain in use to date, albeit in deteriorating condition. This paper presents the history of Hershey investment and significance in Cuba, the current state of the site, and the results of an evaluation of the potential for developing the Hershey complex as a sustainable tourism destination and source of local employment. The study concludes that conservation of the site is a cultural imperative for Cuba, but with many obstacles and challenges. Incremental steps toward development may be feasible – particularly with growing potential for open tourism from the US.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural tourism
• economic development
• sustainable tourism
• heritage tourism
• Cuba
• industrial heritage

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Katherine Perry, University of Southern Mississippi Geography & Sustainable Development graduate, for her research on the history of the Hershey complex in Cuba.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Eros Salinas Chavez is a Researcher in the Institute of Tropical Geography, Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment. He holds a degree in Geography from the University of Havana, and a Ph.D. in Geographical Sciences from Kiev State University, Ukraine. He has worked in the tourism sector for 40 years in business and academic positions, including as Professor at the University of Havana and a postdoctoral position in Geographical Sciences at the Federal University of Southern Mato Grosso in Brazil. His research interests include tourism and local development, territorial planning for tourism, and ecomarketing of tourism products.

Frank A. Delgado Mesa is Director of Gastronomy and Lodging with the Cuban Petroleum Services Company (EMSERPET), Province of Mayabeque. He earned a degree in Tourism at the University of Havana. He has experience in the hotel and catering sectors, and is interested in the development of small bed & breakfast establishments.

Tony L. Henthorne is Professor of Hospitality Marketing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. Dr. Henthorne was a Fulbright Scholar to India and was the first U.S. marketing professor to be officially invited to speak at the University of Havana since the Revolution of 1958. He has traveled to, worked in and written about many countries of the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Anguilla, and Cuba, for over 30 years. His primary research interests revolve around tourism and resort development throughout the Caribbean.

Mark M. Miller is Professor of Geography at the University of Southern Mississippi, USA. He earned a masters degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. He served in the Peace Corps in Belize and with Catholic Relief Services in Guatemala. His research and teaching interests include tourism development in the Caribbean; economic development for low-income communities in Mississippi, the U.S. South, and across the U.S.; and local-level opportunities for sustainable economic development in the Developing World.