http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9517-0253
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ABSTRACT
Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the town of Viñales, this article addresses some key features, stakes and debates that characterize privately run tourist accommodations known as casas particulares, including important (dis)continuities in their evolution in the last decade. Praised by tourists as a way to experience the “real” Cuba and establish closer contact with Cubans, casas particulares exemplify the burgeoning private tourism sector on the island. In Viñales, their number has increased dramatically in recent years, engendering changes that have become a heated issue of debate among the town’s inhabitants. Examining the economic and social dimensions that characterize this form of tourist accommodation, its current developments, and their perceived impact on everyday life in Viñales, the article considers the tensions between ideals of hospitality and more business-oriented endeavours, uncovering the emerging controversies and moral economic critiques articulated by proprietors, tourists, and other inhabitants of this tourist town.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
ORCID
Valerio Simoni http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9517-0253
Notes
1 In the article, I interchangeably use casa and casa particular—the term used by research participants in Cuba—to refer to these privately owned tourist accommodations.
2 In November 2004, convertible pesos (pesos convertibles, CUC) officially replaced the circulation of US dollars in Cuba, with all exchange between CUC and USD being subject to 10% taxation.
3 These data are corroborated by León and San Martín (Citation2016), and Peters (Citation2017), who gives the number of 1,107 “private bed-and-breakfasts”, many with two or three rooms—a number that dwarfs the 193 rooms available in the state-owned Hotels operating in this rural town.
4 Trabajadores por cuenta propria (self-employed workers) also have to pay social security contributions, taxes for all extra workers they employ when these are over five, and can discount 10% of expenses in their final tax declaration (Mesa-Lago et al. Citation2016, p. 35, pp. 39–40).
5 Personal names and certain factual details have been altered to protect my research participants’ anonymity. Quotes from participants have been translated into English by the author, and are based on recollection after the events took place.
6 Cuban law forbids foreigners who do not have permanent residence in Cuba to buy property, and this explains why any such acquisition had to be formally carried out by Cubans for them. The implications of such deals and their impact on the relationship between the Cuban and foreigner at stake would deserve more attention than I can devote here.
7 An interesting parallel may be drawn here with the 25 interviews carried out by Mesa-Lago’s team to self-employed workers in Havana and surrounding provinces, which show that 76% of respondents thought that their products and services were better and/or different from those of their competitors, mentioning aspects such as quality, professionalism, integrity, originality, and security as elements of differentiation (Mesa-Lago et al., Citation2016, pp. 60–61).
8 Ana and Lubinski (2014) and Kozak (Citation2016) have highlighted the tension between narratives of the familiar and domesticity on the one hand, and the competing value of privacy and separation between hosts and guests on the other hand, a tension that Ana and Lubinski exemplify with the following remarks:
Many of the hosts and informants claimed that a very important aspect of renting a house was creating a family atmosphere for the visitors. Nevertheless, breakfasts are never shared with the hosts, who serve and prepare them: the ones who sit at the table in the living room are the tourists (2014, p. 121).