The Transformation of Tourism and Urban Space in Havana, Cuba

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses tourism-related transformations in Habana Vieja, the historic district of Cuba’s capital Havana, over the last three decades. It demonstrates the political background that fostered touristic development in Cuba besides its socio-cultural and economic consequences. While the expansion of tourism and the creation of private and market-based touristic segments were economic necessities in times of crisis, they also had negative impacts on the dwellers of Habana Vieja, such as increasing inequalities, the redistribution of social positions and opportunities as well as new forms of marginalisation. Our research indicates that the Office of the City Historian plays an outstanding role in both, Habana Vieja's restoration and touristification. Furthermore, we show that tourism's economic opportunities are spatially distributed unevenly, entailing increasing inequalities and dissatisfaction among the populace. Residents of tourism-favoured areas can even be affected by top-down displacements, excluding them from possibilities to earn decent incomes in tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban tourism
• Cuba
• cultural and social impacts of tourism
• heritage conservation
• local development
• transformation

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Mona Dürner and Jochen Bohn for supporting us in designing the maps for this article and in assisting in researching and preparing secondary data. Most of all, we would like to thank the people of Habana Vieja, who enriched this article with their views and statements in several interviews and many informal conversations. Mr. Völkening is grateful for financial support of the Young Researchers Travel Scholarship Program of the University of Augsburg.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The actual number is probably higher, as the building collapses in 2010 and 2011 were not registered by the authority

2 The official data of 2016 is based upon the steady accrual of the population census of 2012. The data of 1981, 2012 and 2016 applies to the intramuros area of Habana Vieja. Intramuros refers to the territory within the former city wall, i.e. the municipality of Habana Vieja minus the Consejos Populares of Prado, Jesús Maria and Tallapiedra.