The Evolving Service Qulture of Cuban Tourism: A Case Study

Tony L. Henthorne, Babu P. George and Alvin J. Williams

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The case examines the impressive growth of tourism in Cuba. It analyzes tourism development in a society striving to navigate its way economically amid numerous social and political challenges. The Cuban experiment with tourism is a short-term mega success. However, it is highly uncertain whether long-term sustainability can be maintained without the appropriate managerial changes at all levels. This paper highlights challenges in the tourism employment sector – training, supervisory issues, and performance evaluation, within a centrally-controlled bureaucratic system. Of specific interest is the disconnection between the natural hospitability of the Cuban people and low levels of tourist satisfaction stemming from a lack of professional hospitality. The paper concludes by focusing on the high relevance of the Cuban cultural identity as a key motivator undergirding the demand for tourism. However, with the rapid growth of tourism, strains are occurring in the cultural realm, thus requiring immediate policy intervention for sustained positive results.

Keywords: Tourism in Cuba; tourist satisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 M1 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-07-28, Revised 2009-09-13
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Published in TOURISMOS: An International Multidisciplinary Journal of Tourism 2.5(2010): pp. 129-143

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:25319

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