Tourism Apartheid and Sustainable Ground Level Tourism. A study of tourism policy and its implications on society in Cuba.
Jan Rutenborg
The Institute for Latin-American Studies Bachelor thesis 15p
Independent project 15 p
Latinamerikastudier 180 p spring 2020 Supervisor Andrés Rivarola
Examinator Magnus Lembke
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to put focus on sustainability and tourism in Cuba and to explore the phenomenon of "tourism apartheid” and its implications on human rights and sustainable development. This is done by studying prior research on the subject and secondary research sources as well as new material and data collected through qualitative and quantative methods.
This study tries to contribute to the overall research material regarding sustainable tourism with focus on Cuba and its circumstances by adding and analyzing new material as well as exploring the strategic measures Cuba has taken before in the tourism sector and in what direction Cuba is moving right now. The second aim of the essay is to explore the research gap that I have found in the literature which is the link between tourist apartheid and the lack of sustainable tourism and development. This is done by research in secondary resourses and by semi-structured interviews and surveys in order to get peoples opinions about this matter. Furthermore I try to make a contribution to the existing research gap regarding alternative touristmodels that better meassure up to the sustainable development criteria. This is done by introducing an old concept ,but in new form. It is called ground level tourism and I clarify the purpose, the structure and how it is linked to sustainable development in the essay in a special section. This form of traveling is not new as a concept but it is new to Cuba because of the Cuban authorities wish to have control over the tourist market. This is explained and discussed in the essay together with the concept tourism apartheid and with a brief resumé of the history of tourism in Cuba. At the end the new research findings are presented and analysed. Finally the conclusions drawn from the research and the findings is presented before the appendix.
Keywords: Cuba , Sustainable development , Sustainable tourism , Tourism apartheid, Ground level tourism.
Table of contents
Abstract 2
Introduction 4
Literature review 6
Theory 9
a) Theoretical framework 9
b) Tourism apartheid. 11
c) Sustainable tourism 15
d) Ground level tourism 17
Methodology 19
The history of tourism in Cuba 23
Findings and discussion 25
Conclusions 34
Bibliography 39
Appendix 42
Introduction
For many countries tourism is one of the biggest sources of income and contributes to the GDP and a balanced economy. When it comes to tourist destinations in general the negative impact of mass tourism on the local community is more often discussed. Furthermore, in line with later years sustainable development-related agenda different new approaches to tourism and how it is related to the sustainable development goals are in focus. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the above and more precisely the phenomenon ”tourism apartheid”. A phenomenon which, some writers claim exist as an exclusion tool impeding Cubans from access to food, products and secluded areas reserved for tourists. That is my first aim. Thus, my research question is does the tourism apartheid phenomenon exist in Cuba? My second aim is to find out if tourism apartheid can be linked to sustainable development and human rights? My third aim is to investigate if we can increase living standards and help the sustainable development by suggesting a modified tourism model? We can also call it hypothesises which are to be confirmed or refuted. 1. Tourism apartheid in Cuba exist because of the government´s efforts to protect the tourism industry and the socialist system. 2. It is linked to the sustainable development and peoples lives in a bad and no progressive way because it doesn´t give people opportunities to prosper. 3. A modified tourism model that allows tourists to live more closely together with the Cuban local community would improve the economic conditions for the local community in Cuba if the right political circumstances are there.
This issue is important to study because not only does it touch on the human rights aspect, but it also reflects how the tourism agenda in Cuba relates to sustainable development or lack of it.
However before I go in to details I think it is appropriate and helpful to briefly explain what tourism apartheid is. The tourism apartheid works in two ways. From the tourist perspective it gives the opportunity for travelers to escape their ordinary life and experience a new culture but under safe, comfortable and organized circumstances within a safe and undisturbed secluded area. You will have all the comfort you are used to at home giving you as a tourist a sense of familiarity. This is without having to experience too much of things like poverty,rough neighbourhoods,unpleasant encounters or polluted environment that is part of your travel destination as well. The Cubans you meet are working at the hotel or within the tourist arrangement. You go on tour arrangements to the traditional sights and you experience the main sightseeing in a clean and safe part of Havana. Perhaps you are passionate about salsa dancing so in the night you go to tourist salsa spots to have your “salsafix”. In other words you get just enough adventure and excitement to make you want to come back. You can call it the typical all
inclusive package tourist arrangement. Other examples can be the typical caribbean cruising trip aboard a cruise ship with stopovers in Havana (See Judd 1999 and his work on the “tourist bubble” phenomenon).This is one side of the coin you are expected and encouraged to see however the other side of the coin like poor living standards, scarcity of food, etc, you as a tourist are not encouraged to see. In shorter words the tourism apartheid phenomenon or “tourist bubble” as some writers prefer to call it can be explained as being physically in a foreign culture while socially outside the same culture. The term "tourist bubble" was invented or coined by (Judd 1999) in his attempt to explain social phenomenon like spaces where tourists stay and move with in secured and protected areas or enclaves without facing any unconvenient surrounding environment.
The term tourism apartheid has been used as well by several writers, Julie Mazzei among others but is refering to a different aspect of the same issue. Looking from the perspective of the local community you are on the other side of the “tourist bubble”, prevented to engage in comercial business and social contact if you are not working in the tourist area. You are not encouraged to interact with the tourists and the tourists are not encouraged to have to much contact with the local community outside the “tourist bubble”. This sometimes leads to in the case of Cuba to collateral effects as police harassment of citizens if you walk together with a foreigner. Private entrepeneurship is facing harsh competition and renting out a room privately is economically frawned upon if it is not under strict governmental control and regulated by heavy taxes permission fees etc. This effects brings us to the issue of seperation between two cultures hence the term tourism apartheid. I will go into this more deeply in the theory section of this essay.
Furthermore, in this essay the aim is as mentioned before to contribute a bit to what some writers call a research gap concerning this issue and perhaps contribute a bit with new data abouth tourism apartheid and opinions about that and if this is affecting the sustainable development of the society. I have choosen this path since there is a lot already written about tourism in Cuba, but on the other hand not so much about tourism apartheid in Cuba. As Michelle Rutty and Robert Richardson writes in their paper “The empirical data collecting and investigations on the issue Tourism apartheid is scarce” (Rutty and Richardson 2019:4). The difficulties of investigation in Cuba and scarcity of primary empiric data are mentioned by other writers as well as for example Mazzei.
“ While much of the literature on tourism in Cuba makes reference to “tourist apartheid,”
few if any studies undertake an empirical analysis of the intent or design of the policy, or whether “apartheid” accurately described the situation” ( Mazzei 2012:92).
My ambition is as well to link the two previous aims or themes (tourism apartheid and sustainable development) to a more prosperous path to the future by suggesting a modified tourist model that could help combat the effects of tourism apartheid and generate some of the possitive effects of sustainable tourism that empowers the local community. For the purpose of this essay the term Ground level tourism will be used when I discuss this model. This concept is nothing new and is applied by many countries as some kind of “back packing travelling” idea in an organized form. Costa Rica has for instance managed to enhance the tourist sector by linking it to the concept of pure, pristine nature and a healthy lifestyle (Pura Vida). Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru have something similar going on with their tourist sectors and their societies concection with the indigenous people and their relation to mother earth (Pachamama).
However this concept to live close with the Cuban community and the Cuban culture is to my knowledge new to Cuba as far as tourism strategies goes. This idea can be open to further investigations and will be explained in detail further on in this essay. The way my intention to reach the aims mentioned will be done is by research of previous observations and ground research by different writers and secondary analysis resources. I will as well conduct a small research based on the Cuban acquaintances. I will also try to give some perspective using sources of foreign travellers that have been to Cuba by interviewing them.
Litterature review
There are some studies and literature done on sustainable tourism in general but when it comes to Cuba the issue is a bit different. The reasons according to Rutty and Richardson which they describe in their work (Tourism Research in Cuba Gaps in Knowledge and Challenges for Sustainable Tourism 2019:4). is that there is the Cuban bureaucracy to handle, with permissions, time consuming waiting for things to happen, the Cuban authorities reluctance to be helpful instead of being suspicious. That is why I lean on secondary resources. The writers Michelle Rutty, Robert Richardson, Robert Feinberg, Robert Newfarmer together with Julie Mazzei are all crucial to my work since they have concentrated their work on Cuba, and they have served me as secondary research sources. Their work enhances the impact that tourism has on the sociocultural dynamics in the society and the Cuban authorities struggle to control this by using
”tourism apartheid” as a society controling device and an integrated part of the reinforcement of the socialistic policy. Meaning that they are trying to “protect” the Cuban culture as well as maintaining the socialist values and ideas protecting them from western world influences. On the other hand Mazzei writes that the term tourism apartheid might not be justified or used correctly. This is because it doesn´t measure up to the criteria that defines apartheid as an idea or ideology.
She quotes,
“ According to the Apartheid Convention apartheid is used “for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them” (International Convention Art. 2 quoted in Mazzei 2012:).
She goes on and refers to various statements by other writers and quotes for example Mesa-Lago
“while looking at different aspects of Cuban economic policy, one can categorize 'tourist apartheid' as the Cuban government discriminating against its people” (Mesa-Lago 2012). She moves on with discribing a whole spectrum of statements about the tourist apartheid phenomenon from very carefully stated arguments about restrictions and limited access to the dollar market to very extended statements beyond the tourist sector. Mazzei doesn´t question whether a discriminating system or discriminating effects of a tourist bubble effect exist. What is uncertain and remains unclear is whether the restrictions, seperation and economic conditions constitute apartheid, or if it can be described as some other tendency or policy? Nevertheless, it is necessary to look to other sources as well for information to have a broader picture of what is going on. Regrettably, available studies are almost exclusively based on secondary data and speculative scenarios of future development. Most published literature according to some writers, has focused on the historical evolution of tourism in Cuba, predominantly concentrating on growth trends and barriers to development within a socialist economy. Primary data is scarce, which limits the understanding of how Cubans perceive tourism development and how tourism development in Cuba is perceived by tourists (Rutty and Richardsson 2019). Therefore this research makes an attempt to fill this gap using data collected via more surveys, interviews, secondary research sources, supplemented by primary sources and information received by participating observation during my eight trips to Cuba between 1999 and 2019. I have for that purpose used a small but yet rich source of public opinions from Cubans I know in Cuba, Spain, USA ,Canada and Sweden and used their participation in the small research presented further on in this essay in the methodology section and findings section. This is people both within the
tourism sector and outside of it. However I will start this journey with my own encounter with the Cuban society and culture.
My interest and love for Cuba as a nation, culture and people began in the 80-ies with the discovery of the music genre they today call salsa. In 1999, I made my first real trip to Havana. I initially planed to stay around 2 months and then return to Stockholm, but since I got more and more emerged and also engaged in the Cuban society and as a consequence of that developed close ties to some people, friends, and the family I was staying with 2 months quickly became 7 months before going home. This gave me an opportunity to study music in the (Instituto superior de arte ) in Havana. I participated in the everyday life of the typical Cuban family on a ground level with everything that brings such as, difficulties to get hand on everything from food to sanitary items like soap, toothpaste and toilet paper. However, on the positive side of things I also got a more profound knowledge of the Cuban approach to handle difficulties, with sense of humour, storytelling, strong family connection, etc. I also got a more profound understanding of the spirituality and philosophy and the way of thinking in Cuban society such as attitudes towards the Cuban regime, Europe, USA , political standpoints, attitudes towards life in general, but also music and dance. Not forgetting the great impact, the 7 months stay had on my level of Spanish, continuously having to speak the language every day and in various situations to various people. All this had a great impact on my life, and I returned 8 times more.
Somewhere during the course of repeated visits an idea of organizing trips allowing people to experience Cuba the same way I did started to take form. With possibilities to empower Cuban families as a consequence and as an integrated part of sustainable tourism. This yielded a concept which I for the purpous of this essay call ground level tourism or ground level travelling which I talked about earlier and that will be explained later on in the theory chapter.
Theory
The theoretical or philosophical framework for this essay would be in this case a constructivist approach. The key issue in this theory is that you create the circumstances of reality within the environment you are present in buy interacting with it. As mentioned,
(Constructivism is ‘an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct or make their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the experiences of the learner,quoted in Elliott et al. 2000:256)
Constructivism and the social dimensions of it derrives as a concept from ideas and theories about human behaviour and development by Piaget,Vygotsky and Dewey. According to Gellof Kanselaar, Jean Piaget holds the position that the development of human intellect proceeds through adaptation and organization. Adaptation in turn is a process of assimilation and accommodation, where, on the one hand, external events are assimilated into thoughts and, on the other, new and unusual mental structures are accommodated into the mental environment.
(Gellof Kanselaar 2002:1)
Lev Vygotsky explanation is mainly relevant to the socio-cultural domain (socio-constructivist perspective). This type of constructivism derives from his theories about language, thought, and their mediation by society. It is to my understanding that constructivism holds that society evolves because humans interact, communicate and share their understandings and opinions to come up with a new reality. A reality that are not fixed but negotiated between various factors. That is why I argue that the Cuban society and its conditions are in constant change and together with this the possibilities to change the circumstances for people. Therefore I argue as well that by identifying obstacles that prevent sustainable development to happen (in this case the tourist apartheid) and suggest a modified tourism model, that will change the economical circumstances for the local community can help change momentum in the Cuban society. To clarify I mean by this politically, socially,economically and from a human rights perspective. I also base the research standpoint from the theory of the environmental bubble. A concept coined by Cohen that basically states that the typical tourist will experience a destination geographicaly and at some point culturally,but within the safe and familiar premises of the hotell and its arrangements hence the term “ bubble”.
This is also my point of departure when I try to connect the theoretical framework to the tourist apartheid or tourist bubble phenomenon and its negative implications to the local community.
Which in turn leads to weakness of the sustainable development from the human rights perspective and a lack of progressive movement in the Cuban society. It is important to see the link between the tourist apartheid which not only works as a strategy to maintain status quo in Cuba politically and socially wise but also work in line with the all inclusive tourist industry that designs a tourist product, which is economically favourable only for the economical elite, investors, banks, hotel chains, etc. Very few economic resources are "trickling down" to the local community. The tourist industry targets and attracts thru comercial advertisment and investment strategies a type of tourists that stay within the hotel premises and experience Cuba through the tourist money for them but, this brings few benefits for the local community. This in turn doesn´t lead to higher indicators of living standards or true empowerment of the local community nut, rather the opposite.
Thus, I try to see thru the lens of the conctructivist theoretical framework the links between tourism apartheid or the tourist bubble described by writers like Judd and Cohen and the tourism industry in the Cuban society and the effects it has on peoples living conditions and economy.
Adding to this we have a changing and more global world that interacts with the needs of a more sustainable tourism and with the need of introducing new tourism concepts and projects in order to compete with other destinations and sustain the Cuban economy. We have also a struggle between two political systems and the tricky task to accomplish for the Cuban government, of taking a middle way between maintaining socialistic and marxistic society structures and accommodate and ease a growing resentful population that wants higher living standards.
Furthermore, in this essay the process to come to a conclusion is going from a general collection of data to a small particular conclusion if the results show that the hypothesis that tourism apartheid exists or not as a excluding and discriminating concept in Cuban society is true. This has been done by conducting a research method that would either support or refute the hypothesis that tourism apartheid exists in Cuba and that ground level tourism is a way to increase the inclusion of Cubans into a more sustainable economic future and power over their lives. This is then linked to the sustainable development criteria. To further stress the importance of objectivity I will use a mixed method approach combining qualitative and quantitative research methods as I have found in the literature that this could be favourable in sociological studies by adding depth.
” Studies using quantitative methods often result in smaller sample sizes that reduce generalizability, or they lack the nuances of attitudes and perspectives that are revealed through the application of qualitative research methods”(Rutty and Richardson 2019 :5).
Alan Bryan points out in his book Social Research Methods that quantitative researchers often lean towards a desire to explain things. On that note concerns of causality and the possibility to explain why and how things work require more than just statistical analysis. That is why I suggest a mixed method approach using both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data. I am interested in why things are like they are. This will in my opinion add weight to the aspect of understanding the issue and improve the ability to generate findings that permit a causal interpretation to social phenomena. This gives more internal validity to the findings, and improves the completion of the aims of the essay. When it comes to a survey it is my belief that it is of great value to the study to ask both tourists and Cuban citizens about their experiences in
Cuba. This will give a broader perspective of the situation and a ”tourist point of view” can differ from that of a Cuban citizen. As Rutty and Richardson points out.
” Research involving the examination of the perspectives of both residents and visitors will inform the development of a sustainable tourism strategy that will meet economic, social and environmental goals” (Rutty and Richardson 2019 :5).
Tourism apartheid
The discriminating tendencies or structures against Cubans vis à vis the tourists coming to the island are questionable. The questions if, why and how are also feasible. Is there such a tendency in the Cuban society today? This question parts from the phenomenon that some scholars and researchers call ”tourism apartheid” and we can use this term further on in this essay just so we know what we are talking about. Just to clarify briefly what it is that I refer to when I discuss or mention this ”tourism apartheid pattern” or structure, I want to bring up some definitions on the subject by previous writers. As Susan Snodgrass says in her book and is quoted by Mazzei tourist apartheid is defined as “the systematic exclusion of Cubans as visitors from the island’s tourist hotels and resorts, making these places enclaves where native employees serve a foreign clientele” (Susan Snodgrass, 2001: 209 quoted in Mazzei 2012).
Once again in the same book she points out that Cubans are complaining about that they are excluded from access to areas where tourist have free access. She quotes Robert Schwartz when she says that Cubans complained of a ”tourism apartheid” when tourist police turned them away from hotel lobbies, beach resorts etc.
I agree with Mazzei on the points made above as well as what other writers like Elliot and Neirotti for example describing the reality and quoted by Mazzei in her book where they say foreigners enjoys ” lush facilities, numerous products and fine food while residents struggle in their daily existence”(Elliott and Neirotti, 2008). But this works both ways. This “unphysical wall” is not only preventing Cubans from entering into the protected and comfortable space of the tourists. The same system is preventing the tourists from entering the realms of the authentic and poor Cuba. Whilst some writers claims that this is a clear illustration of the discriminative side effects that comes with the system and patterns from colonial times where the black slaves served the white colonisers and higher classes and hence just a continuation of that discriminatory structure, the viewpoint is disputed by a range of writers ( See also diagram 1 for
information on business and work linked to race on page 25). They instead suggest that this is implications that the government is indeed trying to modify and adapt to the post-communist Soviet union aided era and protect the tourism capital so to speak from unwanted effects of robbery, crime etc. At the same time they invite new ideas of capitalistic strategies but within the realms of a socialistic state. A part of this new strategy was the dollarized dual economy introduced by Fidel Castro in 1994. This didn´t make the lives better for the ordinary Cuban citizen. As Mazzei states in her book,
“The totality of reforms and policies which made up the dual economy did not compromise the centralized nature of state power in Cuba (as some might have anticipated) but strengthened it.
The reforms provided the power elite with the privileged new role: gatekeepers to the new economy. They became the principal beneficiaries of the economic gains of the reforms, and the sole arbiters of access to these gains. The policies, some refer to as apartheid” (Mazzei, 2012:100)
In addition to this Rutty and Richardson claim in their analysis the following statement.
” In terms of understanding the sociocultural impacts, the limited available studies underscore the threat of tourism to revolutionary ideals of socialism, as well as the emergence of host- guest tensions”( Rutty and Richardson:2019 )
The arguments in the work of Rutty and Richardson as well as Mazzei put emphasis on the protective attitude of the Cuban government to maintain ths socialist political system whilst trying to adapt to a changing environment. Something that doesn´t benefit the Cuban citizen in general, but the political elite. I argue that there is such a thing called tourism apartheid or protective tendencies. What the previous research has shown about police behaviour towards Cuban citizens and black Cubans correlates well with my own experiences while spending time in Cuba. Especially in Havana. Nevertheless, further light on the matter could be shed in the findings after the investigation part in the study in the main body of this essay
This is also mentioned further in Mazzei ´s work and investigation in Cuba during her research and observations there and she mentions this several times in her book Negotiating domestic socialism with global capitalism: So-called tourist apartheid in Cuba where she states the following.
”I find here that while many found the prohibitions against Cubans accessing tourist facilities normatively problematic, including many Cubans, the system was incorrectly described as
“apartheid.” Indeed, the access restrictions in Cuba were one component of a broader system which differed from apartheid significantly in two constitutive ways: (1) the power dynamic between groups and (2) policy objective” (Mazzei 2012 :101).
Here Mazzei offers an alternative analysis of the phenomenon from a different perspective where she compares it to other previous forms of apartheid. In this analysis she doesn´t label what is going on in Cuba as apartheid since it does not meet the criteria above mentioned. However, the purpose can be discussed, but in my opinion in the end it has the same effect to the Cuban community. It is a separation between two groups (The Cuban community and the foreigners) and it establishes limitations to the less favoured group.
My second purpose with this essay is to link tourism apartheid to sustainable development and sustainable tourism. I find that some articles, papers and books has been written and discussed about ” Tourism apartheid” in Cuba before, but very little have been discussed how this is linked to sustainable tourism and about what we can call ground level tourism or with other words staying with a Cuban family on their terms and living with their conditions and living standards, participate in everyday life while learning the language and culture. This I argue justifies more thorough and more frequent studies since there is to my understanding a research gap in this field. This so called ”apartheid” or separation tendency between tourists and Cubans described here correlates well with my own experiences of Havana and Cuba in general as well as data collected thru interviews and surveys. This system has a huge impact on my research and the question and it is vital for the ”ground level tourism idea ” since it has great implications because of the Cuban authorities reluctance to permit foreigners to stay with an ordinary family without the knowledge and control of the authorities. As well as their reluctance to permit any higher economic revenues for the Cuban family. This is a capitalistic idea clashing with the socialist defensive dogma. The Cuban authorities rather want you as a tourist to stay in expensive hotels or at least government controlled Airbnb ( Casas particulares). As we shall see later the possibility of renting out and combate the international “government approved” tourist sector is not only complicated, but it is also linked to race. The Cuban tourist industry is one of the biggest sources of incoming cash flow to the country there is. Therefore is is important that the inflow of tourists is high and constant. On the other hand the government doesn´t want the socialistic ideas to be corrupted. Because of this the government is very controlling and “picky”
when it comes to regulating this sector. A large amount of tourist police are placed in Havana and are” checking out” the Cuban community that is involved with tourists. For instance, many times
if you are walking with Cuban friends you most likely are going to be stopped by the police and asked to show your passport and your Cuban friend or friends are checked as well. This statement is backed up also by other researchers and adds weight to the statement about the existence of tourism apartheid. To further emphasize this Mazzei mention in her work,
(The Cuban government also limits its citizens’ visits to hotels frequented by foreign tourists.
There are tourist hotels, which often have hot water, toilet paper, sometime internet, and other common amenities in hotels in the capitalist world. There are Cuban hotels, which are much cheaper but lack those amenities. The same thing happens with transportation. There are tourist buses and trains and Cuban buses and trains. The tourist modes of transportation are of better quality and are more comfortable (Mazzei, 2012 ).
Of course this is for protection for the tourist as well, but mostly it’s a frustrating issue and is put in place for controlling the Cuban population, since the tourist sector is of such importance and cannot afford to take risks. In Cuba due to the poverty the crime rate and robbery in association with tourism is increasing steadily. The difference between Cuban circumstances and a tourist is evident and is sustaining this development in society. People are angry and the tourism apartheid system is a way to try to control this.
Regarding any future introduction or a modified tourism model it is of course necessary to collaborate with the authorities in any project. My further reading and research will be concentrated to identify if my idea of integrating foreigners into ordinary Cuban families is something, we can call a research gap or if there have been previous articles or studies done on this matter. My thought with this idea which I further on will call ”ground level tourism ” is that it might be useful to combat the low pay for Cubans associated with the ordinary tourism section since the most of the income from tourists goes to taxes and fees and salaries are poor.
Sustainable development and tourism.
Sustainable development has been debated for some time and is conceptualized as a part of the way a country takes in the path towards a higher level of living standard, GDP, Gjini coefficient, HDI and equality indicators, economic growth, education, health ,clean water eradicate poverty etc. A popular debate within the sustainable development world concerns the idea that the local community should benefit from the” fruits of tourism” in both short and long-term perspective.
This is one of the main purposes of this essay to find out if there is a niche to discover that can contribute to accomplish this and a more equal and sustainable tourism. Rutty and Richardson
says in their work the following,
” In a series of interviews with Cubans, almost all participants indicated that Cubans are generally resentful towards tourism because it fuels inequality and exacerbates racist attitudes and discrimination” (Rutty and Richardson 2019:3)
This might show that Cubans are not receiving the fruits of tourism in such a way that are anticipated. I argue that the Cuban in general have nothing against tourists in general, but the way in wich the tourism is conducted. They don´t feel that the it effect their lives in a possitive way and that the sustainable development goals are not achieved. I argue that this depends on which Cuban citizens you are asking. For example, in the short survey and few interviews I managed to do in a short period of time the results points in a different direction which I will show in the findings section.
What is sustainable development? According to the UN General Assembly there are 17 goals in the narrative of sustainable development which can be filtered down to four main areas and four sub conditions for sustainable development. They are the social, cultural, ecological and economic criteria. When we talk about sustainable tourism these criteria should be involved in the concept. Tourism is for many developing countries an important and crucial part in the economy and is viewed upon as a way of contributing to this path of sustainability. With my proposal with the concept ground level travelling I believe there is a possibility to include these criteria. Regarding the completion related to the four sub criteria for sustainable development, the social, cultural, ecological and economic criteria are as follows.
1)The social criteria is met since the Cuban community gets to know people from different cultures during a longer period.
2.The cultural criteria is met because if you live with a family under their conditions as a part of their family so to speak, you get emerged in a different way in the culture as opposed to what you would have been if you stay in a hotel or a Airbnb.
3) The ecological criteria is met since you stay with a family and food, utensils etc are recycled.
You do your own laundry, you waste less water, you eat what the family eats, you use less plastics disposals etc.
4) The economic criteria is met since the chain from the earnings is shorter. More money trickle
down to the family, instead of hotel managers, hotel owners, restaurant owners etc. The big problem with the last criteria is of course the allowance fee and taxes that needs to be payed to the Cuban state, but I can see in the future that resistance towards capitalism and enterprising in small scale are lightening up. However more evidence of this needs to be shown.
What about the implications of the Cuban state and the necessity to collaborate with authorities?
When in power the governments need to do two things.
1. To make sure that the economy of the state is progressing and growing in a reinforced way taking care of its resources and citizens. 2. To reinvest the gains back into the society in a way that make every citizen happy in order for them to sustain the trustworthiness in the eyes of people and maintaining the support of the people. If these two aspects are met, then we are on the road to stability and sustainability. The two are linked together obviously but the second issue is more of a complex issue. Politicians and presidents can be attracted to easy ways of speeding up the commodity export process by for instance, large scale investments, free markets policies, attracting foreign investments, taking loans from IMF or the World bank etc, without thinking of the socio- economic or environmental consequences. In terms of sustainability this approach is not very favourable. It´s understandable because it gives political relief for the moment, a short-term advance in the economy and keeps some sectors happy but has a short term, short cyclic perspective. I argue that old power structures, ideologic control systems, economical bureaucratic barriers together with not so transparent but existing discriminating structures like tourism apartheid need to be addressed critically and international relations with for instance USA that was initiated with B.Obama have to continue. In this new context the concept of ground level tourism could be a part of that path towards increased prosperity. As argued,
” Experts agreed that the Cuban government should prioritize sustainability to provide long- term, solutions to its current growth problems. They identified three key facets of sustainability (social, economic, and environmental), which should be considered in relationship to each other when developing policy.” (Executive Summary Sustainable Development: The Path to Economic Growth in Cuba : April 6, 2017)
The other question is how could a concept of sustainable tourism be a part of the sustainable development policy? Will it improve poverty figures, create job opportunities, increase GPD/
capita,the Gjini coefficient ranking etc? How will the government of Cuba distribute the revenues and reinvest the money? How will they manage the inequality gap and discontent
people? Cuba needs a change and possibilities for people to feel hope that they can move forward out of poverty and low living conditions. I argue that ground level tourism could be a positive option to improve these issues. The Cuban authorities are walking a fine line in the shadowland between allowing “capitalistic ideas to grow in a small scale while still maintaining the socialistic state and it´s principles intact.
”Despite these challenges, scholars widely agree that Cuba urgently needs to adopt sustainable tourism principles and practices if the industry is to be successfully harnessed as a means to achieve national development goals” ( Tourism Research in Cuba: Gaps in Knowledge and Challenges for Sustainable Tourism (Rutty and Richardson 2019)
As some of the findings will show ( see the interviews in appendix 4). It all depends on how much the Cuban authorities are willing to adapt to the situation and in what way the Cuban society are chaning. In what direction will it move?
Against or together with the rest of the surrounding environment. This brings us to the next step. The presentation of a modified tourism model.
Ground level tourism
I would like to take some time to explain and introduce the concept of what the tourist industry call ” ground level tourism” so we further on in the essay knows what we are talking about. It´s a term that depicts in reasonable way the character and nature of a certain type of travelling. One can look at it as a form of organized backpacking travelling with a cultural immersion. It distinct itself from ordinary travelling in various ways. The idea has been to create a concept of sociocultural tourism where small groups could visit and stay with Cuban families and at the same time do cultural activities such as salsa dancing, attending the Havana musical scene and attending Spanish lessons. This would give the customers an opportunity to be emerged in the Cuban society and to have an overall experience of Cuban culture and Cuban everyday life.
What would distinguish it from the” protected all-inclusive tourist package” is that you will not be” protected” from the more rural, casual, ordinary humble lifestyle Cubans live . The positive side is that you will have a more authentic cultural experience. The negative side could be that you cannot expect any” luxury elements” during your stay that you would find in a hotel or state controlled Air bnb´s ( Casas particulares). If that is something you are not willing to give up, then this concept is not for you. This does not mean that it must be uncomfortable or unclean, but the concept is on the terms of the Cuban local community. Regarding the sustainable development part of this concept the socioeconomic part would be of great importance since within the concept is the part where the Cuban population gets their fair share piece of the pie
and the money in circulation is trickling down to the families participating in the project. There are already organisations like SIDA , Svalorna, Swedenabroad etc, that have within their program of development several programs where you as a foreigner can go there and help, but also travelling companies or Spanish course companies like KILROY, Goxplore etc, that organizes and have a concept around cultural immersion at the same time as you learn the language. Also socialistic organisations have” study trips” where you stay close to the community.
What would distinguish this concept from” older versions” is that people wouldn´t stay in freshed up high standard Airbnb’s or have a” cultural wall” between themselves and the Cuban community. Moreover, the governmental control would be less involved since it will not be conducted thru any ideological organisation. This is perhaps possible if the bureaucratic impediments will be less hard in the future with Cuba adapting the economy and the society to a less rigid form of socialism. This will make it more of a” privatized project”. The main interest would be to attain to the sustainable development criteria and the economic benefits of the Cuban citizens and families receiving the tourists. Ground level tourism is also more sustainable for the community if families are involved and get sufficient economic benefit out of the agreement. Since one of the main purposes of this essay is to find a research gap in the sustainable tourism field, I argue that this concept is worth exploring. Even more so now when there are signs of Cuban policies” opening up” slowly. Like I mentioned before in this theoretical section the four main sub groups of sustainable development are met with this concept,which indicates that this way of travelling could be favourable in many ways, but a lot more research can be made in this area since there are little research done on this matter.
If one should compare with the sustainable tourism path that some other Latin American countries have taken that distinguish itself from the ordinary travel package the most successful could be the case of Costa Rica for instance the ”ecological, environmental” take on tourism development and a focus on nature, or untouched communities, small business, closeness in the production chain between the seed to the final product, involving local population etc. This has grown to a tourism industry within this particular field. One can say that Costa Rica already discovered, covered and succeeded within this field. Other Countries are following suit and are trying to copy the” blueprint”. Nature is the strong point of Costa Rica but, in the case with Cuba it would include more of the cultural aspect rather then the parameter nature apart from maybe some diving offshore, or going to Viñales, or Sierra maestra but, culture and music would be key points since they are the Cuban strong points.
One of the obvious questions is how well this approach will correlate with the Cuban authorities? The Cuban version of the Air bnb concept ( Casas particulares) where you as a tourist or client rent an apartment or small house is already a common sight in Cuba. Especially in Havana, but also in other places like Varadero or Trinidad. For the tourist this is a convenient way of solving the issue with living and sleeping. It involves little effort, it´s often cheap.
(around 20-30 dollars) in Havana. Sometimes less sometimes more depending on high or low season and supply and demand. For the typical Cuban owner of the apartment though the procedure is all but easy and comfortable. First, you need to go thru a long process of paperwork and investigation of your privacy and circumstances from the Cuban authorities and tax institutions. You then need to comply to a detailed contract that dictate the conditions which usually includes a huge tax in favour of the Cuban tax system and authorities.
This contract or licence includes restrictions and regulations like for instance that only you and your family can run the business. In addition to that follows a rigid and strict control mechanism which basically means that you need to report the status to the authorities every 5 th day. The money you earn is limited due to the fact that a large bit is consumed by the taxation and other costs and the licence fee hence the economic profit is based upon the ability to rent out on a regular basis and to multiple customers. If you have only one room for instance the income will be very small ,but if you have 2 or 3 rooms or even different apartments you will be better of in the long run since that level out the costs and taxes. That is of course in case that there are sufficient customers.
To conclude this part of the essay, I want to comment what is to come further on. Firstly, after the methodological section where I discuss my choices of methods of data collection and analysis concepts more in detail comes a brief summary of the history of tourism in Cuba then the last part will be the findings, results and the conclusion part.
Methodology:
Doing research in Cuba can be time consuming, difficult and challenging and one have to deal with Cuban bureaucracy ,scarcity of some sources, the challenge of gaining people´s trust in order to conduct interviews etc, but nevertheless a research can be done and has been done before. Due to these difficulties mentioned above and to the fact that the time for this essay is limited my approach has been to use secondary analysis of data done by other researchers. I have used papers, articles, books, official statistics and thesis work for this purpose. This have given me more time to analyse the data. In addition to this data I have added a small research of
my own using the acquaintances, friends and family I know here in Sweden as well as in Cuba, Spain and Canada and the USA.I claim that apart from the time aspect, using secondary analysis resources can give opportunity for longitudinal studies over a period of time for future studies, which I find beneficial since my own survey is so small. That could sometimes yield some results of a possible change in phenomenons and structures. I will look at the data collection objectively and will try to point out both strengths and weaknesses in my own small research as well as the work of other writers. I am only observing the reality though I need to be careful with the impact of my own experiences so that they don´t colour the results. In addition to the above mentioned it is noteworthy to point out that since the material assembled from my own survey and datacollection thru interviews is so small, I have narrowed down my research question to be really specific. The limited data is of course a weakness in my research, but is compensated by the over all addition of research on trhe subject and the mixed methods approach. It is worth to point out that possibly any weakness in my own observations from my eight trips to Cuba could be that there is no form of structured observation schedule, coding scheme or organized longitudinal observation to ensure a non-reactive or bias implication. One could say that it has been a form of participatory observation. Just me living with Cuban citizens in Havana interacting with society. On the other hand, the observations are comprised of interaction with the Cuban society over a period of 21 years. To further compensate for any weaknesses, I find it of value to add a questionnaire together with a coding scheme as well as interviews and secondary analysis resources in order to give the study and the essay more empiric strength. I have decided to adapt the deductive research approach after reading the prior research on the matter tourism apartheid and will part from the assumption that the concept tourism apartheid exist. My theoretical stance is that one could conduct a deductive analysis to reach a conclusion based on the data found and fact that are concrete and conductible taken the points above in mind.
Furthermore, I want to enhance the importance of a diverse approach of both quantitative and qualitative research methods and a holistic research design approach since this gives the study a more in depth result and less generalizability which in turn has an influence on reliability and validity. The internal validity in terms of rigor and consistency in the research is assured from the choosing of samples which represent a large variation of people in terms of age, sex, race, skin colour and profession. However on the other hand in terms of reliability and the possibility to make generalized assumptions and conclusions drawn from the results are a bit compromised since the best would be to repeat surveys, investigations and so on in such a way that over a long
time that a conclusion of higher reliability is possible. After all in this case this is just a small questionnaire and a couple of interviews, but the field is open for further surveys in the future.
The combining of mixed research methods is supported by other writers and researchers like Rutty and Richardson for instance.
The term “mixed methods” refers to an methodology of research that advances the systematic integration, or “mixing,” of quantitative and qualitative data within a single investigation or sustained program of inquiry. This is done for complementary reasons when you might want to get a deeper understanding for a problem that a single research design such as only quantative methods for example can give. This can be done in the interpretating fase or the conclusive fase.
The most common and well-known approach to mixing methods is the Triangulation Design (Creswell, Plano Clark, et al., 2003). The purpose of this design is “to obtain different but complementary data on the same topic” (Jance.M.Morse 1991:122). This is done to better understand the research problem. Methodological triangulation is the use of at least two methods, usually qualitative and quantitative to adress the same research problem. When a single research method is inadequate, triangulation is used to ensure that the most comprehensive approach is taken to solve a research problem. (Morse 1991:120). Thus, I am going to examine the data of four different sourcemodels ( Prior research from other writers, a survey in form of a questionaire , a serie of interviews of tourists and finally observation thru my own experience. I am going to analyse the results and subject them to the triangulation model described below.
The convergence model represents the traditional model of a mixed methods triangulation design (Creswell, 1999). In this model, the researcher collects and analyzes quantitative and qualitative data separately on the same phenomenon and then the different results are converged (by comparing and contrasting the different results) during the interpretation. Researchers use this model when they want to compare results or to validate, data collection, analysis, results confirm, or corroborate quantitative results with qualitative findings. (Cresswell 1999:65)
Inspired by the constructivist theoretical framework ( see Vygotsky and Piaget) that I explained in the theory section. I settled for a variety of designed methods for collecting data to get a more holistic and in-depth picture of what is going on in the Cuban society and simply to gain a deeper understanding and as many perspectives as possible. The methods that has been used apart from secondary sources like previous studies found in the literature about Cuba and it´s society are questionnaires designed with the Likert scale in five levels handed out to or mailed to
people in Cuba, Miami, Spain and in Sweden as well as interviews with a family in Havana, and their relatives now living in Miami ,Eskilstuna, Piteå and Stockholm.
Regarding the sampling strategy I have opted for a random sampling strategy when it comes to tourists visiting Cuba and a more structured sampling strategy when it comes to the Cubans participating in my survey about tourism apartheid and sustainable tourism. This will be samples from various groups regarding age, sex, skin colour and profession. There are people that have been working in the tourist sector working as hotel receptionists, bouncers, or as waiters in restaurants as well as people that have their backgrounds within other fields of work like musicians or dancers or hairstyling. Their age gap is between 21 and 82.
All of them has received a questionnaire in hand, by mail, Facebook or SMS. A few I managed to interview by phone, Skype or WhatsApp. Designed open question interviews in the interview section has I believe served to understand more why the participants felt the way they did about the conditions in Cuba. It also served to give a more explinatory pointview on the questions and adding more extended answers. To add further depth and validity to the study I used my connections with Swedish people that have gone to Cuba for sun and pleasure or for cultural trips like salsa trips. All this will be analysed and compared to other sources in the litterature.
The methods used for increasing the quality of the study were also chosen with a complimentary purpose in mind. This in order to compensate for the weaknesses associated with one method and strengthen the study as a whole giving it a more holistic view. I will use what is called a
´progressive theoretical sampling´ which means that the selection of specific material is based on gaining information related to my research question. I believe that when it comes any value of a sociological study the more material of different kind you have the better. I argue that my own experiences and interaction with locals have some value.
I´m concentrating the investigation on four different focus groups.
1. Cuban families that have received foreign tourists into their homes to stay for a while.
2. Tourists that have stayed in the homes of Cuban families for a while.
3. Tourists that have stayed in ordinary hotels, hotel complexes or casas particulares catered for western tourists.
4. Cubans that are or have been working in the tourist sector.
This groups were asked to participate in the investigation and then subjected to various tools of investigation such as questionnaires surveys and interviews. The persons have been garanteed anonymity. In the cases an interview is possible there will be both open and closed questions.
During the analysis stage, feedback from the focused groups would be compared to determine areas of agreement as well as areas of divergence in the secondary sources to see if we can find any results that can help us refute or sustain the hypothesis. This adds weight and quality to the study and therefore I argue that this strategy is justified by increasing the validity and utility of the findings that we hope to get when the investigation is finished. The hypothesis are threefold.
1.Toursim apartheid exist in Cuba
2. It´is effecting the sustainable development criteria in a bad way.
3. Sustainable development can be increased and helped by introducing a modified tourism model that allows everyday interaction between the Cuban local community and tourists.
In the following chapter of the thesis I will present a brief resumé of the tourism history in Cuba followed by the presentation of the results of my research.
Cuba’s history with foreign tourism:
Cuba has during a long time been a tourist destination with focus on Sun, beach, leisure and culture. During the 30-ies Havana was one of the top destinations for gaming, casino, drinks, party and fun. Havana was known as Paris of the Antilles to which U.S thronged and thrived for its forbidden enticements and never-ending cabarets, liquor, drugs etc. Many luxury cruise ships included a stop in Havana on their route. This took a dive after the 1959 revolution,
” After the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, international tourism in Cuba nearly disappeared as the revolutionary government associated international tourism with “the capitalist evils of corruption, drugs, social inequality, and racism”(Taylor Jr .Louis,Henry & McGlynn,Greenough,Linda 2009: 406).
A year before the end of the Revolution, the number of international tourists to Cuba was over 270,000; in 1959 after the Revolution, the number of tourists plummeted to 4,000 (Taylor Jr. &
McGlynn, 2009:406). The tourists coming to Cuba was more than often Russian tourists or people from the” east block or Soviet Union. When reading about Cuba´s history as a tourist destination I came across information like the following.
” The revolutionary government in Cuba did encourage domestic tourism as a way for Cubans to vacation and learn about the country. In the 1976 by creating the National Institute of Tourism (INTUR), the government began to take a more active approach to developing the better infrastructure and policies for tourism”. (Colantonio & Potter, 2006 :25).
The number of tourists to Cuba began to increase steadily from the 1970s to 1990, when about 300,000 people visited Cuba (Taylor Jr. & McGlynn, 2009:406). Despite the decline in the 60- ies 70-ies Havana and Cuba´s reputation revived once again in the 80-ies as a tourist destination.
Then when the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba lost most of its trading partners and export market as well as economic help and was in need of hard foreign currency. Fidel Castro and the Cuban government reluctantly accepted the economic reality that one way to obtain hard currency was by developing international tourism. After decades of poor transport infrastructure and poor tourism infrastructure the Cuban government was under pressure to update these two areas in order to maintain the international interest for Cuba as a tourist destination. Not only because of the money the tourists were spending, but also the increase in foreign investment in the tourist sector. Fidel Castro introduced a dual currency system with two currencies coexisting at the same time. 1. The” Cuban peso” which the Cubans used to buy cheap food and merchandise, and another currency named” Peso Cubano Convertible” or CUC, which Castro made equal to the dollar and was meant to be used by the tourists in special “dollar stores”. At the same time US dollars were also circulating and used as a paying device. The only way for Cubans to get hold of CUC or dollars was to get involved with the tourist industry or maybe with the usual”
tip” at restaurants or as a taxi driver. This furthermore lead to the enforced tourism apartheid mechanism. After the death of R.Castro the higher pressure on the Cuban economy and raised voices from human rights organisations to ”modernize” the Cuban society the authorities in Cuba were forced to adapt. The tourism sector is increasing in importance and the Cuban authorities know this. To meet sustainable development goals as well as attracting foreign investors they need to meet the needs for a more transparent and open society, as well as increase the living standards for the island´s population. As stated by the Executive Summary Sustainable Development Department,
” As it prepares for the post-Castro era in February 2018, Cuba has the opportunity to reenergize its economic reform agenda to promote sustainable growth and stability on the island. To do so, the country will have to emerge from its current state of economic stagnation, heavy reliance on imports, unsustainably low state wages, and ongoing brain drain ”(Caitlyn, D, Piccone,T. 2017)
Results, findings and discussion.
In this part I will present data collected from various sources like The Human Development Report 2019 and other reports, working papers, secondary sources like books, articles, other thesis researches etc. I will also present the data collected from the questionnaire handed out to 20 Cuban citizens. I will furthermore I will present the data in organized form and discuss it.
The human development report, other data, the questionnaire and the data collected in full will appear in the appendix section of this document. One of the main purposes with this essay was to find out if there is a mechanism in the Cuban society that impedes the Cuban population to thru their own effort increase their general standard of living ,economy and possibilities to start private businesses. One of the ways to do that is to have a look at how Cuba is doing at the moment in terms of HDI index, the Gjini coefficient etc, but even more in the context of underlaying structures that involves racism or barriers for Cuban citizens to prosper. One thing that illustrate this is the following diagram taken from a working paper by Katrin Hansing and Bert Hoffmann, where you clearly can see how different business activities are occupied by blacks and whites in Cuba. As shown in table 1, the indicator for people that rent out rooms there is a big difference between white Cubans and black. The table shows that 30 % of the white population have the oportunity to rent out while only 2 % of the blacks have that possibility. If you look at the restaurant business 4% of the white Cubans own a restaurant while the number for blacks Cubans are 0. On the other hand the black population are mainly concentrated whithin the craft and as vendors. This shows a big discrepancy between working oportunities that normaly give a bigger income such as private entrepeneurship. This also shows that possibilities to start a private business within the tourism sector like open up a restaurant, paladar or rent out rooms also are linked to race. If we single out the two activities that gives highest revenues, room rentals and restaurants we can see that almost all the market is in the hands of white Cubans. This correlate bad with the sustainable development criteria as well as the human rights index. This gives the issue with discrimination another dimension. This two diagrams below are indicators in my point of view that there are much more to be done within the equity, social justice, and human rights work in Cuba.
Table 1. Source: Cuba´s new social structure. (Hansing,Katrin,Bert Hoffman 2019:21)
Since the Cuban revolution 1959 one of the main focus points regarding the social engineering of the Cuban society has been the erasing of discrimination issues related to race and equity and egalitarian issues between men and women. This data clearly conveys that this has not been successful enough. The business that generally generates the most netto income (renting and restaurant service) are mainly a “white” occupation. This clearly shows that the fruits from tourism and the susaitinability from an equal opportunity and human rights perspective, doesn´t apply to the whole community. Other data below confirms that Cuba has medium high or bottom scores in other areas concerning socio -economic sustainability.
This data below in table 2 is taken from the Human Development Report 2019. It is clearly visible that Cuba does not have any HDI indicators in the top third range. Cuba has 4 indicators in the middle third range whereas 3 are in the economic sustainability sector and 1 in the social sustainability sector. It also shows that Cuba has 2 indicators in the bottom third sector regarding social sustainability and 1 indicator in the same range regarding the economical sustainability.
Overall, this puts Cuba in the middle between Panama and Bolivia and Venezuela when it comes to Economic sustainability and last after Venezuela, Bolivia and Panama regarding the social sustainability. I argue that this two diagrams establish that neither the tourism industry nor the sustainable development and equal opportunity process is gracefull to everybody in the Cuban society. ( See table 2 below). This leaves us something to think about.
Table 2 Source: Human development report 2019. (available at: See bibliography.)
To further investigate in this matter and figure out if this data correlates with the standpoints of Cuban citizens in this matters I will further on present the results of the questionnaire and the interviews.
Results from the questionnaire.
In the questionnaire survey participated 20 Cuban citizens. They were all connected in one way or another to me as friends or brother to a friend or girlfriend/boyfriend to a friend etc. Nine of them are living in Sweden, 2 in Spain, 1 in Canada,2 in USA, and 6 in Cuba. As we can see as well I have divided the group in three parameters, namely Age, Sex, Race or skin colour. So to explain the coding scheme we can start with the left column where the question appears.( to see the questions and the questionnaire in full go to appendix 2) (To see the coding scheme in full see appendix 1.) Then as you look to the right the Likert scale comes followed by the numbers of people that used that number to convey their opinion in that question. Then at the far right comes the four subgroups of skin colour or race and finally where the persons live. The reason why I added race as a parameter is that I thought it would be interesting to see if there were any differences in opinion between let´s say mulattos and blacks or white and blacks. The parameters sex and age are interesting because age might convey a different point of view taken from the fact that the society is changing with time and a 75 year old person might have experienced a different society then a 25 year old person. The same thing goes as far as males and females.
Here below I will put the results in 4 diagrams. The markers in different colours are from left to right. a) I don´t agree at all. b) I might agree a little bit. c) I more or less agree. d) I´m very certain that it is true. e) I´m 100 % sure it is true / I agree 100 %. The questions are put before every table/diagram. When it comes to the first question refering to the existence of tourism apartheid and related to race recalculated to percentage are as follows. We can see that out of those 11 persons answered with the 5 on the Likert scale which indicates that they agree 100%
with the statement that tourism apartheid exist, 5 of them were black indicating that 5 of 7 ( 71,4 % ) of the black participants in the survey are 100 % convinced that tourism apartheid exist. Furthermore 3 of them were mulattos indicating that 3 of 5 highly agreed giving us 60 %.
Then we have 3 white persons answering with number 5 on the scale giving us 75 % thus 3 0f 4.
Continuing with number 4 on the scale 4 persons responded with that number on the scale. One was white/mulatto giving 25% or 1 of 4, one was mulatto giving us 20 % or 1 of 5, and 2 were black giving the result of 28,5 % or 2 of 7. Regarding the number 3 on the scale 1 white person responded with that number giving us 25 % or 1 of 4. No person responded with number 2. Four persons responded with number 1 on the scale. Three were White/mulatto (75% or 3 out of 4).
One was mulatto which gives us 20% or 1 of 5. The results are shown in form of a diagram below ( Table 3).
Table 3
Question 1. Do you agree that tourism apartheid exist in Cuba?
Link scale 1 Link scale 2 Link scale 3 Link scale 4 Link scale 5 0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Question 1
Whites Wh/mul Mulatto Black
As shown in table 4 below that deals with question two we can see that six persons answered with number 5 on the Likert scale giving us a percentage of 30%. Number four on the scale were
also used by six persons giving us the same result, 30 %. Continuing with number three on the scale three persons used this number giving us 15%. Moving on with four people using the number one on the scale which gives us 20%. Finally, one person answered with number six indicating that they didn´t know which would be 5 %.
The results for question number 2 related to race and recalculated to percentage are as follows.
Regarding the people that responded with 6 on the scale we have 1 person which were white and that gives us 1 of 4 or 25% Regarding the 6 people that responded with 5 on the scale 2 of them were white which gives us a percentage of 50% or 2 of 4. Two of them were mulatto which gives us a percentage of 40% or 2 of 5. Finally, 2 of them were black which gives us a percentage of 28,5 % or 2 of 7. Regarding the 6 people that responded with 4 on the scale we have 1 of them was white who give us 25 % or 1 of 4 one was mulatto giving us the result of 20% or 1 of 5. Finally, 4 of them were black giving us the result of 57,1 or 4 of 7. Regarding the people that responded with 3 on the scale there was 3 persons. One was white giving us the result of 25% or 1 of 4 and one was mulatto giving us the result of 20 % or 1 of 5 and 1 was white/mulatto giving us the result of 25 % or 1 of 4 . Regarding the people that responded with 2 on the scale there was no results. Regarding the people that responded with 1 on the scale there where 4 persons. Three were 3 white/mulattos which gives us the result of 75 % or 3 of 4. one was mulatto which gives us the result of 20 % or 1 of 5. The results are shown in form of a diagram below.
