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A Look at Tourism: Cuba’s Hotel and Resort Industry

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Graziella Pastor, Frida Leibowitz, Anthony Eid, Rachel Lauren

Abstract

Within the past century, Cuba’s economy has evolved drastically in order to meet its changing political atmosphere. At this moment, Cuba’s economy is potentially now the ripest for investment since it is the most liberalized it has been since the Communist government came to power in 1959. For the last seventy years, Cuba has been stricken by poverty and slow development despite its fairly skilled labor force. As Cuba has recently opened its nation for investments and economic improvements, the tourism industry has begun to flourish. Due to the educated population, low labor wages, and the government’s willingness to accept foreign capital, investment in Cuba’s hotel industry is a highly attractive prospect.

I. Introduction

Cuba, a nation whose communist government suffocated its economy for over half a century, promises profitable returns but requires the investment of pioneer businesses to regenerate the economy. After Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the dictator quickly acted to transform Cuba into a communist state. Castro’s government unfairly seized private land and companies, imposed heavy taxes on imports from the United States, and prohibited foreign companies from establishing businesses in Cuba. As a retaliatory measure for stealing American owned property without recompense, President Eisenhower imposed sanctions on Cuba in 1960 which evolved into a full economic embargo.
Over the last 55 years of the American economic embargo, it has been estimated Cuba has lost approximately $117 billion. Since Castro’s rise to power, Cuba’s economy stayed