ECONOMY-CUBA: Fingers Crossed for a Strong Tourist Season

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Nov 7 2002 (IPS) - The Cuban government, tourism operators and employees, self-employed workers and even those in the island’s informal economy all share hopes for a tourist season that will bring better economic times to this Caribbean country.

Some cross their fingers or knock on wood for luck, others make promises to the ‘orishas’, the gods of the Afro-Cuban religion, or look to the heavens to plea for a strong tourist season, which officially began Nov 1 and ends in April.

But the lack of foreign visitors on the streets of Havana these days is evident, and is a blow to the families that make their living from this sector of the socialist-run island’s economy.

Despite present appearances, however, government officials issue assurances that tourism this year will reach the same levels as in 2001, when 1.7 million people made the trip to Cuba.

“I have been at home several months, collecting 60 percent of my normal salary in pesos and with no hope of earning even a tip in dollars. There are 70 people in my company who are in the same situation,” said a tour bus driver.

In Cuba, the average monthly salary is around 270 pesos, with the official exchange rate on the dollar now at 26 pesos. A good number of goods and services, even those of basic necessity, can be had only for dollars.

Tourism currently represents 41 percent of Cuba’s gross income, a dramatic increase from just four percent in 1990, according to figures from the Ministry of Tourism. The industry has eclipsed sugar as the country’s biggest revenue generator, as the number of foreign visitors has enjoyed a yearly average growth of 18 percent.

Over the past decade, around 200,000 new jobs in the tourism industry — direct and indirect — were created in this country of 11.2 million people. The number of hotel rooms has grown at a pace of 3,000 per year in the four- and five-star categories.

Cuba began to promote tourism heavily in 1990, and six years later joined the list of Caribbean island nations that receive more than one million visitors a year: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Jamaica.

But now the situation “is looking grey with black stitching” for one family whose income is based on washing and ironing tablecloths and napkins for a state-run restaurant in Havana’s historic district.

“The waiters pay us for the service from the tips they earn, but if there aren’t any customers, the tablecloths don’t get dirty,” commented a 51-year-old woman, head of household, who in past tourist seasons has earned as much as 385 dollars a month.

The tourism workers who have been able to hold onto their jobs also feel the effects of the downturn, as total gratuities are lower than a year ago. Tips in dollars are the major attraction of jobs in the industry here.

The decline in pleasure travel is also affecting the other countries of the Caribbean, dating to the world tourism crisis triggered by the Sep 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington.

Pedro Rivera, president of the Association of Caribbean Economists, said in September that the region’s economies are experiencing a strong recession this year due, among other factors, to the slowdown in tourism.

A report from the Dominican Republic’s Central Bank states that in the first half of this year, 184,010 fewer tourists visited that country than in the same period in 2001, a 13.6-percent decrease.

The situation became complicated in Barbados in July as well, as the reduction in income in the tourism sector in the previous months forced temporary and permanent closings of hotels and restaurants.

The World Tourism Organisation reports that international movement of tourists last year was 693 million people, four million fewer than in 2000.

The deterioration of the tourism industry became evident in several global markets prior to Sep 11, 2001, as the result of economic problems, but the attacks in the United States and Washington’s military and security response triggered a widespread crisis.

Official sources in Cuba calculate that tourism dropped 18 percent from September to December 2001, 21 percent in January- February this year, and 8.3 percent between March and August.

A study by the National Information Agency states that 160,000 fewer tourists arrived on the island from January to September this year than did in the same period in 2001.

“Tourism in general has seen a decrease, or at least it hasn’t grown as expected. This stagnation has not been good for Cuba,” says Marcel Marambio, president of the Sol y Son Los Viajes travel agency, a mixed enterprise of the state-run Cubana de Aviación and the Chilean business consortium ING.

After the tourism decline recorded in October 2001, Cuban experts and authorities had predicted the sector would see a turnaround in early 2002, which was subsequently put off to mid- year, and now there is talk of having to wait until 2003 or later to see the much-awaited improvement.

Other tourism experts and organisations “see this possibility as even more distant, predicting that the number of trips and tourists will return to their previous levels in the first part of 2004,” said tourism minister Ibrahim Ferradaz.

A World Tourism Organisation communiqué issued Sep 9 reported a contraction in international tourism, caused by the decline in long-distance travel, but that the decline was gradually turning around.

The international trends include shorter vacations, last-minute reservation, an increase in travel by the elderly, and more opportunities for the destinations with fewest customs and immigration obstacles, says the statement.

Furthermore, the recovery in the number of trips does not imply an increase in sales of the same magnitude, such that travel companies’ income will experience slower growth.

Cuba’s minister Ferradaz acknowledged that, “while we are convinced that tourism will return to the path of growth, it will surely involve new characteristics.”

ECONOMY-CUBA: Fingers Crossed for a Strong Tourist Season

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Nov 6 2002 (IPS) - The Cuban government, tourism operators and employees, self-employed workers and even those in the island’s informal economy all share hopes for a tourist season that will bring better economic times to this Caribbean country.
(more…)