Cuba's struggle to cope with the tourism boom

Cuba's struggle to cope with the tourism boom
Natasha Ghoneim
Al Jazeera
15 February 2016

Like most Cubans, Richard Soler can't afford to travel. But he says,
he's still seeing the world, with each tourist he meets. He gives
horse-drawn carriage rides on the streets of Old Havana.

When the expected wave of American and foreign investment arrives, he
says, this Cuba in a time capsule, won't wash away. "There is nobody
like the Cubans. Not a McDonald's or a Kentucky Fried Chicken is going
to change Cubans. It's a lie."

Tourism is one of Cuba's primary sources of income. Since the US
President Barack Obama announced that the US was going to normalise
relations with Cuba in December, 2014, it was like a flood-gate opened.
In 2015, three and a half million visitors came to the long isolated
island, an increase of half a million, from the year before, according
to the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy at the University of
Havana.

"Some people have this idea, I want to visit Cuba before it changes too
much. I want to visit Cuba before the Americans overflow the country,"
says Ricardo Torres, an economist with the Center for the Study of the
Cuban Economy.

But Cuba is struggling to keep pace with the growing demand. On Tuesday,
American officials are expected to sign an agreement with Cuba, allowing
up to thirty direct commercial flights a day, to the island - a first
since the US imposed an embargo on Cuba in 1960.

How the country will cope with the influx when shortages of certain
goods are still a reality, is unknown. As you walk around Havana, it's
not unusual to see a construction crane in the sky or see a construction
site for a hotel. But airports, hotels and the infrastructure of the
country are in dire need of renovation and expansion.

Casaparticulars

There aren't enough hotel rooms and if one is lucky enough to book one,
the rates, keep rising. "It's a chain. Frankly, we'll suffer for some
years... because you do not change that reality in a few years," says
Torres.

This may be the perfect moment for 'casaparticulars.' Long before,
Airbnb existed, Cubans were renting out rooms in their homes to
tourists. They're called a 'casaparticular' in Spanish, or private house.

Jesus Nordase is capitalising on the moment. In 1997, he and his
extended family began renting rooms in one house. Now, they have three.
He won't say how many rooms he rents. But he boasts that he's frequently
fully booked and he's raising room rates.

"It's the best moment since we opened. One of the things we have is a
lot of recognition and freedom of operation." But Nordase says the
Cuban government still only allows each person to own one house, there
is no organisation for owners of casaparticulars or formal cooperation.
Perhaps necessity will expedite a change.

The people we spoke with are confident of two things. No amount of
investment or influence by tourists will "contaminate," as Nordase put
it, the Cuban identity.

However challenging it may be, they believe the government will devise a
strategy to expand development without overshadowing what makes the
island distinctive. Whether it's next year or in ten years, Soler told
us, tourists are guaranteed to experience the Cubano spirit.

Source: Cuba's struggle to cope with the tourism boom -
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/cubas-struggle-cope-tourism-boom-044621292--spt.html