ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores how tourism has been a powerful force in shaping Havana's urban development during the 1990s, contributing to the city's socio-economic and spatial polarization. Indeed, the Cuban capital is developing along its coastline according to urban growth patterns that resemble prerevolutionary ones. The book provides evidence that tourism has generated income inequalities and growing socio-economic disparities in Cuba. It outlines the centripetal internal force exerted by the Cuban government on the one side and centrifugal exogenous forces driven by the global economy on the other. The book shows that tourism has developed as the leading economic sector of many developing peripheral regions. It argues that Havana's tourism industry should increase and diversify the supply of tourism services and facilities outside the accommodation segment in the future.
