ABSTRACT
In 2016, Cuba officially joined for the first time the modern US-dominated Caribbean cruise circuit based out of Florida. This chapter outlines the complex history of tourism to Cuba with emphasis on recent and current policy dictating tourism from the United States. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US in 2014–2015, tourism from the US skyrocketed. However, while the Trump administration has put complicated (though not insurmountable) restrictions back on group and individual stayover people-to-people travel to Cuba, the cruise industry has largely avoided these restrictions. Instead, the Caribbean cruise industry is enjoying the addition of the fascinating, fresh new Cuban destinations to their itineraries. This chapter provides an overview of Cuba’s diverse ports, with Havana as the centerpiece. In addition to environmental and social/cultural impacts of cruise tourism in Cuba, the economic impact is discussed in detail, including head tax, cruise ship fees and taxes, cruise passenger and crew onshore spending, and employment of Cubans on ship and on shore. The chapter concludes that Cuba has a unique opportunity to strive to develop from the outset a more beneficial model of cruise tourism and the country has the potential to work with other Caribbean states to help change the power dynamics between the individual cruise destinations and the mega cruise line corporations.
