The Transformation of Tourism and Urban Space in Havana, Cuba

ABSTRACT This paper analyses tourism-related transformations in Habana Vieja, the historic district of Cuba’s capital Havana, over the last three decades. It demonstrates the political background that fostered touristic development in Cuba besides its socio-cultural and economic consequences. While the expansion of tourism and the creation of private and market-based touristic segments were economic necessities in times of crisis, they also had negative impacts on the dwellers of Habana Vieja, such as increasing inequalities, the redistribution of social positions and opportunities as well as new forms of marginalisation. Our research indicates that the Office of the City Historian plays an outstanding role in both, Habana Vieja's restoration and touristification. Furthermore, we show that tourism's economic opportunities are spatially distributed unevenly, entailing increasing inequalities and dissatisfaction among the populace. Residents of tourism-favoured areas can even be affected by top-down displacements, excluding them from possibilities to earn decent incomes in tourism.