Tourism Initiatives Developed through Collaboration with Foreign Organizations: The Emergence of Responsible Practices in Cuba

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study concerns tourism initiatives by foreign organizations and their contributions to the emergence of responsible tourism in Cuba. Using the framework of Community Benefit Tourism Initiatives, this study investigates the local actors’ and the foreign organizations’ perspective on responsible tourism, the processes of planning and developing tourism initiatives, their implementation and the effects on the local communities. The empirical part concerns a case study about an initiative originated from a cultural development project by an Italian D-NGO and developed through the collaboration with an Italian tour operator. The findings suggest that, even in the case where such initiatives are not strategically planned and start with a limited participation of local actors, they can lead to important benefits for the local communities. The findings also suggest that these types of initiatives can constitute a solid basis for future developments with an increasing active participation by the local actors.