The other day I stopped by the Hotel
Victoria to say hello to some old friends of mine. I was stunned to learn that
after August 10, the hotel would no longer be accommodating non-Italian
tourists. I was told that the Italian travel agency Alpitur bought the hotel
and is going to use it as a place of accommodations only for Italians.
I was disgusted by the news on a couple of
fronts. First, the temerity of this agency to do this. They buy their own real
estate and exclude everyone from it. This reminds me of pre-Revolution Cuba
when the US engaged in this type of arrogant behavior. Second, I had trouble
digesting this notion, but the reasons behind the purchase were so antithetical
to the tenets of the Revolution, i.e., discrimination. For me, this is one of the uglier aspects of capitalism and I just could
not believe that Cuba would allow a foreign entity to do this. But it has and
it has made me wonder what is next on the horizon.
With normalized
relations between Cuba and the US there will be a significant increase in
tourism (since January 2015 Cuba has witnessed a 36% increase in the number of
tourists who visit Cuba). Will US-based or other foreign entities try to
emulate with Alpitur has done? I hope not.
No comments:
Post a Comment