With the country’s lack of access to financial resources and wages being low in the formal sector of employment, some women in Cuba have devised sex tourism as the way of survival and fulfilling their family and personal needs. This paper identifies the profile of those Cuban women who are involved in the sex tourism in Cuba and examines how this industry is financially benefiting them. This study follows the method of reviewing other research literatures on sex tourism in Cuba, analyzing and differentiating them with one another. The study first discusses Cuba as a tourist destination, the kind of profile the women carries with themselves by being in the sex tourism industry and the existing links of the sex tourism and the local residents in Cuba with its financial impacts. The ways and the aspects in which sex tourism is financially benefitting the local residents especially the women are revealed. The conclusion discusses the importance of sex tourism to Cuba through the association or the local women with the financial impacts of sex tourism and defining the women’s nature of engagement, and the need for detailed future research on other broader facets surrounding this study.
Cite this paper
Nandi, A. (2018). Profile of Cuban Women Involved in Sex Tourism—A Financial Perspective. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e5073. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105073.
Plasencia, A. (2009) Sex Tourism in Modern Cuba: An Outgrowth of the Tourism Industry’s Focus on Free Market Capitalism. The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, 10, 999-1016.
Trumbull, C. (2001) Prostitution and Sex Tourism in Cuba. Cuba in Transition ASCE, 11, 356-371. https://www.ascecuba.org/asce_proceedings/prostitution -and-sex-tourism-in-cuba/
Wonders, N. and Michalowski, R. (2001) Bodies, Borders, and Sex Tourism in a Globalized World: A Tale of two Cities: Amsterdam and Havana. Social Problems, 48, 545-571. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2001.48.4.545
Clancy, M. (2002) The Globalization of Sex Tourism and Cuba: A Commodity Chains Approach. Studies in Comparative International Development, 36, 63-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686333
Cabezas, A. (2004) Between Love and Money: Sex, Tourism, and Citizenship in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 29, 987-1015. https://doi.org/10.1086/382627
Holan, P. and Phillips, N. (1997) Sun, Sand, and Hard Currency Tourism in Cuba. Annals of Tourism Research, 24, 777-795. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-7383(97)00030-3
Pruitt, D. and LaFont, S. (1995) For Love and Money: Romance Tourism in Jamaica. Annals of Tourism Research, 22, 422-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(94)00084-0
Padilla, A. and McElroy, J. (2007) Cuba and Caribbean Tourism after Castro. Annals of Tourism Research, 34, 649-672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2007.02.004
Jayawardena, C. (2003) Revolution to Revolution: Why Is Tourism Booming in Cuba. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15, 52-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110310458990
Garcia, A. (2010) Continuous Moral Economies: The State Regulation of Bodies and Sex Work in Cuba. Sexualities, 13, 171-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460709359117
Taylor, J.S. (2001) Dollars Are a Girl’s Best Friend? Female Tourists’ Sexual Behavior in the Caribbean. Sociology, 35, 749-764. https://doi.org/10.1177/S0038038501000384
Ryan, C. and Kinder, R. (1996) Sex, Tourism and Sex Tourism: Fulfilling Similar Needs? Tourism Management, 17, 507-518. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(96)00068-4
McKinley, J. (2004). Cuba Sex Tourism and Cuban Prostitutes. The New York Times. http://havanajournal.com/culture/entry/cuba_sex_tourism_an d_cuban_prostitutes/