Urban tourism The impact of tourist accommodation in residential buildings at Vedado, Cuba

Abstract

Insufficient requirements for the accommodation of tourists in houses in addition to the absence of comprehensive development plans have generated negative impacts in buildings and cities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the main implications of tourist accommodations in residential buildings in El Vedado, Cuba. The methodology applied for this paper commenced through the use of spatial mapping to identify registered licenses for renting in a geographic information system. Field work was subsequently carried out and architectural surveys undertaken. Referrals were made to original design plans which were obtained in archives and surveys. Interviews were also conducted through the use of 35 case studies. Among the main results obtained were the characterization of the selected buildings and their territorial distribution. The conclusion was that the negative impacts included the loss of urban architectural values due to incorrect building modifications as well as increased energy consumption. Notwithstanding, the study revealed that the accommodation of tourists in houses has resulted in increases in family income, new complementary public services introduced and the substantial improvement of the technical constructive state of many residential buildings.

Commodifying Havana? Private accumulation, assetisation and marketisation in the Cuban metropolis

“…3 Indeed, with the latter group acquiring real estate in central neighbourhoods like Old Havana and El Vedado, many Havana properties were converted into private businesses catering to international tourists and travel (Jolivet and Alba-Carmichael, 2021). As a result, the pre-pandemic boom not only contributed to an acceleration of local house prices and gentrification effects (Baldoquin et al, 2020), it also boosted the growth of self-employment in Havana's emerging private sector (Simoni, 2018). However, due to the massive inflow of capital and remittances, the usual ways of 'doing business' changed too.…”