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Journal Central

This work analyzes how the development of tourism industry in Cuba is affecting Cuban society. In particular, it is important to understand how the ethnic relationship, which has been considered homogeneous, is changing. Fieldwork was conducted in Trinidad, Cuba. Structured and unstructured intensive interviews and participant observation were used for those engaged in the tourism sector. Main informants for this research were people employed in the tourism industry officially or unofficially such as taxi drivers, jineteros, jineteras, and owners of casas particulares, travel agencies, paladares, and shops. Findings show that changes in Cuban tourism policy and the increase of foreign tourists can lead a new type of socioeconomic gap among ethnic groups. White people with relatively abundant socioeconomic resources can mainly gain economic benefits by using new tourism policies. On the other hand, poor Blacks or Mulatos mostly engage in marginal work or illegal economic activities. If this situation continues, social and ethnic inequality may ultimately increase in the future. To solve this problem, it is necessary to find ways to ease and resolve discrimination or conflict in the workplace, while at the same time drawing up institutional measures for Blacks and Mulatos to participate in tourism projects.

The purpose of this study was to identify the common and connotation structure of the autobiographical memory formed by tourism experience. Based on Colaizzi’s phenomenological method, the contents of common autobiographical memories in the retrospective of tourism experience was summarized in an intensive structure. Specifically, the autobiographical memory in the pre-trip stage was structured into three categories('Travel planning', 'Self-directed planning', and 'Expectation and anxiety'). The on-site stage was structured into a single category(‘Unusual experiences’). Lastly, the post-trip stage’s autobiographical memory was structured into three categories(‘Discovering new meanings’, ‘Positively distorted emotions’, and ‘Savoring memories’). The tourism experience shown in autobiographical memory is derived from experiences that have given subjective meanings according to cognitive and affective self-consciousness. It may include past experience or unconsciously, automatically, or reflexively by certain external conditions or stimulation. In particular, prior knowledge and external stimulation accumulated from past experience acted as crucial influence factors of tourist behavior and decision-making, and the process of such selection was also a part of the autobiographical memory. It was also identified that the autobiographical memory could be reconstructed and distorted by various factors. Our findings may help researchers and practitioners understanding the decision-making mechanism in tourist autobiographical memory, and devise various theoretical and practical strategies for evoking and promoting memory.

The purpose of this study is to identify international research trends in the social relationships of travel. Specifically, the study intends to define the scope and examine the change of trends in various characteristics of social relationships over time. A total of 83 papers published in 43 Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journals were selected for analysis. Utilizing the content analysis method, these trends were examined from three perspectives in travel: 1) subject, 2) relational object, and 3) relational effects. Three dimensions of social relations theory; the personal dimension, the interpersonal dimension, and the relational effect dimension, were employed in the analysis. Based on previous research, each study was classified by year, subject, journal, research method, and analysis method. The results show that the number of studies began to increase in 2013, until reaching a peak in 2019. Moreover, in the personal dimension, the study found that the needs for relatedness both directly and indirectly affected travel motivation. In the interpersonal dimension, the results showed that behavioral exchange is preceded by emotional exchange. Lastly, in the relational effect dimension, social relationships in travel have an effect on increasing psychological benefits and on strengthening social utility. The study reveals that social relations in travel have expandability and circularity, while the objects of social relationship expand from existing relationships to new relationships such as residents and service employees. These findings suggest the importance of promoting the formation of multidimensional relationships among travel stakeholders.