1. Political Tourism in Cuba and Nicaragua.
- Author
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Hollander, Paul
- Subjects
- *
TOURISTS , *HOSPITALITY , *TOURISM policy , *GOVERNMENT policy , *GOVERNMENT & the press - Abstract
The paper emphasizes the importance of favorable predisposition on the part of political tourists to the success of a country's political hospitality. Cuban and Nicaraguan political hospitality aimed essentially at the same goals and used the same techniques. The premise of these methods--personal attentiveness and selective display--is that people generalize from personal experience, hence it is desirable to make such experiences both pleasant and politically instructive. Political hospitality begins with efforts to ensure that the impressions of the visitor will not be contaminated by unauthorized contacts and experiences. The presence of the guide-interpreter is not the only obstacle to frank exchanges between natives and visitors. Controls over foreign correspondents and reporters are especially tight, and attempts to influence them predate their actual arrival. When tourists deviated from the officially arranged itineraries and activities, the authorities did not hesitate to intervene. The effectiveness of political hospitality depends greatly on the predisposition of its recipients. When favorable predisposition combines with ignorance and lack of imagination, the visitors' capacity for absorbing the messages of political hospitality greatly expands. The Nicaraguan policies of political hospitality have possibly been even more ambitious than those of Cuba--more explicit and specific in their political objectives.
- Published
- 1986
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