쿠바의 관광산업과 감정노동, 그리고 친밀성의 경제

Abstract

As the Cuban economic situation has been deteriorating, many Cuban people are eager to participate in the tourism industry. Since incomes in the tourism sector are far higher than those of other sectors, some people are interested in jobs providing services to tourists. With the increasing number of people dealing with the tourists from overseas, emotional labor can be gradually developed in Cuba. Some people working in the tourism sector have begun to realize that if they provide better service to foreign tourists or maintain intimate relationships with them, they can acquire more economic profits or benefits. Compared to the capitalist society where companies direct their workers to practice emotional labor to increase their profitability, the pattern of emotional labor found in Cuba is slightly different. Rather than implementing emotional labor passively for organizational needs, many people are actively and positively pursuing it for their own needs. The main characteristics of the activities related to emotional labor in Cuba are as follows. First, emotional labor or the economies of intimacy are revealed by the voluntary choices of individuals rather than groups or organizations. Recently, some of those engaged in businesses providing services for foreign tourists have come to think that they can increase their economic interests if they apply emotional labor to their customers. In this way, the practice of emotional labor, or the economies of intimacy, has begun to emerge in Cuba. Second, in Cuba, emotional labor is only noticeable in the tourism sector. It is relatively rare in other sectors of the economy. This is mainly due to the fact that emotional labor is directly related to the economic interests in the tourism sector providing services to foreign tourists. Third, in Cuba, individual strategies are based on the entrepreneur’s own decision rather than that of an organization; hence, the strategies of emotional labor or the economies of intimacy are very diverse owing to the various ways of conducting business while avoiding governmental regulation. Individuals working in the tourism industry can select appropriate types of emotional labor considering their unique necessities and socioeconomic situations.