Online Marketing of Touristic Cuba: Branding a 'Tech Free' Destination

Cuba’s appeal as a tourism destination is rooted in its status as one of the last places still untainted by the ‘burden’ of hyperconnectivity, promising human intimacy and immediacy in a hyper-mediated and ‘McDonaldized’ (Ritzer, 1998) world. For this reason, and because technology is frequently seen as something for tourists to escape, it often tops list of top ‘tech-free destinations’ by travel magazines and guides. However, this framing does not take into account that digital technology has been central to tourism development since the early 1990s (Venegas, 2010), nor any recent shifts which would call this specific aspect of Cuban ‘exceptionalism’ and competitive distinction into question. What is more, both state and foreign tour operators depend on digital technologies and social media to communicate an attractive image to potential visitors. This chapter considers examples of viral video and online marketing as well as the broader narrative of authenticity, intimacy and technology in which they are embedded and which they perpetuate.