Paper studies U.S., Cuban tourism cooperation.

An analysis of the potential relationship of U.S. and Cuban tourism interests by Sergei Khrushchev and two coauthors, published in the November 2007 issue of the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, suggests that the U.S. hospitality industry can begin to help bridge the economic gap between Cuba and the United States.

As the son of the former Russian premier, Khrushchev has the unusual position of living in the United States but having dealt with both the Cuban people and Fidel Castro. Khrushchev is now a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

Khrushchev's co-authors are Tony L. Henthorne, Ph.D., chair of tourism management and professor of marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Michael S. LaTour, Ph.D., chair and professor of marketing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The article explains the three scholars' personal experiences and their recent qualitative research in Cuba.

The authors found a deep distrust between the people of the two countries, while, at the same time, U.S. dollars are desired in the Cuban economy. The authors contend that, if the current embargo were lifted, U.S. hospitality industry-sponsored research could be a way for the United States to get its "foot in the door" in Cuba, while dispelling some of the distrust.

"We see a historic opportunity for profitable investment in a 'new Cuba,'" says the analysis. "Not only can the U.S. hospitality industry participate in shaping that new Cuba, in partnership with locals, but we contend that now is the time to advance prescriptive, forward-thinking insight designed to shift the thinking of the U.S. business community about Cuba and, in so doing, shift the thinking of the Cuban government, businesses, and people about their neighbors to the north."

The article, "Cuba at the Crossroads: The Role of the U.S. Hospitality Industry in Cuban Tourism Initiatives," is accessible for a limited time at http://cqx.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/48/4/402.