Abstract
This thesis offers group-focused analyses of how tourism entrepreneurship participation modestly varies along demographic lines in the country of Cuba. Firstly, the thesis argues that state-led gender empowerment initiatives have prepared Cuban women to excel in private hospitality venture management. Secondly, it demonstrates how the chronic political repression of brick-and-mortar community networks and state inaction on ameliorating income and Internet access inequalities have discouraged Afro-Cubans from attempting to run startup hospitality businesses that cater to tourists. Lastly, the thesis shows readers that Cuban entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 49 have developed innovative digital mechanisms to effectively market their restaurants, shops, and guesthouses to tourists while Cubans over the age of 50 who espouse ideological reticence to technological development and marketization have been less likely to engage in pioneering tourism startups.