Packaged Vacations: Tourism Development in the Spanish Caribbean

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book would not have been possible without the assistance of many individuals and organizations. While space does not allow me to mention everyone who assisted along the way, I would like to name a few individuals , including Patricia Holley, Daniel G. Heimmermann, Robert Adler, Dean Vagn Hansen, Vice President G. Daniel Howard, Provost Roosevelt Newson , President William G. Cale, former interim president Garry Warren, and former president Robert Potts, all from the University of North Alabama (UNA). Sue Nazworth patiently processed my interlibrary loan requests. The College of Arts and Sciences and the University Research Office at UNA provided research grants at various stages of the project. Jennifer A. Rodgers , an undergraduate in the Department of Geography, created a beautiful map for the book, and Rebecca Green, an undergraduate in the Department of History and Political Science, ably compiled the bibliography. Several important conferences and research grants also laid the foundations for this book. The Rockefeller Archive Center (Pocantico, New York), and the incomparable assistance of Amy Fitch, served as a launching ground for this project during a funded archival visit in 2003. The Hagley Museum (Wilmington, Delaware) provided an opportunity to share my ideas on Cuban tourism development at a conference in 2004. Philip Scranton and Janet F. Davidson subsequently offered helpful feedback on my project in conjunction with publishing the proceedings from that conference. Larry Clayton, University of Alabama, offered critical insight and opened his Latin American seminar to a presentation on Mexican tourism. The William Clements Center (Southern Methodist University) funded a symposium in 2005 and 2006 on border consumer culture that allowed me to create a paradigm for xii Mexican tourism development. Alexis McCrossen ably coordinated the conference and encouraged me with my project at all stages. Bradley Coleman, command historian, U.S. Southern Command (Miami, Florida), graciously offered me an opportunity to share a paper on Cuban tourism development at the 2006 American Historical Association meetings. In the field, David Pearson, of David Pearson and Associates (Miami, Florida), and Frank Rainieri Sr., of Grupo Puntacana, facilitated a research trip to the Dominican Republic, where the Rainieri family, including Frank Elías Rainieri and Francesca Rainieri, along with Grupo Puntacana management figures such as Adolfo Ramírez, Patricia Salazar, Carlos de Freitas, Jake Kheel, Walter Zemialkowski, and Francisco Alba, patiently answered questions. Administrative assistant Yajira Sosa brought everything together there. The perspicacious Wilson Andujar gave me an insightful guided tour of Punta Cana and Bávaro on that trip. Paola Rainieri offered helpful suggestions in revising the section on Punta Cana. In Mexico, Rodrigo Villagomez, director of marketing for Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo (FONATUR ), and his office staff (Mexico City), including Mariana Sánchez Gómez, prepared documents and arranged interviews for my research visit. The FONATUR staff in Ixtapa (Mexico), especially Manuel Arce Rodea, Gloria Angélica Hernández Peña, and Alejandra Guzman Nuricumbo, gave me an overview of a planned Mexican tourist community. FONATUR’s Cancún director, Ricardo Gabriel Alvarado Guerrero, offered early insight into the evolution of Mexico’s most famous planned resort. Finally, in Cuba, executives and employees of Cubanacán, Sol Meliá, and Iberostar consented to be interviewed. Ramón Martín Fernández, at the University of Havana’s Centro de Estudios Turisticos, explained the uniqueness of Cuban tourism. Christina Molina (Sol Meliá Corporate Headquarters, Palma de Mallorca, Spain) and Ron Roy (Sol Meliá North America) provided significant insight on the expansion of Sol Meliá into the Americas. Gabriel Cánaves of Sol Meliá in Havana also answered important queries. For my research on Puerto Rico, Dwayne Cox, at the Auburn University Archives (Auburn, Alabama), facilitated my research on Floyd Hall and Dorado Beach Resort. Near-centenarian Floyd Hall patiently answered my questions over the telephone about his career with Eastern Airlines and Caribbean tourism. Cathleen Baird, former archivist and librarian of the Conrad N. Hilton Library and Archives at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management (University of Houston, Texas), provided important help on Hilton’s developments in the Caribbean and the Habana Hilton in particular. In Washington, D.C., Stella Villagran, at the Columbus Library of the Organization of American States, prepared essential docuAcknowledgments xiii ments for the project. The resourceful used booksellers on Donceles Street in Mexico City once again delivered remarkable primary sources from their daunting stacks. Finally, the Archives staff at UNESCO in Paris...