By Serge F. Kovaleski
                  Washington Post Foreign Service
 
                  HAVANA—Rising incongruously from the heart of this decaying seafront
                  capital is a sparkling new hotel, the five-star Golden Tulip Parque Central,
                  replete with Italian marble, four restaurants, shops, a cigar lounge, rooftop
                  pool and fitness center.

                  The 281-room, Dutch-run hotel, which opened last month, is the product
                  of a $31 million investment by the Cuban government and foreign partners
                  -- and the latest example of a vibrant tourist industry that is attracting
                  growing interest from overseas investors.

                  "We have all the confidence that [the tourism] business will continue to
                  increase," said Kees Aerts, who opened the Golden Tulip as its general
                  manager. "The revolution that began in 1959 is being adapted to modern
                  times with capitalist influences. . . . They are using methods to survive as a
                  country."

                  While Western tourists have been visiting Communist-ruled Cuba for at
                  least a decade, the government's desire to protect the purity of the
                  revolution has, until recent years, tended to keep them hidden in isolated
                  beach resorts. But the collapse of Cuba's Soviet patron, coupled with the
                  effects of the long-standing U.S. trade embargo, have forced the
                  cash-strapped government to take a more flexible attitude toward tourism,
                  triggering a surge of mostly European and Canadian investment.

                  With its picturesque Caribbean beaches and socialist mystique, Cuba has
                  proved a hit with tourists from Europe, Latin America and Canada -- as
                  well as U.S. citizens who illegally skirt the trade embargo by flying through
                  countries such as Mexico, the Bahamas and Jamaica. Last year, Cuba's
                  tourism sector posted its best showing ever, drawing 1.4 million visitors --
                  more than four times the number of a decade ago -- who spent $1.8 billion
                  on the island and in travel. The country now boasts 28,000 tourist hotel
                  rooms, up from 5,000 in 1987, and is served by 40 foreign airlines; British
                  Airways is scheduled to start flying here this spring. Tourism now generates
                  more hard currency for the nation than all its exports combined.

                  By some estimates, the number of visitors here would jump by 5 million
                  annually if the United States lifted the trade embargo -- a prospect that
                  began to seem more likely following President Clinton's announcement on
                  Tuesday of a slight relaxation in the embargo.

                  Even now, the influx of foreigners is changing the isolated nation of 11
                  million people in ways large and small. Gaggles of camera-toting tourists
                  amble through the capital past elegant hotels and restaurants that only
                  accept U.S. dollars. Convoys of tourist buses rumble through the streets.
                  Throngs of visitors fill the narrow walkways of Old Havana, where they
                  are constantly approached by Cubans trying to earn dollars by illegally
                  selling cigars, recommending restaurants or offering sex. Benetton has a
                  store in Old Havana.

                  Tourists cited Cuba's natural assets as well as its Communist history in
                  explaining what led them to choose the island over other Caribbean
                  destinations. "It is a combination of the cultural tourism, being able to
                  experience a socialist state, and the beauty of the beaches and sun that I
                  find so appealing about Cuba as a tourist destination," said Monica
                  Gonzalez, 30, a lawyer from Spain who was vacationing here with her
                  sister for a week. "I have so much curiosity about this place and how it has
                  survived and changed."

                  Americans are drawn to Cuba for the same reason.

                  On a recent weekend afternoon, more than a dozen boats registered in the
                  United States and flying U.S. flags were docked in Havana's Hemingway
                  Marina. "It is time that the United States got serious and dropped its
                  foreign policy toward Cuba because it is ridiculous; there is way too much
                  potential here and it is a fascinating place," said one yacht owner who
                  regularly sails here from Miami. "This is my way of telling the American
                  government, 'Hey, the Cold War is bloody over. Move on.' "

                  While eager for the money such visitors bring, the government of Fidel
                  Castro is not entirely thrilled with their presence, fearing that the influx of
                  well-heeled foreigners will further sour Cubans on socialism. Cuban
                  officials blame tourism for rampant prostitution and an increase in drug use
                  and street crime -- vices that had been largely wiped out following the
                  triumph of the Communist revolution 40 years ago this month.

                  For these and other reasons, the Castro government has moved cautiously
                  in embracing tourism. "The country is not for sale. We want to make that
                  very clear," said a top-ranking member of the Communist Party Politburo,
                  Cuba's ruling political body.

                  Cuban officials acknowledge, moreover, that poor services and excessive
                  bureaucracy continue to deter foreign investment in tourism. They insist,
                  however, that the government deserves credit for trying to solve these
                  problems. "Without change we would have disappeared," said Manuel
                  Garcia, spokesman for Publicitur, the public relations arm of the state-run
                  tourism bureau.

                  "Tourism has helped fund our hospitals and education," he added. "It has
                  turned into a motor that has helped the economy in general. . . . Tourism
                  also opens cultural doors for Cubans."

                  With few financial resources, Cuba has been eagerly pursuing partnerships
                  with foreign corporations, which operate and market about half the hotels
                  on the island.

                  Last year, for instance, the state-run Cubanacan tourism concern and
                  Italy's La Casina and Simset Spa agreed to build an $18 million pair of
                  hotels in the resort area of Varadero and Saint Lucia Key east of Havana.
                  Cubanacan also signed an agreement with Mexico's Qualton Hotels and
                  Resorts under which the Mexican firm will manage and market 411 rooms
                  around Havana and the city of Camaguey. The French tourism giant Accor
                  has announced that it will administer two new hotels and an apartment
                  complex currently under construction in the exclusive Miramar district of
                  Havana.

                  Jamaica's Sandals chain, meanwhile, has signed a deal with the government
                  to run and market two hotels in Varadero.