Cuba's INTUR coinage was a parallel currency system operated by the Instituto Nacional de Turismo, designed to extract hard currency from foreign visitors while keeping them financially segregated from the peso economy. Locals were prohibited from holding or using these coins, and possession by Cubans could carry legal consequences. The system ran from the early 1980s until its abolition in 1993, when the government legalized dollar holdings and made the tourist-scrip apparatus redundant.
Cuba's INTUR coinage was a parallel currency system operated by the Instituto Nacional de Turismo, designed to extract hard currency from foreign visitors while keeping them financially segregated from the peso economy. Locals were prohibited from holding or using these coins, and possession by Cubans could carry legal consequences. The system ran from the early 1980s until its abolition in 1993, when the government legalized dollar holdings and made the tourist-scrip apparatus redundant.