MADRID, Spain.- A total of one million tourists have arrived in Cuba so far in 2023, according to data provided by the Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda.
García Granda shared the figure this Wednesday, in the context of the 41st edition of the International Tourism Fair (FITCuba 2023), with which the regime intends to relaunch the Island as a tourist destination; despite the economic crisis it is going through and the wave of crimes and assaults that take place in most of the country’s territories.
“Cuba today receives one million visitors, a figure that represents an important step for the recovery of Cuban tourism. Canada continues to be the leading market for issuance of international travelers,” said the headline from Twitter.
?? #Cuba today receives one million visitors, a figure that represents an important step for the recovery of the #tourism Cuban.
Canada continues to be the leading market for issuance of international travelers. pic.twitter.com/lim3cBvpf4— Juan Carlos Garcia Granda (@JuannCarlosGG) May 3, 2023
Quoted by the official GranmaGarcía Granda also said that “despite the obstacles, the goal of reaching the 3.5 million foreign vacationers proposed for the year will not be given up.”
Among these obstacles, he referred to the lack of air connections. For this reason, he pointed out, “the Fair is dedicated in one of its segments to airlines, of which 51 attend this edition.”
However, in recent statements According to the EFE agency, economic experts considered the arrival of 3.5 million international visitors projected by the regime impossible due to the serious economic crisis, marked by shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
In this sense, the Cuban professor Omar Everleny pointed out: “The very complex situation of the economy affects tourism because, for example, a tourist needs to rent a car to move around the country and has no fuel, or sometimes in a five-star hotel there are no necessary inputs”.
In the past year, 1.6 million tourists arrived in Cuba, a figure much lower than the 2.5 million projected by the regime.
