AREQUIPA, Peru – Regarding the existing energy crisis on the Island, marked by extensive blackouts, the Canadian agency Sunwing Vacations withdrew 26 Cuban hotels from the portfolio of offers that it will provide to its clients from now on.
In interview with the middle Pax Newsthe agency’s marketing director, Samantha Taylor, explained the reasoning behind the move.
According to the directive, while Cuba is a traditionally popular destination for Canadians seeking sun and sand, recent episodes of widespread blackouts in the country may lead customers to book their vacations elsewhere this winter.
“Cuba has had some volatility in recent weeks and that can shake consumer confidence,” Taylor said. “There are incredible places to go in Cuba (…) but we also recognize that if customers feel a little uncomfortable, we must provide them with options that provide better value than classic, more traditional places.”
In that sense, the Canadian agency created a list of places that it describes as “hidden gems” that have not had the same exposure to date as all-inclusive resorts.
The list includes places like Puerto Plata and La Romana in the Dominican Republic; Freeport in Bahamas; Panama; Roatan, Honduras and San Andrés, Colombia.
Sunwing Vacations, which has sent tourists to Cuba since 2005 and is one of its strongest partners, is doing damage control this month regarding several incidents of customers affected by the lack of electrical service.
During the total collapse of the energy system last October, which left all Cubans in the dark for days, around 90% of hotels managed to stay on with the help of electrical generators, Taylor says.
“The blackout affected areas frequented by tourists, such as Varadero and Havana, and although noble efforts were made to accommodate visitors in tourist centersreports on the ground painted inconsistent pictures of food shortages and air conditioning failures,” the outlet notes.
Beyond the power outages, the board explained that Sunwing did not consider that the hotels eliminated from its offer were up to the standards that guests wanted to experience.
In contrast to the blackouts that impact the population daily, Lessner Gómez, director of the Cuban Tourism Office in Toronto, highlighted that tourism is one of the priorities of the Cuban economy. In this regard, he assured that 100% of the tourist facilities on the Island had electricity.
