MIAMI, United States. – The National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) of Cuba reported this Friday that between January and August 2022 the Island had received 1,396,921 travelers, representing a 556.1% year-on-year increase, according to official media.
According to the ONEI, the Island received 1,145,743 more travelers than in the same period in 2021.
By traveler, the government entity understands “any person who travels between two or more different countries”, that is, they are not necessarily foreign tourists.
Of the total number of travellers, 971,456 were international visitors, which represents 807,732 (593.3%) more than in the period between January and August of the previous year.
In an analysis by country, 298,410 visitors arrived from Canada, from the United States (60,885), Spain (55,102) and from the Russian Federation, 38,488.
Another 212,485 travelers are Cuban immigrants living abroad.
On the other hand, the regime considers international visitors to be “all those people who visit a different country [Cuba] of the one in which they have their usual place of residence for a period not exceeding one year.
“The main reason will be for the purpose of leisure, recreation, business or another personal reason, and is not to carry out a paid activity in the country visited,” indicate the methodological notes of the ONEI.
In the middle of this year, andhe Minister of Tourism of Cuba, Juan Carlos García Granda, alluded to the sustained increase in tourist facilities on the island and said that the rate of growth of tourists arriving in the country has been higher than the rate of room construction since the 1990s.
During a session of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) reported by the official media Cubadebatethe official insisted on the regime’s plans to reach 2.5 million visitors by 2022.
Although the harsh crisis that the island is going through, the regime continues betting on raising the levels of the tourism industry. Recently, met that the Cubasol business group, of the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), projected new investments to strengthen the non-hotel infrastructure of the Island until 2030, including the development of golf courses.
The vice president of Cubasol, Alex Mulet, detailed in statements to Prensa Latina that the group has around 150 projects to be completed before 2030, including recreational parks, adventure parks and the expansion of nautical activities.
In addition, he pointed out that approximately 40 will be carried out before 2026, as part of integrated developments with various non-hotel services.
On the other hand, the Cuban regime has not paralyzed the construction of new hotels or the expansion of existing ones. In the months of global economic crisis caused by the pandemic and internal shortages caused by the handling of the economy by the Communist Party, the construction works of new hotels have not stopped, according to a report published in CubaNet in early June this year.
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