Cuba reached this Wednesday its first million visitors received during this year, as reported by the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) within the framework of the celebration in Havana of the International Fair of the FITCuba 2023 sector.
The news was given to the media by the minister himself, Juan Carlos García Granda, who explained that beyond the figure reached, what is important is that Cuba is heading towards the recovery of the leisure industry, according to a report from the Prensa Latina (PL) agency.
?? #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
The official asserted that the greatest difficulties affecting tourism are the limitations due to air connectivity, despite the fact that 51 commercial airlines currently travel to the country.
For this reason, an important segment of FITCuba 2023 is dedicated to airlines in order to increase seat capacity when they cover different routes to CubaGarcia Granda said.
“We have to focus on the arrival of new airlines in Cuba, since the arrival of cruise ships was affected after the unilateral measures adopted by the United States Government during the Trump Administration,” he stressed.
Before the former Republican president made that decision, about 600,000 travelers arrived by sea in the country. Many were Americans, he remembered.
The top executive of tourism in Cuba He also referred to issues related to the heritage recovery of Havana, to which the fair is dedicated, and stated that it is not concentrated only in the capital’s historic center.
Tourism Fair brings together more than 500 tour operators in Cuba
“The difference of our heritage with respect to many in the rest of the world is that it is a living heritage,” he stressed.
Cuba has fixed reach 3.5 million international tourists in 2023although the authorities have recognized that it is a difficult goal taking into account the current situation on the island, which has had an impact on the quality of the services offered.
During a balance of tourist activity last year, the Mintur confirmed that in that period Cuba received 64.6% of the 2.5 million planned tourists. This figure, in turn, represents 37.8% of those who did so in 2019 and a growth of 4.5 times compared to 2021.
Nor was the sector’s income plan met, which reached up to 74% of what was planned: only 36.2% of what was entered in 2019.
Previously, García Granda had exposed that the recovery of the tourist activity “has been difficult”, but he was confident in a growing contribution of the sector to the battered Cuban economy.
Minister: “The recovery of Cuban tourism has been difficult”
“Canada, which is our main market, has recovered 80% compared to 2019, and today means more than 50% of the tourism we are receiving. But we cannot say the same about another market as important as the one made up of European countries”, he said.
“We have to continue working and strengthen the rest of the markets,” he said. In this sense, he explained that his Ministry works together with agencies and tour operators to “rescue the Latin American area”, and mentioned countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil among the markets in which this work is carried out.
In addition, he stated that “we are not only looking at this year, because tourism cannot lift the economy in a single year. It must be sustained work. And at this same fair we are not only talking about business and prospects for the remainder of the year, but also taking a look at next winter”.
