MÉRIDA, Mexico.- This Tuesday, the Spanish airline World2Fly inaugurated the direct air connection between Holguín and Slovakia, in the midst of the regime’s efforts to recover the tourism sector on the Island.
According to the official press, the Airbus 330-300 aircraft, from Bratislava, landed this Tuesday at the Frank País International Airport, and more than 270 tourists disembarked from the ship.
The new route operated by the Spanish company World2flyin collaboration with the Czech tour operator Der Touristik, will have a weekly frequency until March.
Arrivals are scheduled for Tuesdays, in the afternoon, in accordance with what was indicated by Edilberto Riverón, salesperson for the Gaviota Tourist Group, a company of the military conglomerate GAESA.
The manager specified that the tourists will stay in hotels in the tourist centers of Holguín and the El Ramón de Antilla peninsula, where the Gaviota group is in charge of “two new high-comfort facilities in operation,” said the local official newspaper. Now!.
As highlighted, these flights They will join those already existing from Prague, and for the first time Czech and Slovak clients will arrive in the Holguín area.
“Our aspiration is that both are maintained over time, it would be ideal, as well as having these operations every winter,” he stated.
In October 2023, World2Fly opened the air route from Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, to the Abel Santamaría international airport in Santa Clara.
The airline, which seeks to expand tourism to Cuba in the European market, also has flights between Lisbon and Varadero.
Despite the various strategies to boost the sector, tourism failed to increase this year, with numbers well below expectations.
In the midst of food shortages and facing endless blackouts, Cuba only received 2.2 million tourists in 2024, below the goal of 2.7 million visitors set after an initial 3.2.
The Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García, admitted that even the figure is lower than that of 2023. With these indicators, by 2025 the plan established 2.6 million visitors.
To achieve such low forecasts, they must “present a worthy tourism product that stimulates demand,” said García Granda. Without meeting the standards of international tourism, with a lack of financing and inputs, tourism is in a tailspin.
Cancellations of air operations, the collapse of the National Electroenergy System and the passage of two hurricanes have aggravated the already critical situation.
