Faced with the intensified blockade, the imperial media aggression and on social networks, the effects of COVID-19, and now the European conflict, Cuban tourism has essences that we have to promote, said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, at the 2021 work meeting of the Ministry of Tourism.
We, he said, are a country with political stability, we are a country with security, we are a country with citizen tranquility, we are a country with epidemiological security, and these are realities that we have to promote. Few destinations in the world today can offer what Cuba makes available to tourism, she conceptualized.
Díaz-Canel called on the directors and workers of the sector to creative resistance in order to face the complexities of the current moment, as Biocubafarma scientists and Public Health workers have already demonstrated in the fight against COVID-19, including the production of our products. own vaccines, our own protocols and more than twenty products.
In the conclusions of the meeting, which was also headed by the member of the Political Bureau and Head of the Government of the Republic, Manuel Marrero Cruz, the Cuban President highlighted the strategic importance of tourism, especially in the current conditions.
The greatest investment dynamic in the nation in recent decades has been in tourism, which is not always understood; then —he explained— that investment effort must be matched with superior results that guarantee it, both with greater growth and development of the sector, as well as with growth and development in the quality of services, of the tourist product and of the efficiency with which Let’s run this activity.
And we also have, he added, to defend its condition of being an environmentally friendly tourism, for which it has received several awards. The concepts of sustainable development that Cuba applies in its tourism investments are —he emphasized— another cultural element to defend and maintain.
“WE HAVE MISSED TOURISTS, BUT WORK HAS BEEN”
Led by its minister, Juan Carlos García Granda, in the balance it was reported that in 2021 356,470 international visitors were received in Cuba, with Russia, Canada and the Cuban community abroad being the main issuing markets.
As a strategic sector for the development of the country, Cuban tourism projects the arrival of more than 2,500,000 visitors during 2022, based on greater management and the increase in the quality and diversity of the offer.
In his speech, the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, addressed several issues, all under the principle that each tourism worker must be a bastion in the defense of the Revolution. We need —he said— that each cadres and workers be aware of where we are going.
COVID-19 imposed a very complex scenario on tourism in 2021, commented the Head of Government, however, the country did not stop in its economic and social strategy on the road to recovery, and work did not stop in the sector either to improve its infrastructure and services.
He recalled that Cuban tourism has the strength of having a diverse natural and cultural destination, and a prepared workforce, although more science and innovation must be added to the activity, he said. The before and after of COVID-19 in tourism has to differentiate us in the level of quality that we offer, she pointed out.
Marrero Cruz explained that the Mintur needs to find greater productive linkages within our borders, transform its business system —with a more innovative company—, continue perfecting the investment process, promote maintenance, and strengthen the relationship between culture and tourism, in addition to increasing smart rooms, among other actions.
He referred that the contribution that young people can make in the development of the sector is vital, and he spoke out for reinforcing the role of cadres, with young people occupying important responsibilities.
“We have lacked tourists, but we have worked,” the Prime Minister later sentenced, noting that the sector must advance “at a firm pace and, above all things, continue to think about victory.”
The meeting was also attended by the member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, Félix Duarte Ortega, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil Fernández, in addition to the members of the Technical-Advisory Council of the Mintur, among other personalities.
GROW, INNOVATE AND IMPROVE
In the conclusions of the work balance of the Mintur in 2021, the First Secretary of the Central Committee explained that achieving the tourism development that we have proposed requires preparation and improvement; computerization of all processes and electricity trade (in the concept of digital transformation); of science and innovation (go to scientific research to solve problems that arise); and social communication, including the need for workers and leaders of the sector to defend tourism in social networks, which today is a scene of ideological combat and economic warfare.
And we have to do all of this, he argued, to achieve higher quality services and to take better advantage of the cultural attributes that we have, the historical, the patrimonial, the artistic, and the very idiosyncrasy of our people, because all of them are attributes of Cuba that visitors love it.
To achieve all this -he added- we have to work with a maxim: that everything we do overcome the shortcomings and limitations that we have, that we be so creative and contribute so much to quality, good service, good treatment, that what we do go above the imaginary that can be created when there are material shortages and other limitations.
And for that, it is necessary to generalize the experiences that are a benchmark in terms of quality in Cuban tourism itself, Díaz-Canel pointed out, referring to several novelties and good practices in the sector that are part of an exhibition organized by the Mintur for this meeting.
In tourism, especially because of what the young people have presented at this meeting, there are infinite ideas to develop, and let’s treat the young people, he insisted, as the important people they are, because we will not be able to speak or forge continuity if the young people are not present, if they are not the fundamental subject of that unity and continuity.
Díaz-Canel also exchanged with the directors and workers of the sector on event tourism, the issuing markets and the role of the socialist state company in the tourism business ecosystem, among other topics.
Special attention was given to the 40th Tourism Fair, FITCUBA-2022, to be held next May in Varadero. «Let’s make -he said- an extraordinary tourism fair; a well-conceived, cultured, elevated, innovative fair that demonstrates the potential of Cuban tourism. What we are asking of him, in short, is —he concluded— that we also give Cuba our hearts in tourism».
