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By Rodolfo Casals of Granma International
THE Cuban tourism industry continues to grow, with a substantial increase in the number of visitors, expanded infrastructure and improved service.
In the first six months of 1997, Cuba welcomed over 570,000 tourists, which represented a 15.3 percent increase in comparison with the same period last year. Cuba is now one of the most frequently visited Caribbean countries.
Over the last five years, the number of tourists has more than doubled, rising from 424,000 in 1991 to 1,004,300, while income has grown to 1.38 billion dollars, as opposed to 387.4 million five years earlier. This year, Cuba expects to welcome a total of 1.2 million tourists,and to take in some 1.7 billion dollars in revenues.
According to forecasts for the year 2000, these figures should have grown to 2.5 million and three billion, respectively. There are currently 174 hotels with a total of 27,000 rooms, and plans for the future include boosting the country's accommodation capacity to 50,000 rooms by the end of the century, based on an acceleration of the investment and construction processes. Cuba's accommodation potential is estimated at some 153,000 rooms.
For many years, the countries sending the largest number of tourists to Cuba have been Canada, Italy, Spain and Germany, and these have now been joined by France, Mexico and Argentina. Promotional efforts in other European and Latin American markets have yielded significant results in the last six months, reflected in a substantial rise in the number of tourists from Belgium, Sweden, Great Britain and Brazil.
Besides the attractions of its climate and historical and cultural wealth, Cuba is without a doubt one of the safest tourism destinations in the world.
The effects of the recent terrorist incidents in Havana were minor, and did not affect the flow of tourism. Material damage was minimal, and only three people were slightly wounded.
The Horizontes chain, which runs the Capri, assured us that within several days of the explosion, the hotel's occupancy rate was 100 percent.
It is believed that these terrorist incidents form part of the activities of anti-Cuba organisations based in Miami. The aim of these organisations, which are tied to the U.S. government, is to discourage tourism to Cuba. In pursuit of the same goal, a disinformation campaign was launched several weeks earlier regarding a purported dengue epidemic; in actual fact, the disease had been reported in only one municipality throughout the entire country, and is being successfully eradicated. Cuban tourism authorities are confident that in spite of the efforts of the country's enemies, this industry will continue to expand, contributing to the overall economic recovery. A total of close to 1.4 million visitors are expected for the coming year.