05 January 2009

Viva el turismo in Cuba!

Even though the world has experienced losses in their tourism industry because of the recent economic problem, Cuba didn’t seem to have any problem enticing tourists to visit their country. The Ministry of Tourism in Cuba has reported that the number of tourists, along with the revenue increased by 2% in 2008. The country has welcomed 2.3 million tourists last year which has translated to more than $2 billion of spending.

But this story of improvement has a twist – the country experienced significant losses in 2007 in tourism. This was during the time when everyone else was experiencing increase in the number of tourists. This type of trend however, is yet to be seen.

The country even improved their tourism even though they have experienced a number of natural calamities this year that ravaged their top tourist destinations. The beaches and the beautiful islands of Cuba have always enticed travellers and even with the recent hurricanes, the tourist destinations rebounded and improved.

According to their latest released data, the most number of travellers to Cuba come from Canada. More than 800,000 Canadians visited the country for the past year. This figure meant that the number of tourists from this North American country increased by 24.5%. Other European countries also come to Cuba in significant numbers.

For 2009, the tourism industry is expected to rise as the country is getting more aggressive in improving its services to tourists. Although no figures have been put up for next year, the tourism industry has already gained momentum which will continue in 2009.

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