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Cuba plans to perk up tourism
22 May, 2007
Cuba is planning to spend about $185
million to upgrade over 200 tourist
resorts, golf courses, marinas and
other facilities in an effort to
reverse a decline in the island’s
tourism.
The Cuban government has said the
number of visitors to the country fell
by about 100,000 in 2006 to 2.2
million, adversely affecting the
communist nation’s leading source of
income. The 45-year-old trade embargo
imposed by the United States prohibits
American tourists from visiting Cuba
and prevents most trade between the
two countries.
Manuel Marrero, Cuba’s Minister for
Tourism, announced the tourism
development plan in the second week of
May 2007 at a tourism fair that was
closed to the international press. The
plan, the details of which have been
given in Opciones, a state-run
newspaper, involves attracting foreign
investors, will run through 2010 and
seeks to make Cuba more competitive.
Cuba will use about $162 million to
upgrade non-hotel facilities like golf
courses, yacht clubs and theme parks.
Around 50 boutique inns will be built
around the country in addition to the
10 already under construction. Cuba’s
outdated highways also are planed to
be improved, according to Manuel
Marrero.
The newspaper Opciones did not say how
many tourists visited Cuba so far in
2007, but quoted Minister Manuel
Marrero as saying that, in 2007, for
the fourth consecutive year, the
number will be greater than 2 million
visitors.
Many international visitors complain
that Cuba is excessively expensive,
especially because of a tax on
currency exchanges.
At the tourism fair, aviation
officials announced plans to improve
airports in Havana and four other
cities. Heriberto Prieto, first
vice-president of Cuba’s Civil
Aviation Institute, said nearly a
dozen new planes were being added to
the country’s passenger fleet.
Tourism, which generates about $2
billion annually in Cuba, became a
major source of income for the country
in the 1990s following the collapse of
the Soviet Union and the loss of the
much-needed aid and trade.
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