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Sept. 11 - Sept. 18, 2011 |
Cuba announces new investments to improve tourism
Fit Cuba 2009 outlines the country’s plan to expand its market
By Francesco Veronesi
Originally Published: 2009-06-07
Cuba’s future will be based on the development of the tourist sector. This was the announcement made by Cuba’s Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero at the inauguration of Fit Cuba 2009, the annual international convention in Havana. The event attracted hundreds of employees from the tourism sector who contributed their ideas, projects, and resources to help develop the Caribbean island’s tourist sector. The key for attaining this objective, according to the Cuban tourist minister, is through increased investment in tourism, which will strengthen the existing joint ventures between the Cuban government and dozens of foreign investors, as well as consolidating the tourist market share that Cuba has managed to carve out for itself – in an industry where one must continually innovate, invest, and make long-term plans or risk entering into a slow and inevitable decline.
“After the crisis in this sector during the ’60s, we were able to recoup a good slice of the market during the last two decades, above all through the increase of visitors coming from Canada and Europe,”said Marrero. “And this is notwithstanding the continued policy of sabotage carried forward by the United States.”
During the ’90s, he added, Cuba was dealt a blow to the heart of its economy by a series of terrorist attempts in some of the capital’s hotels, where a young Italian-Canadian, Fabio Di Celmo, lost his life.
“The tourist sector of our country was victimized by terrorism,” the minister declared. “But that didn’t stop us. Rather, it strengthened our resolve about the necessity of strengthening and investing in our infrastructure.”
In the future, Marrero said that the Cuban administration will have to find the means and the tools necessary to further expand.
“The truth is that we want to be competitive both in the Caribbean and the world market,” he explained. “Our objective is to increase the number of foreign visitors. We’ve already had great success in recent years.”
Statistics show that beginning in the ’90s, the influx of tourists arriving to the island has steadily increased. The number of visitors increased from 300,000 in 1990 to 600,000 in 1994. Then came a significant jump in 1996 with over 1 million tourists. Since then, the growth has been unstoppable, hitting 1.6 million in 1999 and 2 million in 2004.
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