Cuba tourist arrivals surpass one million for 2018
Hurricanes, mysterious sonic attacks and a pushback on travel freedom by the Trump Administration have seemingly done little to curb Cuba’s tourism growth.
The island recorded its first million overseas visitors of the year this week.
Janet Ayala, communications director of the Cuban Ministry of Tourism posted the news on her Facebook account and commended the positive numbers despite the US government’s campaign to ‘hinder the flow of American visitors to Cuba.’
Top markets were Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the UK, Ayala wrote.
Last year, Cuba welcomed 4.7 million visitors and is targeting more than five million for 2018.
The Cuban government is investing heavily to support its second largest contributor to GDP with a program to increase room inventory in state-run hotels to 90,000 by 2020.
There are currently about 67,000 hotel rooms and several thousand in family run homestays according to the most recent analysis by the tourism ministry.
Tourism generates about $3 billion a year in revenue for the country.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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