By Xinhua | April 28, 2024 | 14:40
Foreign tourists walk on a street in Havana, capital of Cuba, on April 20, 2024. (Xinhua/Joaquín Hernández)
By Lisandra Cots
Cuba received one million visitors until April 26 of this year, as announced today by the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) of the Caribbean nation.
The minister of the sector, Juan Carlos García, highlighted in his account on the social network in Jardines del Rey, in the central north keys of the island, and is dedicated to Latin America and the Caribbean and nautical products.
Prior to FITCuba 2024, specifically in the resort of Varadero, about 140 kilometers east of Havana, the 69th Meeting of the UN Tourism Regional Commission for the Americas will be held on April 30, with the attendance of the UN Secretary General Tourism, Zurab Pololikashvili, who arrived in Cuba this Saturday.
Mintur authorities have announced that the goal for the year is to welcome 3.5 million foreign visitors, based on the increase in air connections and the interest aroused by the island.
In this sense, official Cuban sources recently assured the Prensa Latina news agency that the restart of direct flights by the Chinese airline AirChina to Cuba, scheduled from May 17, will be “a unique opportunity” to increase tourism in Cuba. the Asian nation towards Cuba.
This week, during a meeting to promote the positioning of Cuban products on Chinese electronic platforms, the Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Ma Hui, assured Xinhua that the reestablishment of direct flights Beijing-Havana, with two weekly frequencies and a stopover in Madrid, will contribute to increasing cultural, commercial and tourist cooperation between both peoples.
In the opinion of the researcher and tourism expert, José Luis Perelló, the Chinese market can be one of the main sources of vacationers to Cuba and contribute to achieving a recovery of the sector in the island country.
“We have strengths that have been studied by Chinese tour operators. Cuba is a consolidated sun and beach destination, but it has a lot of heritage, natural, historical and cultural potential,” the specialist told Xinhua.
According to official statistics at the end of 2019, China, with some 45,000 arrivals to the Cuban archipelago, ranked 13th among the countries of origin that sent the most international travelers to the Caribbean island.
In March 2023, representatives of Havanatur SA and the Chinese tour operator Tumei International Travel signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the arrival of Chinese tourists to Cuba.
Also during the last few months, groups of Chinese tour operators and travel agents visited Cuba with the purpose of getting closer and learning about the potential of the leisure industry in the Caribbean country.
Cuba was the first Latin American nation to establish diplomatic relations with China, and maintains them at a high political level and economic and scientific-technical collaboration.
(Web editor: Zhao Jian, 周雨)
