Tourism Boom: Cuba in Desperate Need of Investors to Develop Tourism Infrastructure eTN
go to original February 18, 2016

Can Cuba Keep Up with the Tourism Boom? (AJ+)

Cuba is looking for investors to help stimulate an unprecedented tourism boom after the country improved ties with the United States. The tourism industry, Cuba's second largest foreign revenue earner following the export of health services, has achieved a 17.4 percent rise in foreign visitors to a record 3,524,779 in 2015.

Traditionally, foreign visitors to Cuba come mainly from Canada (1.3 million in 2015 or 10.6 percent more than the year before), followed by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. Mexico ranked sixth, leading Latin American countries.

The situation is changing, as more Americans have taken advantage of their country's warmer bilateral relations with Cuba and more relaxed travel restrictions to visit the Caribbean nation, located just 169 km from the Florida coast. It's estimated that 145,000 Americans visited the island in 2015, an increase of 79 percent over the previous year, and the trend is expected to keep up this year.

Other nationalities are also rushing to visit the island, fearing a full-blown American onslaught will soon alter the country's natural landscape with fast-food franchises and chain convenience stores. Travel Leaders Group, a U.S. leading travel agency, said in a report that Cuba has topped the list of favorite destinations for luxury travel in 2016.

With a growing demand for hotels, restaurants and other tourism facilities and services, Cuba is in a desperate need to develop its tourism infrastructure through investment. To attract capital flows, Cuban tourism professionals have worked with their Spanish counterparts to promote their country's profile at the 2016 International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) in Madrid.

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