The Cuban Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) has reported record numbers of tourists numbering close to 4m (+13%) during 2016, buoyed strongly by increased flights from North America following the partial opening up of air routings between the US and Havana in the new spirit of mutual ‘cooperation’.

 

In a press statement, Cuba’s MOT said strong efforts have been made to try to raise the standard of tourism services and this is expected to continue throughout 2017.

 

EUROPEAN ARRIVALS ARE INCREASING FAST

However, the tourism body also adds that it expects the number of North American visitor arrivals – who are not technically classified as tourists – to slow down in the coming year, while arrivals from Europe are expected to grow much faster.

 

This is due to the nature of the commercial air transport numbers which are capped between the US and Cuba – at least for now – while this is not the case from Europe.

 

A slowing down in the number of arrivals may not be such a bad trend in the short term however, especially considering that the number of hotel rooms are at a premium in the capital Havana in particular.

 

MORE HOTELS DESPERATELY NEEDED

Contrastingly, the Cuban Government will be hoping that more quality accommodation comes on stream quickly if it is to capitalise on the popularity of the destination right now and turn this into much needed foreign exchange earnings.

 

More investments are currently being encouraged in this direction, while there is also a need to expand Havana Airport to cope with the upsurge in arrivals, which is expected over the next few years. There have been some suggestions that an expansion may be planned, but no details have yet emerged.

 

Meanwhile, more than 20 international airlines were operating services to Cuba in 2016 and at least the same number are expected this year. These include the US airlines that were awarded routings by the US Government earlier last year. They included American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta, Spirit, United Airlines, Alaska, Frontier, Southwest and Sun Country.

 

The cruise business is also continuing to grow fast with several major cruiselines now routinely making scheduled visits and stops in Cuba.