Wednesday, May 06, 2009Difficult Year For Cuban Tourism

Caribbean Net NewsWorld Economic Crisis Hits Cuban Tourism Industry

Fewer foreigners are visiting Cuba due to the global economic crisis, dealing a blow to one of the island's main sources of foreign currency, said Cuba's Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero.

Last year was "the best year in the history of Cuban tourism," Marrero said, "with a nine percent increase in foreign visitors and a 12 percent in tourism-related income" compared to 2007.

However Marrero, speaking at the opening of the International Tourism Fair late Monday, said that 2009 "is turning into a difficult year."

The global crisis "is having an impact on all aspects of the world economy and tourism is not exempt," he said.

Cuba expects fewer tourists this year even though the island closed the first quarter of 2009 with a two percent increase over the same period last year, said Marrero.

Tourism is the second largest source of foreign currency after Cuban medical missions abroad.

Some 2.3 million foreigners visited Cuba in 2008, with the largest group -- 818,000 -- coming from Canada.

In the first quarter of 2009 some 809,937 tourists arrived in Cuba -- winter in the northern hemisphere and traditionally the high season -- but they are spending less, as income dropped to 509.9 million dollars, 13.7 percent less than the same period in 2008, the Office of National Statistics reported.

The figures do not reflect the suspension of flights to and from Mexico since late April due to the swine flu outbreak.

No cases of swine flu have been reported in Cuba.

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