Havana, Nov 12 (ACN) Miguel Diaz-Canel, First Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party and President of the Republic said that the reopening of the country to international tourism, the island expects to receive nearly half the arrivals that have thus far take place, but the recovery of this economic sector will not happen overnight.
The head of state said a growing trend in arrivals is to take place in relation to the action of tour-operators and travel agencies.
We’ll see over one hundred weekly flights with an increase in January and February next year, he added.
According to Diaz-Canel, tourism plays a crucial role in Cuban economy and can now interact with new non-state companies and have an impact in balancing inflation.
Diaz-Canel said that travelers who want to get vaccinated against COVID-19 here can do it since the conditions have been created with that aim; he added that there is interest by international tourists to take advantage of the safety guaranteed by the Cuban vaccines.
The Cuban leader stressed the improvement of air terminals and hotels to receive the visitors.
Diaz-Canel recalled that the fight against COVID-19 used huge resources as tourism saw a decrease in revenues, add to this less exports and imports and scarce foreign investment all combined with difficulties in local production, all leading to a slowdown in the country’s processes and services.
Under such exceptional conditions, the country lost over 3 billion dollars over the past year and a half while the scarce revenues received were destined to fight the pandemic.
Despite the scenario, actions have been taken to boost the country’s development program by progressively controlling the pandemic and expecting an economic recovery under conditions opening new opportunities such as the approval of new non-state and state companies aimed at boosting the offer of goods and services.