14ymedio, Havana, December 7, 2023 — The Spanish advisor Francisco Albertí, who has been the financial guru for almost all the large hotel groups in Spain, this Thursday asked the Cuban authorities to allow the companies, “especially Meliá, to be great actors and advisors of the Cuban Government in the tourist recovery,” suggesting, even, that they could own some of the hotels they manage.
With experience working not only for Meliá, but also for the Mallorcan Iberostar and Riu – all with a history of hotel management on the Island – the expert does not make his proposal in vain. The business, he insinuates, would be good.
Even better, the hotel chains could help oxygenate with “private investment all the sectors that suffer: energy, supplies, food, agriculture and livestock,” which are “paralyzed” by the crisis on the Island.
To do this, he clarifies, the first step must be taken by the Cuban government, which will have to “open the country a little more” so that Spanish companies stop being simple managers and become owners of their hotels on the Island.
“Now is the time for Cuba to make important decisions at the tourist and country level” if it wants to “get back on its feet”
“Now is the time for Cuba to make important decisions at the tourist and country level” if it wants to “get back on its feet,” says Albertí. The tourism advisor also recalled the years in which he worked as an expansion director for the Riu chain, which in 2008 left the last of the three hotels that it once operated in Cuba. “Investing was not allowed for Spanish hoteliers, an