April 3, 2010
The number of tourists coming to Cuba during the first two months of 2010 fell 3.4 per cent from last year due to a decline in visitors from Canada, Cuba’s top tourist provider.
But a jump in arrivals by Cuban-Americans after the Obama administration lifted restrictions on their visits home likely helped offset the drop in Canadians.
A slump in tourism is bad news for President Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel Castro two years ago and is grappling with a growing economic crisis.
Tourism and related businesses brought more than $2 billion to the communist-run Caribbean nation in 2009, or about 20 per cent of its foreign exchange income.
The National Statistics office reported on its website that 513,000 tourists arrived in January and February. That was down from 531,000 during the same period in 2009. Canadian arrivals dropped to 243,800, from 270,400 in 2009.
Tourism industry experts outside Cuba said a pricing spat with a major Canadian tour operator contributed to the decline.
Other destinations, including the Dominican Republic and the Mexican resort of Cancun, also are drawing away tourists with lower-priced packages, they said.
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Arrivals from the U.S. and some other countries under the category of “other” rose 11.6 per cent to 99,500 for the two-month period, the statistics office said.
Most of that increase is probably Cuban-Americans because operators of U.S.-Cuba charter flights say their business is booming due to a flood of Cuban-Americans going to their homeland.
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