ECONOMY-CUBA: Private Sector Complains of Slump in Tourism

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Oct 1 2001 (IPS) - The Sep 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. have led to a drop in tourist arrivals to Cuba, which directly affects the country’s budding private sector.

“The situation is critical for all businesses, because the number of customers has sharply fallen since Sep 11,” Fernando Lagunes, the owner of a restaurant in Playa, a neighbourhood on the westside of Havana, told IPS.

Lagunes said his income had been cut by more than half in the past few weeks, and pointed out that “taxi drivers have no customers, and there are less visitors renting rooms” in the neighbourhood.

The drivers of state-owned or private taxis are paid commissions by restaurant owners for each customer they bring in, a system that has been authorised by the government as part of the limited private enterprise initiatives allowed since the mid- 1990s.

A woman who rents out two rooms to foreign tourists said the situation was similar in El Vedado, a downtown Havana neighbourhood.

“People from Italy, Spain and the United States stay at my house. Normally these people would have already made their reservations for the year-end holiday season, but they haven’t called me yet,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

The government has not released figures on the September performance of the tourism industry. But Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz admitted that “a set of circumstances” had affected the number of arrivals.

However, “we remain optimistic, and hope to see a favourable winter season,” he said in statements to state-run television.

Tourism has become the chief foreign exchange-earner of this Caribbean island nation, which opted for intensive development of the industry in the framework of the reforms undertaken to tackle the economic crisis triggered by the disappearance of the east European socialist bloc in the early 1990s.

Local authorities were hoping for two million visitors this year and an estimated two billion dollars in tourism revenues. However, that projection is not likely to be met, especially if the US response to the Sep 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. leads to a war.

Ferradaz said it was clear that events of the magnitude of the terror attacks would have a negative impact on the tourism industry, because they create confusion and give rise to flight delays and understandable fears that lead people to cancel their travel plans.

The specialised local tourism publication Opciones reported that Canadian airlines had reduced their flights to Cuba in the past few weeks. However, the magazine said that was not a problem in the current low season (September and October).

Canada is the single leading source of visitors to Cuba, although 55 percent of arrivals come from Europe.

Last week, tour operators consulted by IPS said air traffic to and from Cuba was normal, despite rumours on the streets that it had diminished, especially flights to the United States.

“We were expecting a disaster, but the impact of the crisis after the terrorist attacks in the United States has been minimal,” commented a travel agent who specialises in tours from South America.

An employee of Havanatur, an agency dedicated to air travel between Cuba and the United States, agreed that the frequency of flights was normal. “Demand is very high. There have been no cancellations or reduction in ticket sales, and flights continue at a frequency of one or two a day,” he told IPS by phone.

Although the economic embargo against Cuba imposed by Washington since the 1960s bans US citizens from visiting this island nation, an estimated 170,000 to 200,000 people from that country visited last year.

That included Cuban-Americans visiting their families, as well as US citizens who flew in through third party countries, or who were authorised by the US government to carry out a cultural exchange or other type of visit.

The Florida newspaper the Nuevo Herald published estimates last Friday by the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, according to which the number of arrivals to Cuba could drop 15 percent this year.

“Today the flights to Cuba are full, and there are even cases of Latin Americans who have chosen to return to their countries by this route,” said a travel agent in France who promotes tourism to Cuba.

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, admitted in his e-mail message, however, that he had noticed “a slight drop” in demand for tickets to Cuba even prior to Sep 11.

“There have been cancellations in travel plans, but more towards North America and Arab countries…There are many reasons for that. Some are afraid their plane will be hijacked, and others are afraid of what might happen in France while they’re gone,” he added.