By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Aug 6 2002 (IPS)

Boat tours that follow the route Columbus took, rodeos, and six-month stays for Canadian retirees are just a few of the creative options now offered in Cuba to boost the number of tourists in the wake of the Sep 11 terror attacks in the United States, which hit the global tourism industry hard.

Strengthening the long-time promotional focus on Cuba as a safe country to visit, coming up with creative new attractions and packages for tourists, and seeking visitors from new markets were the keys that enabled the Tourism Ministry to celebrate the arrival of “tourist number One Million” on Jul 28.

Last year, Cuba reached the one million tourist mark in six months, while this year it took seven months, noted Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz. But “that was better than it could have been,” he added, given the slump in global tourist flows.

Government officials reported that last year, the number of arrivals – which totalled 1.7 million, less than the hoped-for two million – was only 555 higher than in 2000, an increase of just 0.03 percent.

Cuba is now gearing up for a new November to April high season, during which it plans to maintain a steady marketing offensive.

Among the new options offered are boat tours that follow the route taken by Christopher Columbus, train rides to old sugar plantations and mills, overnight excursions to the mountains, and the Buffalo Tour, which includes rodeos and “fiestas” in rural establishments.

The Grupo Cubanacán SA – a partnership of foreign investors and the Cuban government – has also come up with a new option, so far only available to visitors from Canada, the main source of tourists to this socialist Caribbean island nation. The number of arrivals from Canada rose more than 13 percent last year.

The extended stay service takes care of the paperwork, to allow Canadians to live in tourist installations in Cuba for anywhere between 21 days and six months.

Cubanacán, Cuba’s largest hotel chain, is thus developing alternatives to conventional tourism, with the aim of opening up new segments of the market and drawing visitors outside of the high season.

The commercial director of Cubanacán, Joel Quesada Casanovas, explained that the new service caters to the needs of a specific clientele, which is mainly made up of retirees above the age of 50.

Canadians have been visiting this island nation of 11 million in significant numbers since the 1970s, fleeing the winter snows and intense cold to seek warmth on Cuba’s tropical beaches.

Cuba’s tourism minister announced Jul 29 that “given the difficult economic situation,” tourism authorities decided to put priority on reaching out to new markets.

The tourism industry has become one of Cuba’s main sources of foreign exchange, alongside sugar exports and family remittances sent home by Cubans living abroad.

The drop in arrivals in the wake of the Sep 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington forced authorities in Cuba to temporarily close hotels, give employees in the sector early vacations, reassign thousands of workers to other economic activities, and freeze investment in tourism.

Although some hotels remain closed, local officials say a large part of the workers have returned to their jobs, and that by year- end investment programmed for the industry will be flowing again.

Another measure to be adopted is the expansion of the circulation of the euro in tourist resort centres on Cayo Largo del Sur, to the southwest of the island, and Jardines del Rey to the east, following a successful experiment launched Jun 1 in the resort town of Varadero, 140 kms from Havana.

The idea is to bolster the inflow of tourists from the European Union, which is the source of 55 percent of all visitors to Cuba, who mainly come from Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Britain.

A report issued Jun 18 by the World Tourism Organisation stated that in the first part of the year, it had become clear that recovery of the industry had begun.

However, the report added that the recovery has been more discernible in intra-regional tourism flows and in the regions of the Pacific rim, Europe and Africa.

The secretary-general of the World Tourism Organisation, Francesco Frangialli, also pointed out that the situation is not yet back to normal, due to worries of fresh terrorist attacks.

The ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and the growing tension between India and Pakistan have also curbed recovery of the tourism industry, Frangialli added.

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