Domestic tourism growing fast

Domestic tourism growing fast



CUBA STANDARD — Compensating for a 1.8-percent drop in international

visitors, domestic tourism in Cuba grew 12.6 percent in the first seven

months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, official

magazine Bohemia reported.



Showing that vacationing Cubans are increasing their spending, revenues

from domestic tourism rose 13.9 percent in the same period.



The boom is particularly felt during summer vacations. More than 17,000

Cubans lodged in hotels on the island on Aug. 17, breaking the one-day

stay record for domestic tourists, the article cites José Manuel Bisbé,

marketing director at the tourism ministry.



"The growth levels took us quite by surprise," Bisbé told Bohemia. "In

the beginning, we were rather skeptical as far as access of our people

to hotel activities goes. But it's been very favorable, it has evolved."



These growth rates — triggered by the government's dropping in 2008 of a

long-standing prohibition for regular Cubans to access tourist hotels,

as well as the rising number of Cubans with dispensable hard-currency

income — prompt Bisbé to predict that domestic tourism will soon reach

numbers that rival those of foreign visitors.



A total of 339,470 Cubans stayed in hard-currency hotels as tourists

from January through the end of July. Tourism officials expect the

number to reach 625,000 by the end of this year, nearly 100,000 more

than in 2012. Within five years, Bisbé said he expects domestic tourism

to "at least" reach the 2-million mark.



In 2012, Cuba welcomed 2.8 million foreign visitors.



An anecdotal survey of domestic tourists in Varadero, the Bohemia

article begins with a Cuban couple, both members of an agricultural

cooperative in Artemisa province, who celebrate their 10th anniversary

with a vacation at the five-star Barceló Solymar Arenas Blancas resort.



According to tourism ministry data, 80 percent of the domestic hotel

stays were booked by Cubans living in the island rather than friends and

relatives abroad. Thirty-seven percent of domestic tourists this year

preferred Varadero; domestic demand centers around family and beach

tourism, according to Bohemia.



The Bohemia article says Cubans staying in luxury hotels are a mixed

crowd, including a sizable group of self-employed businesspeople, Cubans

whose relatives abroad paid for the stay, athletes, artists, Cubans who

returned from missions abroad, and tourism workers.



Source: "Domestic tourism growing fast « Cuba Standard, your best source

for Cuban business news" -

http://www.cubastandard.com/2013/09/23/domestic-tourism-growing-fast/