FITCuba 2016: U.S. relations steal the show

Canada was in the spotlight at FITCuba 2016, the country’s annual tourism fair where this year, talk focused on the impending arrival of more American travellers.

The still-tentative but significant opening to Cuba for Americans and already observable changes related to it stole the show at the annual fair, held from May 3-7, which welcomed government representatives, travel partners and 173 journalists from 53 countries.

In every speech during the event, Manuel Marrero Cruz, Cuba’s minister of tourism, addressed the issue.

"The restoration of diplomatic relations aroused great interest and there’s already been a recorded increase in visits from the United States, even if Americans cannot get here as tourists," he said.

While Americans still can’t simply take a trip to the communist island, the diplomatic changes contributed to 161,233 American visitors in 2015 (arriving for one of 12 government-approved purposes, such as educational or cultural reasons), an increase of 76 per cent compared to 2014. And since the beginning of the year, 94,000 Americans have set foot in Cuba, representing an increase of 94 per cent over the previous year, making the U.S. the third largest market for Cuba after Canada and Germany.

For the first time in more than 50 years, a U.S. cruise ship - in this case, Carnival’s Adonia (sailing on company’s Fathom subsidiary) - stopped in Havana on May 2, described as "an historic moment" by Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the World Tourism Organization.

The potential for an influx of American travellers may have also contributed to an increase in visitors from other markets: in 2015, Cuba welcomed more than three million visitors, an increase of 17 per cent compared to 2014.

The biggest challenge for the island now? "Managing this flood of international visitors," admitted the minister.

"We are aware of the greater demand than supply. Last year we had problems where some hotels could not respond well to the increase. But we aim to remedy this by the construction of new hotels and the restoration of existing facilities…. The quality of service we provide is our top priority," the minister stressed.

Cuba is already under construction: thirty new hotels will soon find their place in Havana where many abandoned buildings have now been restored. It’s the same story elsewhere on the island, where dozens of tourism projects are planned; ultimately, Cuba aims to provide 2,500 new rooms in the next few years.

The government is also planning the renovation of the island’s airports and ports to better respond to the growing number of airlines and cruises that do business with Cuba.

Canada honoured

It is no coincidence that Canada was the country of honour for the 2016 edition of FITCuba, the country’s top tourist market since 1998.

Faced with such popularity and soaring prices, some Cubans are afraid that their main market may look elsewhere. Already this year, a decline in Canadian visits was observed, compared with 1.3 million entries in 2015.

“But we have a strategy to increase arrivals from Canada,” Cruz said. “We will never abandon our friends who have never abandoned us during difficult times.”

During his address, Cruz cited the number of Canadian travellers arriving via Sunwing, Transat, Air Canada and WestJet, as well as the role of tour operators such as Hola Sun Caribe Sol and Canadian travel agencies. The Minister also invited several Canadian partners to a dinner in recognition of their work.

Attending the fair this year was Canadian Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger, who spoke of the love of Canadians for Cuba and stressed the mutual economic support between the two countries.

And while the country of honour for next year’s FITCuba is usually announced at the end of the event, organizers this time floated the mystery by simply stating that “it will be important;” already, many have whispered that the United States might be the featured country in 2017.