Cuba tourism boom driven by Arab spring

Communist state having one of its best seasons as the Arab spring and changes in US policy drive tourism rush

guardian.co.uk, Reuters, Tuesday 24 January 2012

Cuba is experiencing a huge tourist boom driven by the Arab Spring, US foreign
 policy and economic reforms in the communist state. Photograph: Public domain

The Arab spring, changes in US policy and economic reforms in Cuba are driving a tourism rush that is giving the communist-run state one of its best seasons ever and stretching its ability to meet demand.

Hotels are full to the brim and Old Havana, the capital's historic centre, is teeming with tourists from around the world, soaking up the warm winter sun in outdoor cafes and strolling through narrow colonial streets.

Along the Malecon, Havana's seaside boulevard, 25 buses were lined up on a recent sunny day, waiting to carry visitors to various destinations.

At the Bodeguita del Medio, where Ernest Hemingway supposedly drank mojitos and tourists now go to emulate him, almost as many people stood on the stone-paved street waiting to get into the jam-packed bar as were squeezed inside.

"We are at capacity," said the manager of a foreign hotel company. "The beach resorts, Havana city are totally full. In the interior of the country, there is nowhere to find a room, nowhere."

Cuba just completed its best year for tourism with 2.7 million visitors in 2011, and experts say bookings suggest it will almost certainly beat that number this year. "I think 2012 will be a very good year and I see real difficulties in how to organise and manage all this in 2013 and 2014," said the head of a European travel agency's Havana office.

Tourism brought revenues of about $2.3bn in 2011. Travel experts say there is continued growth in the number of visitors from Canada, by far the biggest market for Cuba, and rising numbers from countries such as Russia and Argentina.

This high season has also seen a resurgence in visitors from Europe, whose numbers had fallen off. Many people who usually go to north Africa for a winter vacation are now looking elsewhere because of security concerns following the Arab Spring uprisings.

The number of US visitors is also climbing after Barack Obama changed regulations in 2011, making it easier for non-Cuban Americans tovisit a country that a US trade embargo put off-limits in the past 50 years.

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