Tourism grows 4.6 pct in Cuba

Tourism grows 4.6 pct in Cuba
Published July 03, 2014 EFE

Cuba welcomed 1.67 million foreign tourists during the first six months
of this year, a 4.6 percent increase over the same period in 2013,
according to figures released by the Tourism Ministry.

"For this sector to continue contributing to the country's economic
development we must increase the quality," Tourism Minister Manuel
Marrero told a National Assembly committee.

Lawmakers said that the country needed to diversify its tourist
offerings, although quality in the sector was already high, state
television said in a report on the hearing.

In May, nearly 196,000 international tourists traveled to the island,
compared with 191,213 in the same month in 2013, according to a report
by the National Statistics and Information Office.

Canada remained the main tourist-sending nation to the island, followed
by Britain, Germany, France and Argentina.

Last year, 2.85 million travelers came to the island and, of those, more
than 1 million were Canadians, and although the government's target of 3
million visitors was not reached, it did register a modest increase of
0.5 percent.

International tourism provided Cuba with some $1.8 billion in earnings
in 2013, according to official figures. EFE

Source: Tourism grows 4.6 pct in Cuba | Fox News Latino -
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/07/03/tourism-grows-46-pct-in-cuba/