The delegate of the Ministry of Tourism in the eastern province of Holguin, Francisco Suarez, valued as a great opportunity to receive today new air connections in the territory as the arrival of the airline Rutaca, coming from Venezuela.
The arrival of the Venezuelan visitors – a FAM (familiarization) Group of more than 80 tour operators and 19 press media- is a new possibility because it is part of the joint strategy of market diversification, he assured in a dialogue with Prensa Latina.
He said that this operation is not new as a destination, because there was an experience prior to Covid-19 with bilateral travel relations, package tours, as well as other strengths marketed in the destination, which were well exploited as health tourism, wellness of life and quality of life.
Suárez specified that with the two weekly flight frequencies (Tuesdays and Thursdays) from Caracas-Las Piedras-Holguín, and vice versa, the territory “takes a step forward in its recovery”.
He affirmed that the arrival of this flight from Venezuela “is already an important step” and is, in fact, our first connection with Latin America after Covid-19.
The 36-year-old tourism graduate stressed that it is really the beginning of an operation that “we consider very important” and can be very profitable for both peoples, the companies involved and for tourism in general.
Also, he commented, it will contribute to transmit the truths and realities as part of the interaction between the peoples, to show the reality of Cuba as other sister countries in the area, such as the Dominican Republic and Cancun, Mexico, also have.
He said that there should not be so much misrepresentation of information since “we have a campaign that damages tourism in Cuba”, in addition to the permanent aggression to discourage this sector so important for the economy of our country.
The representative of the Minister of Tourism valued as a “solid and well-conceived strategy, not unilateral” this project that comes from the central government, which supports “very strongly the development of tourism in the country”.
About the four-day visit to the territory by the FAM Group, in which they visited the important tourist pole of Guardalavaca and the province of Santiago de Cuba, Suarez expressed his hope that in the short time “they have been able to appreciate the attractions that Holguin has, what makes us different, how we do tourism and know our realities”.
It also allows travel agents, through the different press media that accompanied them in the FAM Group, to transmit what we are doing, what our development perspectives are and that “it is possible to come to Cuba for quality tourism”.
Referring to the potential of the province, the official said that Holguín is today one of the most important tourist centers in Cuba, with a total potential in the development plan of 65 thousand rooms.
He said that at this moment, as part of the development to 2030, the construction of 19 thousand rooms is being planned, which are in the process of development.
Today, he remarked, the territory has a total hotel plant of 7,900 rooms, all of them four and five stars in optimal conditions, which is allowing the gradual recovery of the sector after the crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which caused Covid-19.
As encouraging data he mentioned that in the year 2023 “we recovered by 86 percent with respect to 2019”, they work in the destination at more than 50 percent occupancy and “we mapped out a strategy to diversify our destination with air connections to other markets”.
Suarez said that Holguín has a “fairly large” inventory of tourist attractions and products, with a wide range of possibilities and “that’s what we let our clients know”. He alluded, in that sense, to the upcoming opening of markets such as the United Kingdom, Russia and Eastern Europe.
The province has “a very large mix” of all market segments -not only sun and beach, which is where we have the largest hotel plant-, but we are very strong in nature tourism with magnificent products and international events associated with this marketing, he said.
An element that distinguishes the eastern territory, he remarked, is that it is recognized as the destination where “there is a greater sample of quality and better value for money”, thus appreciated by customers who come to this region.
With information from Prensa Latina / Translate by Radio Angulo
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