Project Ruta Café Guamuhaya champions sustainable tourism in central Cuba

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Jan 5 (ACN) Contributing to the socioeconomic progress of the province of Cienfuegos, using cultural creativity and innovation to build a sustainable tourism, is the goal of the local development project called Ruta Café Guamuhaya.

Heriberto de la Teja Rivero, director of the initiative, told ACN that this idea came from the provincial capital’s oldest café, Centro Mercantil, a Center for Management, Sociocultural Development and Reception (CGDSA) designed to link up urban and rural mountainous areas of the province.

Mayarí-El Sopapo-El Naranjo, as the coffee triangle in the Cienfuegos highlands is named, is one of the strengths to promote sustainable tourism at local level, he said.

“Coffee production in the region enjoyed the interaction of visitors with the inhabitants of various communities marked by their customs, which include traditional Cuban music and the cultivation and processing of the grain,” he added.

Cultural coordinator Yusely González Moreno pointed out that the project started from a joint research work with scholars from the Cienfuegos Heritage Office and the Kfé Mezclado group, who surveyed the indigenous architecture of the mountain.

Among project Guamuhaya’s plans are job creation, increased local income, and improved services and other activities, as well as the conservation of natural areas, tangible and intangible patrimonial assets and cultural memory, in addition to the production and marketing of creative artistic contents, among other goals.