Cuba: Diaz-Canel reviews tourism industry

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 2 (ACN) Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel reviewed the tourism industry performance due to its importance to the country´s development in a meeting with top officials of the different ministries.

At the meeting of the government's commission to encourage and secure tourism, which is led by the Minister, Manuel Marrero, and which has been meeting for years each month with an agenda aimed at ensuring attention to the growing number of visitors, Diaz-Canel described the progress made since the 1990s as impressive.

At that time, there were barely 18,000 rooms in the country, and today that number is far higher than ever, reported Granma newspaper.

Díaz-Canel recalled that the idea behind this development was precisely that tourism should become the locomotive of the Cuban economy, a fact that, even with all that has been done since then, has not been fully realized.

He considered that Cuba's tourist destination is appreciated throughout the world for the comfort of its hotels, the beauty of its beaches and landscapes, its safety, among other attractions, but it is necessary to continue working on guaranteeing services.

Many products that could be produced in the country are still imported, he said, making this activity more expensive.

With regard to tourism, we need to further develop agriculture, renewable energy sources and new technologies, he said, and to that end, each agency needs to rethink its relationship with the so-called chimneyless industry to meet its high demands and needs.

We now have an open path of development and prospects, which we did not have when the difficult years of the Special Period, he said.

During the meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Gustavo Rodríguez, referred to the supply of agricultural products, for which the structures of protected crops have been recovered and investments have been made in the mini-industries where some of these foods are processed.

However, he acknowledged, there are still dissatisfactions, especially with citrus such as oranges and grapefruit, which have to be imported due to the deterioration caused to this crop by pests over the years.

He described as successful the direct link that has been implemented between agricultural producers and hotels, which increases the delivery of fresh produce, both agricultural and processed.

The minister of the food industry, María del Carmen Concepción, said that the broad investment process that is being undertaken in the sector will allow a more timely response and satisfy several of the demands that currently have to be met with imports.

Among the issues that have had the greatest impact over the last year on tourism support, she mentioned problems with packaging and raw materials.

The Minister of Transport, Adel Yzquierdo Rodríguez, reported on the insurance policies in his sector, relating to the transportation of tourism workers, campers and tourists, activities that are guaranteed without setbacks.

From the work carried out in the country's airports, he highlighted the reduction in waiting time in the air terminals and the improvement in issues such as air conditioning, food supplies, customs services and baggage handling, all of which have resulted in greater visitor satisfaction.

The Minister of Construction, René Mesa, referred to the construction work being carried out in the nation's tourist centers and cities. He listed a series of hotels being built, for example, in Varadero, Holguín, Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba, which are progressing according to the schedule and will significantly increase the number of rooms available on the island.

Salvador Pardo Minister of Industry highlighted the services of installation and maintenance of solar heaters, elevators, security systems and water pumping, as well as central air conditioning, all of high impact for the comfort of the facilities.

Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, First Vice-Minister of Communications, pointed out aspects of the widespread use of new technologies and the main actions being carried out to increase the quality of services.

He explained that to date more than 300 hotels have installed Internet connection through wifi technology in their common areas, which is intended to extend to the entire hotel system.

At the same time, the connectivity of the entities that market the tourist packages is being expanded and agreements have been signed with a large group of telecommunications operators for the use of roaming services in Cuba, which allows visitors to keep their mobile telephone lines active in our country.

Hydraulic development was also reviewed during the meeting, in which Inés María Chapman Waugh, president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, stated that the diagnosis of the main problems has allowed us to clearly identify where maintenance is necessary and where an integral investment is needed.

She said that the rational use of water and actions to reduce water consumption are systematically checked in tourist facilities.