The Cuba Tourist Board in Toronto organized its “Cuba Unica” Trade Appreciation Night congregating some 250 guests for an evening dinner and dancing.
“Canadians are drawn by Cuba’s layback charm, the friendliness of its people and its pristine beaches”, said Lessner Gomez, director of the Cuba Tourist Board, to the audience including travel advisors, tour operators, Media and Hotel partners that gathered on November 16th, 2023, at the iconic Palais Royale in Toronto.
He reported the total arrivals to Cuba, this year until October 2023, reached 1,973,083 tourists from around the world, while the total number of Canadians were 748,976 which represented 38% of the total arrivals to the country.
The goal for the Canadian market this current year is set a close number of 1 million visitors which means a 200 % increase year over year.
The air capacity for this winter season 2023/2024, has seen a growth of 12 %, with more than 5 thousand flights to Cuba from 21 Canadian getaways, these flights will be arriving at the most popular destinations in Cuba, including Manzanillo and Cienfuegos with new flights from Sunwing.
The tourist infrastructure keeps advancing its network of modern hotels, including the most recent hotel openings across the country, such as: In Cayo Paredon: Gran Aston Cayo Paredon Hotel and Vila Gale, the later managed by a Portuguese hotel chain new to Cuba.
In Cayo Cruz: Marina Plaza and Spa Hotel, which is not an all-inclusive hotel, but ideal for long stays.
In Cayo Santa Maria: The One Gallery hotel; this hotel is aiming to promote the arts and Cuban culture in general, besides its strong entertainment program and facilities, it’s located next to the main stage in Cayo Santa Maria where nightlife activities and several major festivals take place.
In Varadero: Gran Aston Varadero Hotel
In Holguin: Sol Turquesa Beach hotel saw major renovations and is under new management by Melia Hotels
In Havana: the Sevilla Hotel was completely upgraded, and it’s affiliated to Melia Hotels, also, Blue Diamond Resorts added a new property to their portfolio in the Jibacoa area: the Starfish Jibacoa (the former Villa Tropico located next to Memories Jibacoa) which has seen a complete makeover.
In Trinidad: The most recent opening is the Melia Peninsula Trinidad hotel, an all-inclusive hotel located at Ancon Beach, just 20 minutes from the city of Trinidad, a world heritage site and one of the most charming colonial towns in Cuba.
The WiFi is available and FREE at all the hotels in the destination; currently the main goal is to improve the quality of the connectivity by setting up a fiber optic service (which in certain areas is already installed) and it’s anticipated to be completed by the end of 2024.
All airports in Cuba have internet access, and the next step is to have internet service at catamaran tours and tourist buses, where the tourists can share their experience while enjoying their vacation.
One of the biggest challenges have been to stabilize the supplies to Cuba, which has seen positive results through increasing the cargo from Canada and boosting import deals directly by the hotel chains.
Cuba celebrates many events and festivals all year round, some of them are getting very popular like the Havana Jazz Festival, Santiago de Cuba Fire Festival, and the Havana Cigar Festival. Not less important is the Cuba International Tourism fair (FITCUBA) which will be held next year in Cayo Coco, and all the Canadian travel trade community is invited.
Cuba Tourist Board will continue to support travel agents through the planning of more Fam trips to see and explore more destinations in Cuba as the best way to learn, update and help travel advisors to sell the destination; also, through the creation of The Cuba travel specialist program, approved, and supported by the Ministry of Tourism.
The new advertising campaign CUBA UNICA is running across Canada and the message is clear: Cuba’s unique people, history and culture makes Cuba unique, and “Unique” is better than “best”.
Cuba's Trade Gala Demonstrates the Superiority of 'Unique' Over 'Best'
