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1.9
million visitors in 2003
• Nacional Hotel and the
Tropicana cabaret
outstanding
in the Gran Caribe Group
BY MIGUEL COMELLAS
CUBA
received a just over 1.9 million visitors from
abroad in 2003, a 12% growth on the previous year’s
total.
Tourism, the
number one industry within the Cuban economy, was
badly hit as a result of the terrorist attacks on
the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in
Washington.
With close
to 40,000 rooms in dozens of new hotels and
paradisiacal installations in various cays, the
island achieved this degree of growth on account of
the quality of its services, security within the
country, and the variety of its tourist options.
For 2004,
projects include further hotel construction, theme
parks, nautical and other activities to be enjoyed
by two million tourists, the target figure for this
year.
In 2003 the
flagship of the Cuban hotel industry had an income
of $20 million.
The majestic
building belonging to the Gran Caribe chain and
located in the center of the Cuban capital, has 446
rooms and luxury suites, two swimming pools, a
cabaret and various restaurants with a large garden
area and attractive terraces.
Giving the
information, Yamila Fuster, from the five-star
hotel’s Public Relations Department, added that the
majority of guests during 2003 were from Europe or
the United States, followed by Latin American and
Asia.
The spacious
hotel in the Vedado district was also the venue for
many cultural events, commercial encounters among
entrepreneurs, science and technology meetings and
exhibitions.
The Nacional
celebrated its 73rd anniversary at the end of last
year, having been completely renovated a few years
ago, and is currently listed as a five-star
installation with the finest conditions and
amplitude in the capital.
For six
years it has retained the condition of a National
Vanguard hotel, a recognition annually awarded by
the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC) to
production and service enterprises for efficiency,
quality, variety and other attributes of excellence,
and of a selective rather than mass nature.
The star
Tropicana cabaret, which also belongs to the Gran
Caribe chain, grossed more than $10 million in 2003.
Fifty
percent of Gran Caribe’s 23 companies are involved
in the Business Improvement Plan. The group manages
dozens of hotels with a total of 11,000-plus rooms,
as well as other tourist-related installations and
more in the pipeline.
Alejandro
Escobar, president of Gran Caribe, noted that his
group occupies 87th place in the world in terms of
room numbers and the Nacional Hotel is in third
position globally in guest preference.
An increased
number of activities, inauguration of installations
and business with foreign enterprises are planned
for 2004, the group’s 10th anniversary.
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