Cuba’s International Tourism Fair Underway in Holguin

Cuba’s International Tourism Fair (FITCuba 2017) officially opened Wednesday at the Playa Pesquero Hotel in Holguin, in eastern Cuba, with a keynote speech delivered by Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero.

Dedicated to Germany as a guest country of honor, this year’s fair is also devoted to tours and excursions, an expression of the variety of options available in Cuba as a travel destination. For many years, Cuba has been advocating a different tourism, multifaceted and unlimited expectations, the event is the ideal setting for dialogue, Negotiate and enhance the Cuban leisure industry.

"In this, the most important event of the Cuban Tourism Industry, I could not begin my words otherwise if I did not remember Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, who was born in Biran, Holguín. This was the last hotel he opened and from here he defined the concept of how Cuban tourism should be developed, based on peace, health and safety,” said Mr. Marrero Cruz in his inaugural address.

He added that as a travel destination, Holguin will continue to make strides and multiply from the new projects already underway, with a potential to build more than 19,000 guestrooms.

"I take this opportunity to announce the agreements between Cubanacán and Iberostar to manage hotels in Santiago de Cuba and Gibara. Gran Caribe and Meliá have also agreed to manage hotels in Cienfuegos. Also, the Isla Azul Group has made headway in the negotiations to hammer out a new management deal of its properties in Camagüey. Many of these contracts have been signed and will be signed within the framework of this fair,” the Cuban minister said.

"Holguín is one of the Cuban sites where value for money is better achieved. Tourism is advancing and driving the advance of other industries. At the end of the year, the overall satisfaction of the destination was 95 percent, "he concluded.

Meanwhile, Dr. Armgard Wippler, Director of Policy for Small and Medium Enterprises of the German Government’s Service Sector, said that "traveling puts an end to prejudices, opens hearts, and inspires us to have new ideas and ways of understanding. German tourists make up a large part of those who visit this beautiful country and that every year is increasing. In 2015, 175,000 Germans visited Cuba, and in 2016 the figure amounted to about a quarter of a million,” Mr. Wippler pointed out.

The cutting-ribbon ceremony was also presided over by Jorge Cuevas Ramos, Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba; Luis Antonio Torres, Member of the Central Committee, Deputy of the National Assembly and First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba in Holguin; and Julio César Estupiñán, Deputy to the National Assembly and President of the Provincial Government of Holguín.