Cuba Preps Bill to Okay Real-Estate Properties with Golf Courses

Cuba is giving the finishing touches to a legislation that will give the green light to the marketing and building of real-estate properties outfitted with golf courses, one of the island nation’s latest moves aimed at both fostering and branching out its tourism offer.

During the grand opening of Cuba’s International Tourism Fair, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said there’s a draft bill in the work that would eventually authorize foreign investment in that particular field.

“As we speak, Cuba is holding talks with nearly a dozen foreign companies and some of them have already signed letters of intention for potential developments in several cities and travel destinations across the country,” Mr. Marrero explained.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Marrero said that Cuban state-run group Palmares and Habana Resort, a firm from the UK, have already cut a deal to create a joint venture and build an 18-hole golf course in Varadero, next to a 750-apartment, 200-house complex, a boutique hotel and a shopping mall.  

The Cuban government hopes to build at least 11 real-estate properties linked to golf tourism all around the island, according to the information provided by the Cuban Tourism Ministry.

Speaking before delegates and guests attending the 33rd edition of FITCuba 2013, Mr. Marrero spelled out the strategy the island nation has mapped out in line with the ongoing economic reforms spearheaded by President Raul Castro in an effort to update the country’s socialist model.

Cuba is intended to enhance its hotel portfolio everywhere and enhance existing lodgings, hoping to have a grand total of 85,000 guestrooms by 2020, 20,000 more than the number of accommodations today.

The good news is that the country’s hotel portfolio is getting a huge leg up from the fledgling private sector, which is chipping in some 6,115 rooms and 950 private homes by owners who were granted licenses, as well as 2,242 mom-and-pop bistros at the beck and call of tourists.

FITCuba 2013 is underway in Cuba’s Varadero, the island nation’s number-one travel destination, and has logged a turnout of delegations from more than 17 countries. Brazil is the guest country in this year’s edition.