Cuba's Major Tourism Fair Puts New Attractions on the Map

Cuba's annual international tourism fair kicked off Tuesday in a budding resort off the coast of the central Villa Clara province. Cayo Santa Maria, one of the country's newly-developed tourism destinations, hosted the FITCuba for the first time to woo tourists to the picturesque island nation.

The trade fair also promoted some other small islands in the northern waters off Villa Clara, such as Las Brujas and Ensenachos, known for their pristine natural landscapes. With tourism industry becoming one of its main sources of foreign revenues, Cuba has a capacity of more than 56,000 rooms in about 300 hotels at eight main tourism developments.

Cayo Santa Maria alone can offer about 6,000 rooms in four- and five-star hotels, Commercial Director for the Tourism Ministry Jose Manuel Bisbe said at the opening ceremony of the fair. Cuba said it had already welcomed 1 million visitors by April and expected 2.9 million tourist arrivals at the end of the year, closing to its goal of attracting 3 million visitors a year.

Argentina, the guest country of the trade show, is one of Cuba's main sources of tourists, with some 58,612 Argentines visiting the island country in 2010 and more than 70,000 in 2011, Bisbe said.