Hosted Buyer by Global Incentive Management DMC Opening in Cuba

The luxurious Four Points by Sheraton hotel offered a welcome cocktail for a group of 38 U.S. MICE operators and event planners. This ceremony teed off a fam trip focused on the MICE segment and organized by Global Incentive Management DMC, in coordination with Havanatur and VaCuba.

The fam trip included visits to such Havana-based hotels as Four Points by Sheraton, Memories Miramar, Iberostar Parque Central, Meliá Habana and Meliá Cohiba.

In an exclusive interview given to Caribbean News Digital, Andy R. Ortiz, Managing Director for Global Incentive DMC, said that the group is focused on the MICE market – Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Expositions. “What we have today is 70 percent Incentive. The Incentive market is the biggest market as far as travel is concerned.”

Among the members of the group, Mr. Ortiz mentioned Bill Kilburg, CEO of a company called HPN Global, which sold last year about 1.8 million dollars worldwide. “They buy Puerto Rico, Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, China, the whole world”.

According to the Managing Director for Global Incentive DMC, the target is to increase the MICE market, specifically the Incentive market. “At the end of the day, Cuba is an Incentive destination. You can have an expo, you can have a corporate group, but to certain degree, Cuba is not ready for some markets that are going to expect the level of service and Wi-Fi they find in Mexico, in the States, Puerto Rico.”

As for his expectations, the Managing Director for Global Incentive DMC said that he knows that Cuba is growing. “I know the numbers. They went from probably 2.7 million visitors a year, two or three years ago, to almost 4 million. That tells you that people want to come to Cuba and it is not only about MICE. At least 30 percent is MICE and that’s what we want. The MICE market will pay a higher rate than a travel agent or a wholesaler, for instance.”

“We know we have challenges in Cuba, challenges related to the services, technology; but 2.7 million visitors came four years ago, that number has now been doubled and, when you do the math, 30 percent of that is MICE,” Andy R. Ortiz detailed.

As for the visa requirements to travel from the U.S.A. to Cuba, the executive explained that the flexibility of these 14 categories allows them not only to bring a fam trip, but also to legally bring business to Cuba. “You don’t need to apply for a visa anymore, the airline will sell it to you. They only need to know why are you going to Cuba and under which category. It is legal for these people to come because it falls under the education category. We are educating these groups about a destination. Everything is legal.”

“At the end of the day, the pie is big enough to make this happen, increase the MICE business, increase profitability for all of us and continue working on the challenges Cuba has. Let me tell you that Cuba has those, but at certain level, Mexico has them, Puerto Rico has them, even the U.S. Cuba is a new and up-and-coming destination”, the Managing Director for Global Incentive DMC underscored.