Turning the NH Parque Central Hotel into Cuba’s best lodging is a professional challenge that General Manager Victor Dönmez has set out to meet. With 18 years of experience under his belt, Mr. Dönmez, a Turkish-born entrepreneur, told Caribbean News Digital he’s always keeping track of all technological breakthroughs and innovations worldwide with a view to achieve higher competitive levels. He likes working in Cuba, a country where he doesn’t feel like a stranger. And now that his hotel is nearing its fifth anniversary next May 5, he says the establishment’s staff, the personnel’s nonstop professional upgrading and the hotel’s maintenance on a regular basis are no doubt his trump cards. The end goal –he says- is to surprise guests all the time with a tailor-made service.
Underscoring the fact that Cuba’s third-largest travel circuit sports a huge array of possibilities, Industrial Engineer Arturo Sanchez Martinez is the Cuban Tourism Minister’s new delegate to the eastern province of Holguin. A graduate of the University of Holguin, Mr. Martinez has great experience in the field of tourism. In an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital, this smiling and upbeat man born under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius tells us about the potentials of Holguin’s travel industry, his perennial dissatisfaction with cost-cuttings and spending, and marketing efforts in progress.
In reference to flights between the U.S. and Cuba, Antonio Diaz Medina, Manager of Havanatur’s Celimar Travel Agency, mentioned all main aspects linked to the evolution of these flights that started out 25 years ago for the sake of family reunification and legal migration. But in the 1990s, American citizens, especially businesspeople, intellectuals, professionals and members of institutions and religious groups, began flying to Cuba. Mr. Medina also talked about the advantages, implementations, structure and enhancement of this major travel agency whose services are spread all across the island nation. Likewise, he underscored all top U.S. airlines operating in Cuba and Celimar’s interest in streamlining all services for that particular market.
Meliá Cohiba is a lodging that has set quite a benchmark in Cuba’s hotel industry. This year –Mr. Bourdales told Caribbean News Digital- has been intense. The hotel has undergone a refurbishment process and the establishment has organized a number of successful Gourmet Days dedicated to Spanish, Italian and Cuban cuisine. Mr. Boudales also referred to those projects the front office has in store for the rest of the year and even hinted at what’s coming up in 2004.
Alejandro Escobar Burgos is the president of Gran Caribe hotel group and feels like a million bucks for the big hits his company has scored this year. For the upcoming wintertime season –the time of year that brings in more foreign tourists to Cuba- Mr. Burgos expects his company to fare even better, especially with the grand opening of the Barceló Cayo Largo Hotel. Gran Caribe is a Cuban hotel chain that runs four-star and five-star establishments with nearly 11,000 rooms in all. With just nine years of experience under its belt, Gran Caribe affects great managerial expertise and superb approval ratings among thousands of travelers who enjoy its services and facilities.
During the World Travel Market in London, Caribbean News Agency interviewed Cuba’s Tourism Vice Minister Eduardo Rodriguez de la Vega, who gave us some enlightening figures about tourism on the island nation all through 2003, a sector that’s been making some incredible headway regardless of the unhelpful conditions triggered by a severe crisis that pummeled the travel industry worldwide through most of 2001 and 2002. Furthermore, Mr. Rodriguez speaks about new hotel investments and the need to add more air connections in order to snare a much larger inflow of tourists.