Cuba is wrapping up the year 2011 with a new record of foreign tourist arrivals, figures that bear out how tourism has turned out to one of the main sources of hard currency income for the economy of the Caribbean nation.

The British Government has reneged on its promise to suspend an increase in the Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax, and has given no assurance for a review. The 8.5 percent increase effective April 1, 2012, has met with strong opposition from Caribbean tourism industry stakeholders.

Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) has published plans to launch a new tourism region, named Porte Atlantico, on the north coast of the Caribbean island. The region will capitalize on its major tourism attractions, the Rio Camuy Cave Park, the third-largest cave system in the world, and the Arecibo Observatory, home to the planet’s largest radio telescope.

The number of Argentinean tourists who had visited Cuba until December 12 increased 30.2 percent, compared to the same period in 2010, according to sources from the tourism sector. So far this year, as many as 73,021 passengers have traveled from Argentina to Cuba.