Cuba is in for more cruise arrivals

Cuba will increase cruise tourism in 2003 by luring some 120 calls that will bring over 77,000 visitors aboard recreational vessels to the ports of Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Punta Frances .

Alfonso Lavarello, president of Silares Co., a firm that markets and operates cruise travels to Cuba, said Friday in a news conference that these figures are way over the number of arrivals nicked in 2002, a situation that “lays bare Cuban authorities’ interest in boosting this particular leisure choice.”

Mr. Lavarello expressed satisfaction over the service provided to all cruises that has turned Cuba into a major port of call in the Caribbean. In his opinion, “most European cruise companies consider Cuba for nightly stopovers given the safety and security of the island nation’s cities, let alone the cultural and historic attractions the country has to offer compared to other nations in the region.”

With over thirty years of experience under his belt in the realm of cruises, Mr. Lavarello announced that according to a market research study, “Cuba could absorb 70 percent of all cruise traffic in the Caribbean where more than 120 ships sail around year in and year out.

Seventy liners carrying as many as 45,000 passengers docked in Cuban ports in 2002. For Mr. Lavarello, this means that 3 million tourists aboard cruises alone could land in the ports of Havana, Matanzas, Mariel, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. This prospect –he says- could be a dream come true with boatloads of American tourists steaming down to the island once the U.S. trade embargo is lifted.

Last Thursday 13, Havana’s cruise terminal cleared the pier for ship Samber that carried 1,472 British, French and Italian passengers, the largest entourage since cruises began sailing into Cuba back in 1995.