Holguin Gets Beefed Up as Cuba’s Third Travel Destination

The province of Holguin in eastern Cuba stressed its stance as Cuba’s third-largest tourist circuit after chalking up a 64 percent increase in the number of foreign visitors from 2002.

In an interview published Wednesday in Ahora newspaper, Arturo Sanchez, delegate of Cuba’s Tourism Ministry to Holguin, said the province set a new territorial high with 8,069 foreign travelers who stayed overnight in a single day.

Each week, Holguin’s International Airport receives 50 flights for a grand total of 10,469 seats combined.

The amount of Canadian tourists –by far Cuba’s premier market- was up 60 percent in the first month and a half of 2004, Mr. Sanchez added.

In all, the number of Canadian travelers accounts for 40 percent of the total amount of foreign visitors to the Holguin destination.

Tourist authorities said recently that the local leisure industry has been growing at a very steady pace, a reason why Cuba expects to come in for over 2 million sunbathers all through 2003.

The month of January closed with an overall 12 percent upturn, a trend that’s likely to continue unaltered for most of the ongoing year.