Cuba closed the first quarter of the ongoing year as the number-one Caribbean destination among Canadian, Italian and Spanish tourists, and finished a hefty runner-up for German travelers, two positions that make clear the island nation’s coming of age as far as tourism is concerned.

Air France has just set up shop in Varadero as the Tourism Convention is now underway in that famed Cuban beach.

The goal of the French airline’s new office in the largest tourist circuit of the island nation is to provide service to tour operators and ease plane ticket sales. Air France has been flying to Cuba for over twenty years with four weekly flights landing in and taking off from Havana’s international airport.

A 371-seat 330-200 Airbus will this month join Cubana de Aviacion’s fleet to connect Havana with the cities of Madrid, London and Paris.

Marketing director of Sol Meliá Gabriel Garcia walked in the Plenary Hall of the Plaza America Conference Center yesterday to present the Sol Meliá product. At the onset of his presentation, Mr. Garcia went through all the hits his company has scored since it began operating in Cuba and praised convention planners for drawing a bead on the tourist circuit of Holguin and incentive travel.

Within the framework of the 23rd Tourism Convention, Cuba’s vice minister of Culture Ruben del Valle unveiled Tuesday the island’s cultural product before an audience that included such outstanding Cuban intellectuals as songwriter Chucho Valdes, Miguel Barnet, Jose Loyola –deputy chairman of Cuba’s National Writers and Artists League (UNEAC), Jesus Ortega, founder of the Cuban Guitar School, painters Choco and Manuel, and writer Waldo Leyva, among others.

All of Cuba’s potentials as a destination for nature tourists were disclosed in a master lecture dictated by Eduardo Rios, head of the Development Division of Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism.

Speaking to an audience of tour operators, travel agents, tourism professionals and attendants to the 2003 Tourism Convention in Varadero, Mr. Rios explained the Cuban development plan relies heavily on the sun-and-beach segment, without ruling out the possibilities of nature tourism the island nation has to offer.