Cuba has 22,500 private rooms helping to drive tourism

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-29 06:57:04|Editor: Song Lifang
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HAVANA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Over 22,500 rooms in private homes are helping Cuba to welcome foreign travellers, as evidence how the sector has soared in recent years, announced Cuban tourism authorities on Wednesday.

Speaking at an international conference on tourism journalism in Havana, Jose Alonso, director-general of business development at the Ministry of Tourism, said that the government would provide help to such residences, which already host around 25 percent of foreign tourists in Cuba.

It was also announced that in the first half of 2017, Cuba will see a 22 percent rise in tourist arrivals year-on-year, ending above 2.53 million tourists. Based on the figure, Cuba is confident of meeting its target of 4.2 million visitors this year.

In 2016, Cuba received over 4 million foreign visitors for the first time, marking a 14.5 percent rise from 2015.

To date, the island has around 68,000 hotel rooms and seeks to add another 4,000 rooms by the end of the year.

The meeting on tourism journalism has seen representatives from 60 media groups across eight countries to discuss travel trends in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to learn more about Cuba tourism investment plans.

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