2022: along the roads of tourism in Cuba

Special ServiceThe tightened imperial blockade and the pandemic have hindered the development of tourism in Cuba.

But even so, the country's political will remains to get its economy back on track, which necessarily involves the recovery of tourist activity, the driving force of the rest of the chain.

After the transition to the new modality, an unavoidable coexistence between the health scourge and the rebirth of daily life, including the productive and service sectors, the reopening of the borders and the return of the tourist industry to the market, with strict biosecurity protocols because SARS-Cov-2 never ceases to surprise us and after the Delta strain, Omicron appeared, the one with the highest transmissibility so far.

In such a complex context -with almost two years of frontal fight against the virus-, the Cuban destination has presented its credentials both at home and abroad. Air connections, international arrivals, the interest of tour operators and the return of markets, whose representatives have recognized the quality of the current tourism, healthier, hygienic and safe.

All relevant experiences have been put into practice, for which the archipelago took advantage of the time of inactivity due to the untimely appearance of the pandemic, which in the case of the island was accompanied by the twisted blockade of Washington, first tightened by the Trump administration, and then -even in the most fateful days of Covid-19- kept intact by Biden, despite his election promises.

While the tourist industry ceased operations due to the global epidemic that drastically changed everything, the Caribbean island worked on the preservation and improvement of real estate, the renovation of the image of the resort, the design of new products, care for the environment, computerization and improvement, in addition to the completion of the workforce, among many other efforts.

All this has been paying off. This is recognized by customers and the figures attest to it, as is the example of the behavior of the reception of passengers in the city's Terminal 3 of Jose Marti International Airport, where in the current month there have been days of attending up to 50 flights, and there was even a record day of 5,000 travelers.

Cuba carried its message to the 42nd edition of the International Tourism Fair in Madrid (Fitur 2022), with a delegation led by the head of the sector, Juan Carlos Garcia Granda, who spoke there about the projections until 2030, when 95,000 rooms will be available and there will be conditions to welcome more than 6 million travelers.

The employees of the counterrevolution abroad -two or three of them- also came to "try" to boycott the Caribbean proposals at the Cuban stand at Fitur 2022, knowing the local potential for the recreation industry and aware of the national commitment in that direction, with the support of the international business community.

The 2022 presents itself for this destination of peace as another challenging year, with such obstacles, which is why the modeling of the local economic progress has to start and in fact it does so from a panorama with such certainties.

Nor should one fail to keep in mind the so-called global challenges for the current calendar: extreme weather events, employment and social inequality crises, infectious diseases, cyber attacks and the indebtedness of nations, according to a public report by the universal Economic Forum.

Despite such challenging realities, the World Tourism Organization is in favor of an industry that is increasingly safe, inclusive and full of possibilities; and accordingly, Cuba joins the international efforts that present this as the sector capable of restarting, leading and being a key pillar of sustainable development.