Cuba projects 2 million tourists in 2007

Havana, Cuba (Photo: Steve Knight)

HOLGUIN, Cuba, November 19, 2007 - The Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation of Cuba has been making a sales pitch to increase tourist arrivals from France.

More than 500 people from the travel industry in France attended a promotional visit to Cuba over the weekend.

Vice Tourism Minister Maria Elena Lopez announced that more than two million visitors are estimated to visit in 2007.

She said the reason why Cuba has such a high visitor arrival was because of its great beaches and other nature-based attractions.

Tourist arrival up to October were 6.3% higher than for the same period last year, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said.

Average revenue is about US$2 billion each year and the industry employs about 300,000 directly or indirectly he added.