Cuban Analyst Explains Rise of Tourism in the Island

The Cuban analyst and professor Jose Luis Perello explained today the rise in tourism in Cuba, which registered a 12.7 percent of tourism growth by the end of January. The professor of the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Havana said, that the figure corresponds to the arrival of foreign visitors in the first month of the year.

This figure implies a good rate of increase for this sector in the country, which the previous year ended with more than three million visitors.

January closed with 417.764 visitors. The largest number of tourists came from Canada, (173.727),followed by Italy (23,009), Germany (21.473), United States (20.997) and France (19.140).

The growth in the tourism sector in Cuba since the improvement of relations with the United States, was evident in 2015, when was recorded a growth of 17.4 percent, according to Perello.

In general, the Caribbean showed a 7.4 percent growth in 2015, compared to 2014, with 24 million tourists, according to reports by the World Tourism Organization on January this year.