• Submitted by: admin
• Editorial Articles
• Travel and Tourism
• International
• Business and Economy
• 07 / 26 / 2007

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From that moment, the Euro circulation was promoted in the most important tourist centers of the country and its use has been spread throughout the country. According to the Ministry of Tourism, 75 percentage of the tourism arriving to Cuba use exchangeable currencies. Canada is the first tourist market while Italy is the second and the third one is Great Britain. Since then, two currencies were in force in the country, two similar currencies but different at the same time and today they still confuse tourists for their values and uses.

First, travelers wishing to take a trip to Cuba with dollars can bring their money, however, once at the airport, they must change them to Cuban Convertible Pesos CUC and the change will be levied with a 10 percentage. 1 American dollar is equivalent to 0.80 CUC. This decree does not affect the Euro and the Canadian dollar.

Regardless of this particular situation, people coming to the island for tourist purposes must know that no matter the kind of currency they have, they should change their money to CUC in any CADECA exchange office available in the city, hotels and the airport, the latest, with a higher tax. For this reason, it is advisable to change part of the money when arriving to the airport in order to pay the taxi and some minimum expenses of the first night and later change the money in a CADECA of a hotel or in the city. The exchange rate can found at www.cubacurrency.com

The CUC is not a currency only for tourists but also for Cubans to pay in shops, restaurants and taxis. That is why its use can cause misunderstanding. In fact, CUC is the currency in circulation in the island because Cuban pesos CUP only can be used to pay in the state markets (farming markets) and in some other places like in vegetarian restaurants or in other facilities of national chains.

The salaries of Cuban workers are in CUP (Cuban Pesos) and its value depends on the exchange rate, it is approximately 24 CUP per 1 CUC. In theory, when Cubans need CUC they should go to the exchange office to change CUP.

Visitors must know that all their expenses in the island from the hotels rent, private houses rent, taxis, museums, restaurants to private restaurants or cafeterias will be in CUC.

The best place to obtain CUC is the CADECA exchange office because sometimes visitors change their money in the street to any individual, but instead of CUC, they receive CUP. Although both currencies are similar, they are different in color and they show clearly if it is a Cuban peso or a Cuban convertible peso.

Once visitors finish their stay in the island, they can change the CUC to their original currencies according to the current exchange rate in the CADECA.