Cuba may be game for golf
- Submitted by: admin
- Travel and Tourism
- Sports
- 04 / 27 / 2010
Only one 18-hole course remains, the Varadero Golf Club in this beach resort 85 miles east of Havana. On Friday and Saturday it hosted two one-day pro-am tournaments featuring half a dozen Cuban golfers paired with wealthy foreigners.
Organizers say the events are small steps in a campaign to bring golf back to Cuba, a country that is both the best imaginable place to play.
The Tourism Ministry says it would like to build 10 new courses around the country and attract high-rollers from Europe, Canada and even the United States if the U.S. eases its 48-year trade embargo.
Investors in Europe and Canada have long clamored to build courses, presenting plans that include luxury hotels, apartments and health spas.
But those proposals have remained stalled for years, with not even one foreign-financed project having broken ground.
The state-run tourism concern Palmares is developing golf, but an official said it has moved slowly because it plans to build courses in clusters of three or more, enticing players to stay in particular areas long enough to try all courses.
"There's been a lot of work done," he concluded.
Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com/
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