• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 05 / 26 / 2011

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2011.05.25 - 15:38:06 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu.Havana, Cuba. – With an annual growth of 7.5% of the lodging capacity, the renovation of the hotel infrastructure is kept at the top of development priorities for the Cuban tourism industry.

Last year, the island started the exploitation of 2,792 new rooms most of them located in the northern keys of Villa Clara and Varadero, in the hotels Riu Varadero, Barceló Santa Maria and Melia Buena Vista.

According to a report by the Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero in the recently concluded International Tourism Fair FITCUBA 2011, Cuba currently boasts 52,000 rooms, 65 % of them in four- and five-star hotels.

Marrero referred to the opening of the emblematic “Palacio del Marques de San Felipe y Santiago de Bejucal” hotel, located by the St. Francis of Assisi Church square in the Historical Center of Old Havana; and the Velasco Hotel, in Matanzas, which, after undergoing full remodeling, falls now within the category of charming hotels (Hoteles E) because of its historical and patrimonial values.

The minister also highlighted the inauguration in Havana of the Tulipan, Bella Habana Aeropuerto, San Alejandro and Habana Paseo hotels, operated by Islazul, as ideal options for economic tourism.

Further east, in the World Heritage Site of Trinidad city, La Ronda hotel was inaugurated, while other two are under construction, one of them, the PanSea Trinidad hotel, in the city, and a 5-star facility by the Ancon beach.

Considered one of the three most important tourism destinations of the Caribbean, Cuba is striving to achieve excellence in terms of quality and variety of its tourism products, and one of the goals for this year is to receive a record of 2.7 million foreign visitors. (ACN)