Thanks to the opening of new hotels in 2010, the Central American country currently has 52,000 rooms, corresponding to 65% of the four- and five-star categories, according to Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero, during the 31st version of the FITCuba International Tourism Fair 2011.The previous year, 2,792 rooms were opened in the country, some of which belong to the Riu Varadero, Barceló Santa María, Meliá Buenavista, the Hotel Palacio del Marqués de San Felipe and Santiago de Bejucal, the reopening of the Velasco and the installation of the Tulip, Bella Habana Aeropuerto, San Alejandro and Habana Paseo.
According to the figures of the Tourism portfolio, the average annual growth in terms of rooms amounted to 7.5%; figure related to the increase of 11.3% in tourist arrivals mainly from Canada, Russia, Argentina, United Kingdom, Chile and France.
Thus, tourism has become one of the engines of the Cuban economy. "During the first four months of 2011, about one million 630 thousand visitors entered the island, leaving Havana as the main gateway to the country by registering one million 115 thousand 458 arrivals, 3.5% more than those received in the same period of 2010," the minister added.
