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EDITION

ITB

March 10 - 14 Berlin, Germany

MITT

March 17 - 20 Moscow, Russia

MAP March 18 - 21 Paris, France

International Tourism Publication founded in 1996 year x • number 190 • march 2010

Regular Edition

www.traveltradecaribbean.com

ISSN 1724 - 5370

Poste italiane Spa - Sped. in Abb. Post. D.L. 353/2003 Conv. in L. 27/02/2004, n◦ 46 Art. 1 comma 1, DCB Milano - Prezzo per copia EURO 0,25

Cuba Consolidates as Nautical Destination In an interview for TTC, José Miguel Díaz Escrich, president of Cuba’s Nautical Business Group and Marinas Marlin S.A. and commodore of the Hemingway International Nautical Club, affirmed that “today the Marlin’s principal efforts are directed at the consolidation of nautical products that, as added value, are offered in the country’s principal sun and beach destinations.” Pag. 04

Marina Hemingway

06 Through Eastern Cuba

Caribbean Tourism Organization

CTO Forecasts Tourism’s Recovery in Caribbean The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) pointed out that this year tourism is experiencing a slight growth in the region. Hugh Riley, its secretary

general, said he was confident that, despite existing challenges, the Caribbean – visited by 22.1 million persons in 2009 – will have a successful season. Pag. 06

U.S.-Cuba

Travel Conference The U.S.-Cuba Travel Conference will be held March 24-26 in Cancun, Mexico, organized by the U.S.-based Alamar Associates – which has been working with Cuba

Inside

Some Tourism Indicators in Cuba for 2009 A total of 15,666,759 overnight stays in hotels and other lodgments were registered in Cuba in 2009, and tourist entities’ income amounted to 1,511,013.2 Cuban convertible pesos (CUC).

Pag. 09

for 35 years -, sponsored by the U.S. Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and in association with the National Tour Association (NTA).

Pag. 16

Sand Dumping Concludes in Cancun Beaches Pag. 18

12 Second Caribbean Dance Biennial

12 World Underwater Photography Competition in 2013 in Cuba

16 Hotel Nacional Cuba’s Best in the World Travel Awards 2009

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

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New Sensations in the Paradise of the Senses The Paradisus Resorts in Cuba enhance your exclusive world of sensations with new luxury experiences.

Paradisus Varadero and Paradisus Río de Oro (Holguín) are premiering two Royal Service areas, the topmost deluxe expression in the Sol Meliá Cuba hotels.

Royal Service clients enjoy unprecedented exclusiveness and privacy thanks to the very personalized service details. In this way the three Paradisus Resorts managed by Sol Meliá in Cuba have their respective Royal Service, since Paradisus Princesa del Mar (Varadero) has had this area for four years – 48 Suites and two Presidential Suites.

The Royal Service, always in a privileged area, has private access, in fact it is an exclusive hotel within the hotel. Butler service, living room with VIP reception, bar with Premium beverages and aperitifs, private restaurant,

exclusive swimming pool, beach and pool concierge, pillow menus and aromatic experiences, personalized mini bar, round the clock room service, free access to the Internet and deluxe amenities, a hydrothermal circuit included and massage in the Yhi Spa, and priority in specialized restaurant reservations and scuba diving are some of its facilities and courtesies.

The Royal Service of the Paradisus Varadero and Paradisus Río de Oro comprises 80 and 54 new Master Junior Suites, with an area of about 80 square meters and includes living room, bedroom, largesize bathroom with water massage, entrance hall, closet/dresser, LCD screen TV set, Balinese bed in the terrace, Balinese sun shower deck and kingsize beds. Moreover, both hotels’ exclusive Garden Villas form part of the Royal Service.

Each one has two Garden Villas, which are chaletstyle cabanas with a classical colonial design, special services, exterior Jacuzzi with a view to the sea, terraces, garden with breakfast palapa, private swimming pool, look-out tower, and exclusive and direct access to the beach.

Paradisus Varadero also opened a modern Spa with the first janzu swimming pool in Cuba for water massages.

Steam bath, Jacuzzi, sauna, sensation showers, Balinese sun shower deck, bathroom, relaxation room, eco-palapas with view to the sea, treatments and massages, certified therapists, professional products, gym with instructor, state-of-theart equipment and a great variety of exercises, as well as a beauty salon for ladies and gentlemen are some of its facilities.

TripAdvisor

The World’s Best Hotels and Destinations Thanks to millions of travelers who contributed with praise and criticism and follow the advise of the TripAdvisor Company, the on line site prepared a list of the 700 most voted hotels in the world. For the United States, the Inn New York City excelled as the best hotel in that country, while Paris’ Four Seasons Hotel George V classified as Europe’s best. Japan, China and India appear on the list with the Mandarin

Oriental, Tokyo; the BuddhaZen Hotel in Chengdu; and Casa Candolim, respectively.

In the bargain category the winner was the Arcadia Residence Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. The Golden Well, another Prague hotel, ranked first in the luxury installations category. The title in the family hotel category went to the Turkish Sirkeci Konak Hotel,

in Istanbul. Couples chose the Milton Moorea Lagoon Resort and Spa, in the French Polynesia, as the best destination for romantic holidays.

Users’ votes also helped to determine the trendiest hotel – the citizenM in Amsterdam; the best all-inclusive Drowsy Water Ranch, in Colorado, the United States; and the best by country and region.

Address: Via Galileo Galilei, 47 20092 Cinisello Balsamo, Mi • Tel: 02 36649575 • Fax: 02 36649576 • Mail: redazione.italia@traveltradecaribbean.com / commerciale.it@gmail.com • Printer: Officina Grafica S.R.L. Via Della Meccanica, 8 Vigano Di Gaggiano 20083, mi Honorary President Renzo Druetto • Principal Director Giuseppe Ferraris • Director Alfredo Rodriguez - director@traveltradecaribbean.com • Editorial Staff for Italy Tiziana Settanni • Editorial Staff for Cuba Josefina Pichardo - redaccion@traveltradecaribbean.com • Photo Reporter Hairo Rodriguez hairo.rodriguez@traveltradecaribbean.com • Digital News Services Hairo Rodriguez / Frank Martin • Design Jesus Rodriguez ( Junior ) - jesus.rodriguez@ traveltradecaribbean.com • Webmaster Hairo Rodriguez • Collaboration and Marketing Ana Cecilia Herrera - anac@traveltradecaribbean.com / Maria E. Leyva - mariae.leyva@traveltradecaribbean.com / Orlando Ojeda - orlando.ojeda@traveltradecaribbean.com / Magdalena García - magda@enet.cu / Mercedes Guillot • Email italia@traveltradecaribbean.com • Web site http://www.traveltradecaribbean.com • News Office for the Caribbean La Habana, Cuba / ttc. cuba@traveltradecaribbean.com • Contact and Information info@traveltradecaribbean.com Registered at the Milan Court under the number 166. 13/03/2002 ^Publicity 45%. Property of Travel Trade Caribbean S.R.L. Registry date at the Chamber of Commerce 08/01/2001.

Registered in ROC Italia (registry of communications operators). Distributed through postal subscription. Cost of copy 0.25 USD. Partial or total reproduction of the articles is forbidden without the express authorization of their authors, who have legal rights over them and are responsible for their contents.

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

4 From page one - Cuba Consolidates as Nautical Destination “As the current president of the Marlin, for seven months, I have defined two work lines.

The first is to upgrade the current products – raise their quality, professional standards and economic efficiency – and to continue developing

on board bases – to rent out to tourists who come with those programs from abroad, in preestablished areas and itineraries; and develop the marinas, allowing us to increase the arrival of foreign vessels and their journey along

José Miguel Díaz Escrich, president of Cuba’s Nautical Business Group and Marinas Marlin S.A. and commodore of the Hemingway International Nautical Club

Cayo Largo del Sur.” The following subject dealt with was the additional offers in the conventional tourism portfolio.

Escrich highlighted, among the walks and excursions, a growing modality, the seafaris to the keys on catamarans, with leisure time, bathing in the sea or fish watching. “Our star product is Cayo Blanco, in Varadero, which leaves from the Chapelín Marina and represents almost 25% of the Group’s income.”

He mentioned the excursion Boat Adventures, tours of mangroves, estuaries and low-lying virgin areas, on boats with a capacity for two; and the Discover Tour, along the beautiful Canímar River,

them… The second, and the principal motivation for me, is the design and construction of a new Marlin, whose mission consists in developing a specialized nautical tourism with world class quality and professional standards that will allow us to make a reality the vision of placing Cuba among the Caribbean’s first nautical destinations.

“That is, to position this new Marlin, we should: create the fishing and diving camps; start operating floating life

“We have an important fleet of fishing boats; we are especially developing the high seas modality, in the open ocean, where there are good currents for pelagic species (beak, marlin species). We have 76 nautical points, 60 hired by allinclusive hotels, which offer windsurfing boards, kayaks, water bikes, sailboats; some destinations offer the banana or tow boat and parasailing.”

Finally, he summed up the products for specialized nautical tourism. The MarlinAzulmar branch, in the southern archipelago of Jardines de la Reina, specializes in this segment and has a camp; it has life on board on a floating hotel and several vessels, and the boat takes them to the fishing and diving areas.

“We are working for this in the development of what we have called fishing and scuba diving camps, as an integrated concept of the specialized nautical product that includes lodgment, gastronomy and nautical activity. We have already identified several places in the Cuban archipelago that have major conditions.

The first previewed in our strategy include Cayo Largo and the Colony – in the Colony (which has a hotel, marina, scuba diving center and tradition) we also want to establish a life on board charter base and prepare the marina for traffic.

there are international scuba diving centers, some of which are very characteristic, such as the one in Santa Lucía, the only one that offers divers a show with sharks… We have scuba diving centers in Cayo Coco, Varadero, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Havana, where lessons for beginners are given and the tourists who are certified can carry out any type of immersions.”

He said they have extended Azulmar to Cayo Largo, which also functions as a camp. And there’s a third point, on the Isle of Youth – they stay at Rancho El Tesoro and fish in Punta del Este.

Cuban coasts.” Referring to the Marlin – one of the groups specializing in nautical tourism in Cuba –, Escrich said: “It has 10 companies and branches that cover the Hemingway, Tarará, Darsena de Varadero, Cayo Guillermo, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad and Cienfuegos marinas. Moreover, we have nautical branches in Jardines del Rey, and Santa Lucía (Camagüey), and we manage the Cayo Largo Marina, in

navigable for more than eight kilometers. In Jardines del Rey, the surrounding areas of Cayo Media Luna are being exploited for these purposes; in Santa Lucía, Cayo Sabinal; in Guardalavaca, they leave for Cayo Saetía and Gibara; and in Trinidad for Cayo Blanco del Sur. Further on, the commodore explained that “in the most important tourist destinations

Two life on board bases operate in Cienfuegos, with charter companies (Blue Sailling Alborán (German-Spanish) and Platen (Croatian), which manage fleets of 10 or 12 sailboats.

The president of Marlin also highlighted that specialized nautical tourism outlines the future vision of the Group, “operating new market segments, that of tourism whose reason for traveling is the enjoyment of nautical activities.”

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

6 From page one - CTO Forecasts Tourism’s Recovery in Caribbean Winfield Griffith, director of research and information technology, said that tourist arrivals to the Caribbean will increase this year by about 3%, while the global economy continues its slow recovery.

Despite the current economic depression, the Caribbean is still one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

Through Eastern Cuba

Antigua and Barbuda

San Pedro de la Roca Fortress

Santiago de Cuba One of Frommer’s 12 Recommended Destinations The total amount of tourists who visited the 33 countries members of the WTO, including Cuba and Mexico, witnessed a 3.6% drop in 2009, with a slight 1% increase the last quarter of the year.

Cruise tourism to the region increased 1.4% in 2009, after its 3% decrease in 2008, an increase attributed to the dynamic publicity campaign.

Just when the city of Santiago de Cuba is getting ready to celebrate its 495th anniversary, next July 25 – it was founded in 1515 by conquistador Diego Velázquez -, the news came out that the U.S. Frommer’s travel gateway had chosen this Cuban tourist destination as one of the 12 recommended destinations – in fourth place – for this year, based on the results of a voting contest in which editors and readers worldwide participated.

Santiago de Cuba has become famous as a typical city destination, but beyond the threshold of the city’s hospitality, its mountain and sea environment provide exciting scenarios for nature, adventure, trekking and nautical tourism.

As a logical consequence of the variability in altitude, climate and soil, the territory of Santiago de Cuba has a natural vegetation of great diversity and a high fauna endemism, whose topmost expression is seen in Baconao, declared a

Biosphere Reserve because of this.

Natural beaches at the foot of the mountains; the Gran Piedra, at whose top stands an enormous 63,000-ton, 51-meter-long and 25-meterhigh rock; sea depths that have one of the world’s biggest level differences, especially attractive for immersions; fishing and nautical bases, beach clubs and international scuba diving centers in coastal hotels, form part of the nautical universe.

This land has given birth to three world heritage sites…the San Pedro de la Roca Fortress, the Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in southeast Cuba, and the Tumba Francesa – a Master Work of Oral and Immaterial World Heritage.

Almost 20 hotels – some 1,700 rooms – operated by Cubanacán, Islazul, Gaviota and Gran Caribe, of all standards, back the different tourist modalities.

travel trade caribbean • march 2010

New Havana Cigar Lines in 2010

Cohiba Behike is the new line released on the market in 2010 by Habanos S.A., and the most exclusive ever presented.

Moreover, as part of the novelties, a new Havana cigar called Winston Churchill and the new Julieta vitola, a cigar especially conceived to pay tribute to women, will now form part of the Romeo y Julieta portfolio.

In the presence of around 1,000 fortunate Havana cigar aficionados from more than 70 countries, the presentations were part of the program of the 12th Havana Cigar Festival, the most

important event in the world of tobacco for those who want get to know firsthand and exclusively taste the new cigars.

In recent years the Festival has awoken the interest of multiple personalities who have not wanted to miss the opportunity to enjoy the best tobacco in the world in its original environment, Cuba.

Habanos S.A. distributes 27 cigar brands, among them Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás, Hoyo de Monterrey, H. Upmann, Punch, San Cristóbal de La Habana, Trinidad and Bolívar.

Cuban Civil Aeronautics to Invest more than 45 Million Dollars An investment of more than 45 million dollars will be made in 2010 to increase the capacity of the Varadero airport, by 50%; and terminal two of Havana’s José Martí Airport.

Rogelio Acevedo, president of the Cuban Institute of Civil Aeronautics, noted that the objective is that all passengers feel satisfied. “The backing for tourism to improve the quality of the service is one of our principal tasks,” he highlighted.

It was also recognized that the Jardines del Rey aerodrome is the country’s best. It was inaugurated in 2002 and receives every week some 27 flights, the majority from Canada. It registers an average of tourist stays of only 17 minutes, one of the lowest in the island; in 2009 it surpassed its income plan with a contribution of 4.6 million dollars and it attended to more than 391,300 passengers, with a good level of client satisfaction.

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travel trade caribbean • march 2010

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From page one - Some Tourism Indicators in Cuba for 2009 Total income – international visitors’ spending in Cuban convertible pesos in the main activity – represented a negative balance of 9% compared to 2008.

Ninety-four percent of the visitors’ principal reason for traveling was leisure,

arrivals to the island in 2008 – by the first 18 countries in the arrival ranking.

Today Cuba ranks in ninth place as a tourist destination in the Americas, pointed out Miguel Figueras, advisor to the minister of tourism, who explained that in the last 20 years the island has received 29 million tourists, half of them from Europe. Thus, it went from 23rd place in 1990 as a world leisure destination to 9th this year, and had it not been for the U.S. travel ban, he noted, “the country would be in fourth or fifth place.”

The biggest contribution was by gastronomy (40.7%), followed by lodgment (27.2%), transportation (15.7%), retail commerce (9.6%), recreation (1.4%) and others (5.5%).

According to Cuba’s National Office of Statistics (ONE) report “Tourism. Selected Indicators,” 2009 edition, the gender proportion of travelers to Cuba last year revealed a balance, since 51% were men and 49% were women.

Regarding the age group composition, there was a predominance of travelers aged between 25 and 44 years (40%); followed by those aged between 45 and 59 (28%), 60 and over (18%), 15 to 24 (11%) and less than 15 (3%).

Cuba, Ninth Tourist Destination in the Americas

recreation and vacations; the remaining 6% traveled to Cuba for business or professional reasons, health, events or others.

The same sources broke down the 2,429,809 visitors with which Cuba closed 2009 – equivalent to 103.5% of the

The principal tourism issuing markets to Cuba last year were: Canada, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Holland, Venezuela, Portugal, Colombia, Chile, Belgium, Switzerland, Peru and Poland, which as a whole contributed 76% of all the arrivals to Cuba.

Ninety-one percent of the investments, income and number of tourists are accumulated in eight regions – Havana, Varadero, Jardines del Rey, Northern Coast of Camagüey, Northern Coast of Holguín, Santiago de Cuba, Central Southern Coast and the Canarreos (Isle of Youth and Cayo Largo).

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

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Culture

Gades’ Presence Perpetuated in Cuba

The fact that one of the costumes used by deceased Spanish dancer Antonio Gades, one of the major figures of Spanish dance, was donated to the collection of the Dance Museum seals another aspect of his dynamic presence in Cuba.

Antonio Gades, the artistic name of Antonio Esteve Ródenas, was born close to the Mediterranean, in the Alicante town of Elda, on November 16, 1936, and died in Madrid on July 20, 2004 at the age of 67. At his express will, his ashes repose in Cuba, in the Segundo Frente Oriental Mausoleum.

Eugenia Eiriz, his widow and director of the Antonio Gades Foundation, made the idea which emerged, for artistic and

true for the sake of perpetuating Gades’ figure and his love for Cuba. The costume was used by the flamenco dancer on several occasions during the ten years he interpreted “Mirabrás.”

Alicia Alonso and Eugenia Eiriz emotional reasons, at the petition of prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso – come

Alonso thanked Eiriz for the gesture, remembered some of the experiences she shared with Gades and said: “I have the honor of receiving something beautiful and unforgettable, because of what Gades meant to us…. It’s as if I were seeing him here, wearing that costume, dancing, telling jokes, with his humor and his strong character.”

Arturo Montoto’s Brushstrokes

After announcing his retirement, he dissolved his company and, with the exception of a trip to Cuba and the United States with Alicia Alonso, he did not dance again. He dedicated himself to spending time in Spain and Cuba. Gades’ attachment to the island began with his first trip in 1975. For decades he felt affection for Cuba and its people.

Antonio Gades left as a universal legacy his work, imprint and the Foundation that, under his name, will disseminate Spanish dance, in general, and flamenco in particular. He and his art continue eternally alive in the island he loved so much and that sincerely loved him.

"Polimnia afina su violín bajo el manso Cocotero", 2009

The most recent personal exhibit by Arturo Montoto Echevarría (Pinar del Río, Cuba, 1953), “El Jardín de Epicuro,” consisted in seven large-format acrylic on canvas works, and was an appropriate occasion for TTC to talk with the artist, who said: “Once the exhibit is open I feel the happiness of seeing the finished work, and especially when I see so much public and acceptance, which is what I most aspire to…I’m more interested in the people than in the critics and specialists, that it be the people who like my work, the rest is part of the trade.”

Painter, draftsman, engraver, sculptor, muralist and photographer, Montoto is a graduate of the art schools in Pinar del Río and Havana, and holds a Master’s in Fine Arts in the specialty of Mural Painting of the Moscow V. I. Surikov State Institute of Art. He has presented more than 30 personal exhibits and a great many collective ones. He was invited to the latest editions of the Latin American Painting and Sculpture Exhibit and made his debut in 2008 in the New Yorkbased Christie’s Latin American Art Auction.

His works can be found in the private collections of some 20 countries and permanent collections in the Vatican Museum, Rome – the piece “Aquí en la paz…” was presented to Pope John Paul II; the Florida Lowe Art Museum, Museum of Latin American Art, the University of Virginia Museum; the PROA Foundation, Buenos Aires; the Spanish-American Friendship Society in French Guiana; and the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of Fine Arts, in Havana.

He has been awarded several recognitions, among them: the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the FAO World Food Day Medal, the National Culture Distinction, and the Diploma to Artistic Merit for the transcendence of his work. An outstanding figure of Cuban contemporary art, Montoto has the Special Category of Consulting Professor of the Higher Institute of Art; has given lectures in institutes, academies and universities in Cuba and abroad; has participated as a jury member in salons and events; and has illustrated numerous magazines and books in several countries.

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

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Second Caribbean Dance Biennial Sponsored by the Regional Fund for the Caribbean, the South American Dance

Artists and companies from 13 countries have confirmed their presence… Argentina,

Network, the Brownstone Foundation and the Cuban National Council of Scenic Arts, the Second Caribbean Dance Biennial will be held in Havana March 23-28, 2010. The meeting-contest is designed for dancers, choreographers and directors of groups, festivals and specialized publications.

Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Martinique, Guyana, St. Martin, France, Mali, South Africa and Cuba, as the host country. Five productions will contest in the category of group works, and some nine performances are vying for the prize in the solo category.

The Mella Theater and the Bertolt Brecht Cultural Complex will be the principal venues, and the Llauradó Hall and La Casona de Línea will serve to stage Caribbean choreographies and establish a dialogue and exchanges

assoluta Alicia Alonso as part of the festivities for her 90th birthday.

The AfricaDanzAfrica exhibition, by FrenchU.S. photographer Antoine Tempe, and the “Ways of being Caribbean and a bit

between artists from several parts of the world.

more” forum are among the activities on the sidelines of the event, to which will be added performances, master classes and workshops.

This dance event will pay tribute to prima ballerina

World Underwater Photography Competition in 2013 in Cuba Cuba will be the venue of a world underwater photography competition as part of the island’s development of tourism. It is estimated that teams from 50 nations, an average number in the majority of world meetings of this type, will participate in the competition, governed by the World Underwater Federation (CMAS), which has 152 member countries.

This edition has a particular attraction, taking into account its scenarios in the Colony Hotel and the area of Punta Francés, famous for its beauty.

Both are located on the Isle of Youth.

The information was made public by Deborah Andollo, president of the Cuban Underwater Federation. Andollo, who is Cuba’s topmost glory in immersionism, added that this event will represent the culmination of a broad program of competitions and meetings, which included Fotosub Colony 2010, held last February. Other events previewed for next April 9 to 20 in waters off Havana and Matanzas are the 3rd Americas CMAS Championship and the 3rd Pan American Apnea Cup.

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

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Iberostar Laguna Azul opens its doors in Varadero Its 814 rooms – 24 suites and eight for the handicapped – are distributed in different housing blocks; they all have a terrace or balcony, complete bathroom with hairdryer, telephone,

and car and motorbike rental. It has a mixed shop that also sells cigars, a spa, gym, beauty salon, ice cream parlor, entertainment theater, six swimming pools and a Fun Pub.

and international beverages – snacks, soft drinks, beer and wines available 24 hours a day -, breakfast, lunch and supper.

In the area of entertainment, sports and games also form

entertainment theater and music at the Fun Pub. Moreover, open sea scuba diving, horseback riding, bowling and an 18-hole golf course are offered nearby at extra cost.

Recently inaugurated, Iberostar Laguna Azul is opening its doors to dream vacations in Cuba. With a privileged location, on the beach frontline, 20 minutes from the center of Varadero and approximately 160 km from Havana, this five-star hotel operates under the All-Inclusive regimen. satellite TV, AC, mini bar, safety deposit box, iron, ironing board, bathroom scale and coffee maker.

Its services include a hard currency exchange desk, messenger service, telephone, fax, photocopying machine, medical services, round the clock Internet, tourism desk

In the food and beverage area, the infrastructure has a main buffet restaurant with live cuisine, a thatched-roof restaurant by the shore, four specialized restaurants – Japanese, Cuban, Italian and Romantic (for supper, with reservation); lobby bar, aqua-bar, Cigar Bar and two snack bars. The AllInclusive service offers national

New Options in Jardines del Rey

part of the All-Inclusive offer: game room with billiards, table tennis and chess; petanque, volleyball, archery, tennis courts, windsurfing, kayaking, water polo, as well as aerobic exercises, dance lessons and scuba diving for beginners. The entertainment team presents a different show each night, with live music bands or groups, an

Iberostar Laguna Azul has a special space for the children’s segment: night child-care service (at extra cost and if available), two swimming pools, mini club for children aged between 4 and 12 with an entertainment program – includes games, competitions and night minishow.

Jardines del Rey, one of Cuba’s principal sun and beach tourist destinations, this year is strengthening its international position based on new and varied complementary options. This destination is made up by two keys, Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, and gives priority to the satisfaction of excursionists with new scuba diving and fishing nautical offers; programs that show, as added value, the cities close to the destination; and the promotion of wedding and family trips.

The frequent causes for clients’ dissatisfaction, as well as few nightlife and nonhotel options were assessed during a recent meeting of businesspeople and tour operators. Strategies were established for the coming months’ so-called low season.

Several representatives of tour operators recognized the professionalism of the workers at the hotel plant of more than 3,000 rooms, and the need to incorporate new products to not repeat or make boring the existing ones.

travel trade caribbean • march 2010

Russia, FITCuba’s Guest Country Cuba’s 30th International Tourism Festival (FITCuba) will have Russia as guest country and will present the Events and Incentives product.

It will be held May 3-8 at its usual venue, Havana’s MorroCabaña colonial fortress.

Also dedicated to the Eastern Cuba product/destination, it

will feature the attractions of Cuba’s eastern region, a territory made up by the provinces of Camagüey, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo; a region where imposing mountain systems, crystalline beaches and natural environments, proper of the tropical climate, alternate.

Cubatur Events has designed a tourist package that includes: HOTELS NACIONAL DE CUBA 5* RIVIERA 4* COMODORO 4* KOHLY / BOSQUE 3* VEDADO 3*

DBL 63,00 38,00 43,00 29,00 29,00

CUC CUC CUC CUC CUC

SGL 86,00 54,00 56,00 43,00 38,00

CUC CUC CUC CUC CUC

(Daily price per person in Cuban convertible pesos, CUC)

La Ronda Viva Cuba 2010

Road Show through France The cities of Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille, Nice and Lyon will see from March 22 to 26, 2010 the La Ronda Viva Cuba 2010 road show pass by on a bus decorated with the Paris to Paris Viva Cuba Campaign.

Tourism professionals and the specialized press will take part in the road show, designed to promote the Cuba destination and the group of Cuban offers, in the principal French regions; show the strength of its tourist product; maintain Cuba’s position in France; inform, train and sensitize travel agency

sellers, the public at large and the general and specialized press; as well as enable exchanges of tour operators and travel agents selling Cuba with the principal Cuban service providers.

Organized by the Cuban Tourism Office in France, the Ministry of Tourism’s communication and commercial departments and On S’apelle Demain RP, the Ronda Viva Cuba includes in its program of activities participating in the Map Fair in Paris and subsequently dedicating one day to each one of the other cities.

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DATE

ACTIVITY

Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5, May

Professional events

Thursday 6 and Friday 7, May

Day for negotiations.

Familiarization tour of Eastern Cuba. (By invitation)

Thursday 6, Friday 7 and Saturday 8, May

Fair open to public at large

Includes:

- Lodgment with breakfast included - Assistance at airport and hotels - In/out transfers - Guide service

For your booking requests contact: Yulier Ávila Quiñones jeventos@cbtevent.cbt.tur.cu Nelson Ramos Mesa eventos@cbtevent.cbt.tur.cu

www.cubatur.cu

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

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Hotel Nacional Cuba’s Best in the World Travel Awards 2009

The emblematic Hotel Nacional de Cuba classified as the island’s best in the voting for the World Travel Awards 2009. The Gran Caribe Hotel Group’s flagship establishment was chosen this time around as Cuba’s Leading Hotel from another ten hotels in the destination.

The international winners were: Etihad Airways (best airline), InterContinental Hotels & Resorts (best hotel brand), London (best holiday destination), Dnata (world’s best travel management company) and Qatar’s Regency Travel and Tours (world’s best travel agency). Virgin Atlantic, Visa, India Tourism, TUI Travel and Silversea Cruises were some of the other

companies winners in the grand final of the 2009 edition, which took place in Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott Hotel in London.

The awards, described by the Wall Street Journal as the “Oscars” of the global travel and tourism industry, revealed who are the “best of the best” in the world. The full list of winners for the World Travel Awards can be found by logging on to www. worldtravelawards.com/ winners.

The objective of the awards – in whose voting travel agents from throughout the world participate – is to increase the level of client service and global business performance,

with a growing number of travel companies, airlines, tour operators and hotels vying for the coveted titles. According to the organizers, the survey has

demonstrated that winning a World Travel Award increases the recognition of international brand and generates guests’ fidelity.

right of that nation’s citizens to freedom to travel.

Figueras pointed out that, according to forecasts from the American Society of Travel Agencies (ASTA), two years after the lifting of the ban some 850,000 U.S, citizens will travel to Cuba as tourists, to stay at hotels, and half a million more will do so on cruise ships.

From page one - U.S.-Cuba Travel Conference The Gran Meliá Cancun will be the venue of the meeting of delegations of businesspeople and specialists that will discuss travel between the two countries. The news was given

firsthand by Mrs. Kirby Jones, president of Alamar Associates, and Miguel Alejandro Figueras, advisor to the Cuban minister of tourism, during a press

conference at the headquarters of Havana’s International Press Center.

Kirby Jones highlighted what he considers a positive atmosphere

Mrs. Kirby Jones and Miguel Figueras for the effort to achieve the elimination by the Washington government of the ban on U.S. citizens’ travel to the island.

We are speaking, he said, of the

He added that the conference will be attended by delegates from companies that move 85% of travel abroad, and that it will be the stage for positive contacts between businesspeople to analyze possible business deals, after a future elimination of the blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.

For his part, Figueras recalled that this type of exchanges has been taking place for seven years and that it is important to demonstrate that Cuba is the safest destination for U.S. tourism, but that there isn’t enough information about its attractions.

In 2003, some 85,000 U.S. citizens traveled to Cuba, not counting Cuban-Americans; in 2004, when the Bush plan was approved and restrictions increased, the figure dropped to some 45,000; last year, approximately 50,000 U.S. citizens of Cuban origin traveled to the island, in addition to almost 300,000 Cubans residing abroad.

He said that Cuba will attend with a varied delegation, whose composition will be made up according to the conference’s counterpart.

Out of these, it should be taken into account that the great majority resides in the United States, explained Figueras.

travel trade caribbean • year X number 190

18

News from Caribbean

Sand Dumping Concludes in Cancun Beaches

The dumping of sand in Cancun’s beaches, a mega project financed by the three levels of government, concluded after 100 days of work. During that period, four million square meters of sand were dumped to recover 11.7 kilometers of shore affected in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma. The project, which cost a total of 830 million pesos, recovered the beaches of 38 of Cancun’s hotels, representing 10,500 rooms.

Governor Félix González highlighted that it is a work that sums up many years of work, since the hotels saw the need to repair the beaches. The state governor warned that this is the beginning of another stage, as important as the very work, which is maintenance, as well as the presence of some possible weather phenomenon, for which a billion pesos more have been foreseen.

St. Maarten Presents New Tourist Website The St. Maarten authorities presented the new local tourism official website, which offers the most complete information on restaurants, attractions and hotels, in addition to providing potential visitors with the possibility of appreciating its attractions through photos and videos.

Moreover, the website offers the necessary information for those lovers wishing to spend their honeymoon in the island. St. Maarten’s promotion campaign invites tourists to live the experience of an island with European sophistication while at the

same time conserving intact the warmth and color of the Caribbean.

With more than 300 restaurants and a great variety of international haute cuisine flavors, St. Maarten is considered the “Caribbean’s Gastronomic Capital.” A refuge for luxurious yachts and adventure lovers who like to go diving, this island with an intense nautical life also has sun the year round, an impressive nature in its 37 beaches, a lively nightlife, disco by the shore, casinos in the Dutch part and duty free zones.

Dominican Republic Preferred by Belgian Tourists The Dominican Republic consolidated its position as the principal long-distance destination for Belgian tourists, ahead of such competitive markets as Thailand, the United States and Mexico. Samanda Fersobe, director of the Dominican Office of Tourist Promotion in Belgium, affirmed: “This 2010 promises to be a year that will see an increase in the arrival of Belgians to our destination, given that the winter season that ends February-March came to a good close, like the summer bookings.”

“We are the destination most visited by Belgians and in 2009 we achieved up to 25,000 visitors more than Cancun, which is our principal competition.” Fersobe said that this year her office has

focused on the golf niche in Belgium and Holland. “We are working a great deal on golf, especially in Holland, since there is a considerable amount of golf players we want to attract and we have the golf courses to offer them,” she said.

Jamaica Seminar on Forecasts on Tourism The Ministry of Tourism of Jamaica and the World Tourism Organization, a UN entity, held the 3rd Annual Seminar of Forecasts on Tourism. The principal subject of the meeting, which took place in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay, was “The challenges, changes and opportunities in tourism in face of the global crisis.” The seminar was a means for key world personalities in the tourism industry to identify and assess opportunities for development and the best practices with that aim.