A record 2.84 million tourists visited Cuba last year, up 4.5 percent from 2011 figures (by comparison, only 326,000 tourists came to Cuba in 1989). More than one million of them came from Canada, with large numbers also visiting from the United States — mainly Cuban-American exiles and those on specially licensed humanitarian or people-to-people excursions. Other important sources of tourism to Cuba are Latin America, Russia and, increasingly, China.
Food enthusiasts from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean will be able to take a bite out of the island’s best dishes this weekend, during the 6th edition of the Saborea Puerto Rico culinary fest, which will feature a constellation of local and international chefs.
One of the Caribbean’s top tourism destinations, the Bahamas, now has a world-class international airport to boast about. Yet who will foot the bill for this strikingly modern, $409.5 million expansion project remains a matter of controversy.
Visitor traffic to the Caribbean region should increase by 4 percent to 5 percent this year, reports the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization. That follows strong growth in 2012 that saw the islands of the Caribbean welcome 25 million visitors — 5.4 percent more than in 2011 and the largest number of stay-over visitors in five years.
The Puerto Rico Tourism Company on Wednesday reported $6.6 million in hotel room tax collections in January, representing a 16.6 percent increase when compared to the same month in 2012, agency Executive Director Ingrid Rivera-Rocafort said.
Puerto Rico’s travel and tourism industry took the 52nd place in this year’s World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, slipping seven notches since the last time the report was published in 2011.
Puerto Rico’s economy stands to score $45 million from the celebration of the sixth edition of the World Baseball Classic in San Juan and the PGA Tour Puerto Rico Open in Río Grande this week, two events that draw significant tourism and put the island on the map, Tourism Company Executive Director Ingrid Rivera-Rocafort said Wednesday.
Puerto Rican travel agency wholesalers AAA Tours, Good Quality Tours and Sorymar Tours are among some 270 companies from 39 countries that took part in the Colombia Travel Mart fair in Bogotá and Medellín last week.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), one half of the Aerostar Airport Holdings, LLC consortium that won the bid to take over the management and operation of the Luis Muñoz Marín Airport in Puerto Rico, said Wednesday it has obtained the necessary 139 certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, and is ready to start modernizing the airport.
Old San Juan’s cruise ship harbor is up for a significant dredge and upgrade this summer, when the Puerto Rico Ports Authority plans to invest some $7 million to get the area ready for bigger vessels, Executive Director Víctor Suárez said during a recent interview. Plans specifically call for preparing the entrance into Pier 3 […]
The Puerto Rico Tourism Company is throwing its support behind the government’s most recent attempt to define a permanent identity for the island by establishing a 15-member committee under the Economic Development and Commerce Department that would be in charge of creating and adopting a “national brand.”
Puerto Rico residents are driving the island’s tourism sector, checking into island hotels and paradores (small inns) at a faster rate than outside visitors and keeping the sector afloat despite the somber economic scenario, Banco Popular’s most recent edition of the “Progreso Económico” report concluded.
In a few months, when Casa Sol opens its doors as Old San Juan's first Bed & Breakfast, it will join a growing list of small hostelries in the old city that are benefiting from increased tourist demand for cozy alternatives to traditional, large hotels.
While travel to Puerto Rico appeared to be picking up toward year’s end, industry components believe much work lies ahead to strengthen the sector and its contributions to the island’s overall economy.
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