- Title: Cuba woos Russians, Chinese in bid to revive ailing tourist sector
- Date: 10th June 2024
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 4, 2024) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN SQUARE VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN TOURISTS TOURING CITY WITH GUIDE RUSSIAN TOURIST, SERGUEI BOYARYSHNIC, NEXT TO FAMILY IN STREET RUSSIAN TOURIST POSING NEXT TO STATUE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN TOURIST, SERGUEI BOYARYSHNIC, SAYING: “We were invited to come and consider the Cuban option and we picked it because it's a great country and with good people. We had heard a lot about Cuba. Our countries have been friends for years and, strictly speaking, it's safe here. We are here with our family, with our children. We have arrived and we are enjoying it. We are here every day and we love everything. If anyone wonders whether to come or not, come to Cuba.” VARIOUS OF TOURISTS TOURING SQUARE VARIOUS OF STREET VENDOR, MIGDALIA GONZALEZ, WALKING IN SQUARE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) STREET VENDOR, MIGDALIA GONZALEZ, SAYING: "Tourist activity here has hit rock bottom. The tourism that is coming here the most, despite the small amount of tourism, is Russian and Chinese, but very little. In fact, the Chinese don't represent much benefit to us because they don't buy much. The Russians don't buy either, but the Russians buy a little more, they do buy a little more, but tourism here is at a low level, and what is coming most are the Chinese and the Russians.” HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 6, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHINESE TOURIST LIVING IN CANADA POSING FOR PHOTO TOURIST SNAPPING PICTURE ON PHONE VARIOUS OF CHINESE TOURISTS LIVING IN CANADA POSING FOR PHOTOS IN AVENUE AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (JUNE 7, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR AT AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY AND TOURISM EXPERT, PAOLO SPADONI, SAYING: “The potential advantages, though, of relying on long-distance markets like Russia and China is to tap new markets that can make up for the loss that European markets because European tourism has been declining since at least before COVID-19 became an issue, and also for the Canadian market that has not been growing (as much).” HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 4, 2024) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN THE STREET VARIOUS OF STREET ARTIST AT WORK EXHIBITED VARIOUS OF CARTOONIST YAKIEL MIRANDA SKETCHING PORTRAIT IN SQUARE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CARTOONIST, YAKIEL MIRANDA, SAYING: "We can hardly communicate with them because the Chinese speak Mandarin and the Russians speak Russian. Nowadays we don't see a lot of Latin, European tourism like we used to see, Spanish and Italians.” HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 6, 2024) (REUTERS) COLORFUL VINTAGE TAXIS PARKED IN THE STREET, NATIONAL CAPITOL ON THE BACKGROUND TAXI DRIVERS TALKING NEXT TO STREET HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 5, 2024) (REUTERS) TAXIS PARKED ON AVENUE VARIOUS OF TOURISTS AT REVOLUTION SQUARE
- Embargoed: 24th June 2024 12:00
- Keywords: China Cuba Russia economy tourism
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA / AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA / AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001900707062024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Russian tourist Serguei Boyaryshnic wandered in awe among the pastel-colored buildings and cobblestone streets of Old Havana on a recent weekday morning, his family in tow.
Cuba has recently begun offering fresh perks to entice visitors like Boyaryshnic from allied countries like Russia and China as it struggles to revive a still stagnant tourism sector struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
That has meant more and sometimes direct flights from Russia and China, the elimination of visa requirements for Chinese visitors and Cuba's recent decision to accept Russia's Mir payment cards, one of only a handful of countries to join Moscow's alternative to Visa and Mastercard. That strategy has paid some dividends.
More than 66,000 Russians visited the Caribbean island in the first three months of the year, state-run media has reported, a still modest number but double that of the same period in 2023 and one of few bright spots on the horizon.
Stiff U.S. sanctions imposed by former president Donald Trump contributed to a sharp reduction in U.S. visitors to the island, and arrivals from many European countries have also dropped off this year, state data shows, a gaping hole that Cuba has struggled to fill.
But a growing bet on distant markets - a flight with layovers from Beijing, for example, requires 24 hours or more of travel - may not be enough to make up for a recent decline in visitors from Europe, says Paolo Spadoni, a professor with Augusta University and expert on Cuban tourism.
Spadoni estimates the island will receive between 2.6 and 2.7 million tourists this year instead of its goal of attracting 3.2 million visitors in 2024.
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