NEW YORK, Jun 05 2015, CNS – Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Richard Sealy has that the region is not overly concerned about Cuba as a competitor, now that the United States is improving ties with the Communist island.
Sealy said more tourists visiting Cuba will be a good thing for the Caribbean on a whole.
“Cuba is not a problem for the CTO or the Caribbean. We are not afraid of what is happening in Cuba. As a matter of fact Cuba is a member of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and has been for some time,” Sealy told reporters here.
“There was even an occasion when a Cuban minister of tourism attended Caribbean week…he was given a visa to come to this country because of Cuba’s membership with the CTO. So whereas this whole idea of visiting Cuba is new for Americans, it is not new at all for any of us.”
With only the US restricting travel, three million foreigners arrived in Cuba last year, according to the government, making it the second-most visited island in the Caribbean after the Dominican Republic, which attracted more than five million visitors.
Cuba’s largest source market (Canada), is also a major source market for other countries in the Caribbean.
“Canadians love Cuba and we are already trying to get business from Canada alongside of Cuba so the competition from Cuba is not new,” Sealy said.
“Where I’m from, in Barbados, the United Kingdom is our largest source market and so I have to compete against Cuba to get Brits because they are going to Cuba and that is the simple reality – 56,000 rooms and three million tourists a year, Cuba is already a player in tourism. And for us in the CTO and for those of us involved in tourism in the Caribbean Cuba is not new.
“More people coming to Cuba mean more people coming to the Caribbean and therefore the natural thinking of us at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation is that it can only auger well for us. Those persons who were not previously coming to the region that are now coming to the region via Cuba can only redounded to our benefit and we look forward therefore to seeing Cuba’s full integration into this whole system of offering tourism services,” the CTO Chairman added.
As part of improving ties between the countries, US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro said they would work first to restore diplomatic relations.
