CUBA, September 30, 2008. Cuban tourism may set a historic record this year, in terms of foreign visitors, according to a report from the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR).

The report, published on MINTUR's website (http:/www.cubatravel.cu), quoted First Deputy Minister Alexis Trujillo during a visit to Playa Pesquero, in eastern Holguin province.

The peak or winter season, scheduled to begin in November, will have more comfortable hotels, a better image and higher quality of services, added the report.

That will boost quantitative growth, so more than 2,319,000 vacationers, the number of foreign tourists who visited the island nation in 2006, are expected to come to Cuba this year.

Trujillo added that the tourist infrastructure in the regions hit by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, especially in Holguin, Las Tunas, Camagüey, Isla de la Juventud and Pinar del Rio, has been restored.

The work by local people, on behalf of 81,000 tourism workers in Cuba, has contributed to the functionality of a tourism sector that has grown 13 percent so far this year, compared to the same period in 2007.

At the 912-room Playa Pesquero Hotel, some 30 tour operators from Europe and Canada celebrated World Tourism Day on September 27.(Cubaminrex- PL)