The island received 1,9 million tourists last year, which meant a 13% hike on 2002’s total and showed a significant recovery of the sector, the Cuban Television informed.

The aforementioned figure was just what the tourism authorities had calculated regarding the number of foreign travelers that would be arriving in Cuba throughout the year.

According to the same source, revenues in hard currency increased comparing it to the previous year, though such a growth hasn’t been given to know yet.

For its part, Cuba’s current hotel infrastructure has over 41,000 rooms spread across the national territory.

In addition, predictions for the running year foresee the arrival of 2 million vacationers, an important target, which fulfillment has been delayed given the combination of several domestic and external factors, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S.A.

In 2003, the leisure industry consolidated as the engine of Cuban economy –with venues close to US $2 billion– and the official projects indicate that it’ll remain as main factor of the Island’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the coming years.(22/01/04)

(Taken from: Cubasí)