Cuba Cruise Travel Up a Staggering 75 Percent in First Half of 2016

Just in the first six months of the ongoing year, Cuba received 53,748 cruise passengers, 40,751 more than in the same period of 2015, Cuba’s Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said.

Speaking to ACN, Mr. Marrero said the positive outcome of this segment in the new scenario comes on the heels of an increasing influx of international arrivals to the country.

He highlighted the favorable impact of the arrival of cruise ships, both small and medium size from different nations, mainly the MSC Opera and the Adonia, owned by Carnival Company, the first of the U.S. to dock in a Cuban port in over 50 years.

Mr. Marrero added that several boats handpicked Havana as homeport, which means that some cruise passengers arrive by plane, sometimes staying in hotels and then sailing on the cruise liners, or once the journey is completed they continue their holidays in Cuba.

He commented that all passengers aboard the MSC Opera arrive in the capital by air, through partnerships between the company and airlines like Blue Panorama and Air France, with which a contract to increase the number of flights dedicated only to transfer customers to this Caribbean destination was recently signed.

According to data provided by the Cuban Tourism Ministry, MSC Opera, of the firm MSC Crociere, will add another vessel in the 2016-2017 period, while the U.S. company Royal Caribbean has requested to start operations with 72 stopovers between Havana and Miami.

Source: ACN