Cubans Give Warm Welcome to British Cruise Liner

Cubans Give Warm Welcome to British Cruise Liner
By Rory Carroll (The Guardian)

Cuba has given a warm welcome to a British cruise liner in an effort to boost tourism. Havana residents waved, a salsa band played and showgirls shimmied as the nine-deck Thomson Dream became one of the biggest ships to dock in Cuba for years.

Waiters greeted disembarking passengers with shots of Havana Club rum on Wednesday in a clear message from the government that the cash-strapped communist island was keen to welcome back cruise liners.

“People were leaning out of windows waving at us and we were waving back. It was really enthusiastic,” Richard Ring, a 40-year-old British passenger, told Reuters. Shouting over the salsa din, he said it was the warmest greeting of a 14-day Caribbean cruise that included stops at Barbados, Grenada and Curacao.

Jose Manuel Bisbe, the tourism ministry’s commercial director, told journalists at the port that the government had signed deals with European cruise operators to make such visits a regular event. “We think that more than anything, this change reflects the operators’ understanding of all Cuba’s attributes as a destination,” he said.

Each passenger spent an average of $50 (£32) to $200 a day on the island, Bisbe said, raising hopes that “several million dollars” would be injected into the economy.

Tourism revenues grew by 3.5 percent in the first nine months of last year and tourist numbers increased by 50,000 to 1.89 million, according to official figures. Most of the visitors were Canadians and Britons, although the number of Americans rose in response to the US relaxing a travel ban.