Roger Perdomo Benitez.General Manager of Rumbos Company in Varadero

Q- How long have you been at the helm of Rumbos in Varadero?

A- I’ve been in the company’s front office for approximately five years.

Q- We’ve learned about the development Rumbos has reached in this marvellous beach of Varadero. Will you refer to that?

A- We’re inserted in the Cardenas-Matanzas-Varadero triangle. Among our leading products, we can mention, first of all, the 18-hole golf course at the Varadero Golf Club –the only one of its kind in Cuba. We’ve signed major contracts with Sol Meliá and SuperClubs, two giants that right now account for roughly 80 percent of the total amount of golfers. Another star-studded product is the dolphin seaquarium, a new kind of place that tourists seek after a lot and that’s being advertised in all hotels around the circuit and targeting visitors of all stripes.

Other nature-related products are equally important to us, like the Bellamar and Saturno caves, two sites that tourists, travel agents and tour operators visit year in and year out.

Here in Varadero, Rumbos owns such great restaurants as the Meson del Quijote, La Barbacoa, La Casa del Queso, the Mallorca, the Albacora, the Bodegon Criollo and Castell Novo, plus three other beachfront eateries.

On the other hand, we also run nightclubs and cabarets like La Cueva del Pirata, a spot that features a gorgeous show every night.

By and large, this year’s results are very positive. We hope to reach the year’s projected revenue mark in the month of November and come up in September with the earnings we’d planned for 2003. We’re banking on our hardworking employees to accomplish this formidable task.

Q- We’ve been told that Rumbos Varadero is just within an inch of getting its own entrepreneurial tune-up plan underway. What can you say about it?

A- I must say that we’re now ready to tee off that entrepreneurial tune-up plan. The prognosis is now coming to a close and we’re just waiting for the accounting certification. I hope the workers’ performance and endeavour in this sense could help bring this process to a successful end.

Q- What about the enhancement of the extra-hotel network?

A- Every year, our tourist group unveils its new products and in that respect we’re making great progress. The extra-hotel mesh needs to be improved because that’s one of the fundamental goals we’ve set out to attain. We’re chiefly determined to enhance and improve the restaurants that we’re operating right now, I mean, give them a much better look. In the short run, we’ve begun an effort to further advertise our gourmet products, so we’re working in that direction.

Q- Any new projects in sight?

A- We’ve got plans for a couple of golf courses, one in Carbonera, halfway between Matanzas and Varadero, and another one in San Miguel. This is going to be a major product for us because the addition of these new golf courses will make up a golf circuit in the area, and this is something that really eggs tourists on.

We’re also working in a nautical attraction package and a theme park to be built in a vacant lot right across from the dolphin seaquarium. In short, we expect these projects to be pulled off somewhere into the near future.