Cuba tourism held a trade fair in Havana early in May. The annual event — this year’s episode was called FitCuba 2019 — is the primary showcase for tourism initiatives, products and experiences on the Caribbean’s biggest island.
It would appear that the future for Cuba is looking very good.
The Iberostar Grand Packard Hotel, a modern addition to Havana’s classical cityscape. At top, an attractive inhabitant of Finca Vista Hermosa, a local gem that’s both visitor attraction and pioneer in the farm-to-table movement. (Sharon Matthews-Stevens photos for VacayNetwork.com)
Many of Havana’s architectural delights are getting well-deserved facelifts, most notably the Capitol building, whose big reveal coincides with the anniversary day itself.
But it’s not just refurbished dowagers that characterize today’s Havana.
Developments at the University of Havana Botanical Gardens are just one sign of growing attention to ecotourism. (Sharon Matthews-Stevens photos for VacayNetwork.com).
The Iberostar Grand Packard is a luxury hotel located where Old Havana meets the Malecon, a modern property that nonetheless pays tribute to a long and prestigious history. Just across the street S/O Havana Paseo del Prado is a brand-new hotel scheduled for an early 2020 opening.
But expanding accommodation options aren’t limited to Havana.
Cuba’s Minister of Tourism, Manuel Marrero Cruz, reports that four thousand new rooms will have come on-stream by year’s end.
And it’s not just additional rooms that have energized tourism, a realization that strikes you when you stroll the exhibitors’ presentations strategically located along the parade ground of the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña, a seventeenth-century stronghold boasting panoramic views of the old city and the distant blue waters of the Atlantic.
Tourism in Cuba is keeping with the times.
El Moro, venue for FitCuba 2019, an annual tourism experience. (Sharon Matthews-Stevens photos for VacayNetwork.com)
Consider the National Botanical Garden of the University of Havana, roughly 16 miles (twenty-five kilometres) outside the city proper. It is, according to director Nora Hernández Monterrey, “the prelude to ecotourism in Cuba.”
Here visitors can experience Cuba’s unique microclimates. Future plans include onsite accommodations that will facilitate complete immersion activities in this five-hundred-fifty-hectare oasis. Finca Vista Hermosa is an organic farm that’s both visitors’ destination and a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement. Come for a fascinating visit then finish your day back in Havana at Restaurante Mediterráneo, ordering some of itsr produce from a menu (a welcome Havana culinary trend) that’s vegetarian-friendly.
Back at the show, a company called Ecotur offers a variety of hiking and touring options. A duet of RVs is hunkered down in the shadow of the fortress walls. Hit the open road at the wheel of your portable accommodation with a company called “Cuba on the Road” (they also rent e-bikes and scooters). Maybe visit the tent across the way and learn about camping options in Cuba.
For nearly five million visitors annually, the initiatives and incentives presented at this fair are a strong indication that Cuba takes its tourism seriously. More to the point, the fact that the island boasts nine UNESCO Heritage Sites, fourteen National Parks and ninety-nine miles (one hundred sixty kilometres) of beaches means that Cuba’s appeal will never grow old.
The revitalization of Havana’s Capitol building is just one sign of anniversary renewal spreading across the city. (Sharon Matthews-Stevens photos for VacayNetwork.com)
In her opening speech to the trade fair, Spain’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, María Reyes Maroto Illera referred to the “great historic, natural and cultural heritage of Cuba.”
Christopher Columbus was a little more eloquent.
“The most beautiful islands that human eyes have ever seen.”
