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Tourist revenue in Cuba had reached over $US1.2 billion in the first half of 2016, according to numbers released by the country’s National Office of Statistics and Information on Thursday.
The statistics, which exclude private business revenue, point to a number of promising increases within the sector.
The $US1.2 billion sum from January to June 2016 represents a 15 percent increase in revenue compared to statistics from last year. In the same period, there was a 11.8 percent increase in people visiting the island from the same period from last year.
In total 2,147,912 international visitors travelled to the island in the first 6 months of 2016. Canada, the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Spain, Mexico and Argentina were important international markets for Cuban tourism.
Cubans living abroad came in second place, behind Canada of all visitors contributing to tourism revenue which includes money from accommodation, activities, transport, food and retail.
While United States citizens are technically prohibited from traveling to the nation because of the ongoing blockade, 136,913 people from the U.S. came to the Island, the third most from any country.
Recently travel restrictions were eased by President Obama including the announcement of regular flights between the U.S. and Cuba for the first time in more than 50 years.
While relations have improved between the two cold war era rivals as part of a “thawing” of relations, the devastating blockade on the Island remains and continues to cripple Cuba’s economy and the livelihoods of its people.
Since it was introduced by the U.S. in 1960, the blockade has cost the country US$4.7 billion in past year and a massive US$753.7 billion in total.
But with the news of Donald Trump’s impending presidency, many are wary that relations with the U.S. will change for the worse, particularly for Cubans who rely heavily on tourism. Trump previously stated that he wants to renegotiate Obama’s “weak agreement” with Cuba.
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