By John Rice, Associated Press . Sun-Sentinel, Web-posted: 1:13 p.m. Apr. 13, 2000
HAVANA -- More than 160,000 U.S. citizens visited Cuba last year despite tight restrictions on travel to the island, Cuban Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz said Thursday.
The U.S citizens were a small but notable portion of the more than 1.6 million tourists that Cuba says it drew in 1999. Ferradaz said booming tourism industry produced some $1.3 billion in hard currency revenue -- about 53 percent of Cuba's total last year.
Speaking at a news conference, Ferradaz said that about 60,000 to 70,000 people listed by Cuba as U.S. citizens visited Cuba last year in addition to "more than 100,000" Cuban-Americans -- considered Cuban citizens under the island's laws.
He confirmed that the two categories did not overlap.
It was not clear how many of the U.S. visitors arrived legally and how many were violating terms of the U.S. travel embargo imposed in the early 1960s.
The U.S. government allows Cuban-Americans to make family visits to the island. Other Americans are allowed to visit for purposes including academic study, cultural exchanges, some sorts of business and aid. U.S. laws forbid Americans to spend money in Cuba for strictly tourism purposes.
Ferradaz said Cuba has seen the number of foreign tourists grow from 342,000 in 1990 to 1.4 million in 1998 and 1.6 million last year.
The government had aimed at 2 million tourists this year, but saw only 2 to 3 percent growth in the first quarter, Ferradaz said, attributing that to fears of a year 2000 computer bug among New Year travelers and the fact that the busy Easter season fell in the first quarter last year but
not this one.
Ferradaz said Cuba is aiming at 5 million to 7 million visitors by the year 2010. That will mean adding some 50,000 new hotel rooms in addition to the 34,000 international-quality rooms now available.
Canada is the leading national source of tourism, providing 17 percent of Cuban visitors last year. Fifty-five percent of visitors came from European countries such as Spain, Italy, Britain and Germany.
Ferradaz said 86,000 Cubans work directly in tourism in fields such as hotels, restaurants or transportation. He estimated that another 300,000 jobs were created indirectly.
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