Vendors at Havana's downtown flea market have noticed a marked decline in tourist traffic

From John Zarrella. CNN Miami Bureau Chief. July 10, 2000 Web posted at: 11:10 a.m. EST (1510 GMT)

HAVANA (CNN) -- Summer traditionally is a slow time for tourism in humid Havana, but even winter vacationing this year was stagnant, suggesting that Cuba's heady days of banner tourism may be ending.

"The first month of January, the first three weeks, were completely surprising -- the low occupancy levels that we suffered," said Jorge Villanova, general manager of Havana Libre Hotel. "And it's a practical rule, how you start your year is how things go."

Hotel and tour operators in Cuba say the Y2K scare was the biggest factor for the flat season; potential tourists, worried that year-end computer glitches could play havoc with their travel plans, stayed away. Others may have avoided Cuba after seeing televised images of the nation's demonstrations over Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban child whose rescue off the United States coast made him the object of an international custody battle.

"It's true that during the first part of the year, we have had several incidents in the reception of tourism," said Fernando Santos of Cuba Tours. "But … tourism in May has stabilized."

That's important for Cuba, where tourism is the No. 1 industry, a business that generated more than $1 billion last year. The government projected 2 million tourists this year -- 400,000 more people than visited in 1999.

"Perhaps we are not as happy as we should be, considering the fact that the demand of the Cuba product is not increasing at the speed that we expected," Villanova said. "We need to do additional efforts in promotion of Cuba."

Despite this year's early disappointments, hotel companies doing business in Cuba are bullish about the future. Tryp Hotels of Spain, for example, plans to build five new hotels there.

Cubans say they also hope the U.S. will lift its restrictions on travel to the island nation. If that happens, tourism is expected to double overnight.

© 2000 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.

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