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No
need to fear, says Cuban official
By Patrick Knight. Wed Sep 24
2003, Barbados
Advocate.
A CUBAN official is suggesting that Barbados
and other Caribbean countries need not be adversely
affected in the event of the removal of the American
blockade against Cuba. However, Cuba's Ambassador
to Barbados, Jose Alvarez Portela, said that for
this to happen a system of multi destinations
where visitors will spend two or three days in
Cuba before moving on to another regional destination
will have to be worked out.
He said this will be necessary since Cuba, which
presently welcomes two million tourists to its
shores annually, will simply not have the capacity
to facilitate another million when the American
market is opened up to it and will have no option
but to share.
"Many Caribbean countries have fears about
what will happen when the American door is opened,
but if one day the Americans eliminate the blockade
and allow the people to go to Cuba we are not
able and will not be able to receive this boom
of people," Portela told the Barbados Advocate.
The Ambassador, who officially took up duties
in Barbados last November, said while "there
exists in Cuba a political will not to do damage
to our Caribbean brothers" sharing was also
an economic necessity.
He however said that while there is the political
will, the private sector comprising tour operators
and others in the hospitality industry will have
to come on board to make any multi-destination
package a reality.
"Imagine one million tourists from America
going to Cuba. We do not have the infrastructure,"
he said, adding that while more hotels will be
built, the country will have to bear the brunt
of such expansion since they are not beneficiaries
of loans from international agencies such as the
World Bank. He said now is the time for governments
and the private sector to begin to work out a
proper plan before the Cuban market is fully opened
up.
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