Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
Hotel Motel Managment. July 05, 2001
Havana (dpa) - Following the boom in Cuba's tourism industry inrecent years,
there is now a strong upswing underway with jointventure projects.
From now on, all new projects for large-sized hotels of the four-and
five-star category for the socialist country's state-owned hotelchain will be
realised only via capital investment and managementagreements with foreign
partners.
This has been confirmed by Emilio Falcon, president of the Cuba'shotel
federation, who inists: "Every deal we make is a good one."
The fact that foreign involvement as a rule may not exceed 50 percent is no
hindrance, Falcon says. He regrets the fact that so farGerman involvement in
Cuba has been restricted to the management ofvacation hotels.
According to the Tourism Ministry, at the start of 2001 there were27 hotel
companies involving foreign partners, combining for acommitment to build 15,600
rooms. So far, 3,700 rooms have beencompleted.
At the same time, 50 out of the 227 hotels meant for foreignvisitors to Cuba
are under foreign management, with this trendstrongly on the rise. At the end of
2000, there were 36,000 hotelrooms in Cuba, while by the end of this year the
figures is to reach40,000 rooms.
Many foreign hotel partners are manager and shareholder at the sametime, in
some cases the stakes being just 20 or 30 per cent.
"We have capital shares in some of our hotels," notes
CarlosVillota, general manager of the Melia Cohiba Hotel in Havana. The SolMelia
company was the first foreign partner for Cuba, and in themeantime the Spanish
group will soon be managing 23 hotels, three ofwhich are under construction.
Villota said that the Melia Cohiba hotel is booked to 76 per centcapacity,
at a room price of 215 dollars.
A number of hotels have more than two partners. For example, theCuban and
Dutch flags fly atop the Golden Tulip Parque Central indowntown Havana.
The state hotel chain Cubanacan is 50 per cent owner, while theDutch manage
the hotel and investors from four countries, includingfrom Britain and Italy,
hold the remaining stake.
"This is working excellently," said Falcon, who is resident
managerof the hotel.
Other foreign hotel management groups who are satisfied with thesituation
include Super Clubs, LTI and Oeger. They have set upoffices and are aggressively
advertising their products. By contrast,foreign capital partners, for example
from Canada or Sweden, are lesshungry for publicity.
Oeger Tour has shelved earlier plans to participate financially ina
1,000-bed complex on Cayo Coco.
"We are going to operate and manage the facility because that
ischeaper," said company spokesman Ingo Thiel, while saying in this
wayOeger's standards can be guaranteed.
LTI marketing chief, Monika Singer, says that her company is "verysatisfied
with the cooperation" with the Cubans. Soon the LTIVaradero Beach Resort
with 400 rooms is to be opened, followed nextwinter with the 317-room LTI
Panorama Havana. This will bring to fivethe number of hotels under the group's
management.
Meanwhile Jag Mehta, a consultant to Super Clubs, reports that "weare
making good profits". Last February, the all-inclusive hotelmanagement
company from Jamaica opened the Breezes Costa Verde hotel,with 480 rooms, in
Holguin. Owners are Cubanacan and an Italiangroup.
"The interest of foreign partners has grown strongly," said
MarioSori, vice president of Cubanacan. "We would be very pleased about
ajoint venture with Germany."
Manuel Estefania, vice president of the Gran Caribe company, notesthat "the
Germans bring us the most tourists, but are still reservedabout investing".
At the end of 2000, Gran Caribe had 41 hotels with 10,300 rooms,and the
chain now has lined up four capital partners - two fromCanada and one each from
Italy and Sweden - for major new projects.Meanwhile classic hotels like the
Inglaterra and Plaza in Havana havebeen modernised and are being operated by
Gran Caribe itself.
The ongoing boom in vacationers is expected to add further momentumto joint
ventures. The number of visitors from around the world rosefrom 1.603 million in
1999 to 1.774 million last year. Of that,Germans accounted for 182,159 and
203,403, respectively. Cuba'stourism income is now running at about two billion
dollars a year.
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