• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 08 / 19 / 2011

---

In a sign of the relative purchasing power of some Cubans, nearly one-quarter of tourists currently staying in hotels at the island’s biggest beach resort are nationals.

Of some 22,000 guests in hotels at Varadero during this summer, more than 5,000 are Cubans, Communist Party daily Granma reported, citing a tourism official in Matanzas province. This puts Cuban guests on the No. 2 spot of the source-market ranking, behind Canadians.

With hotel occupancy rates hovering in the 50s, the rise of domestic visitors is welcome respite for the industry.

According to Velio Barrera, head of marketing for the tourism ministry in Matanzas province, where Varadero is located, there has been an unexpectedly strong rise of domestic tourism in July and August, the lowest-season months of the year.

Most domestic visitors come from Havana and the central provinces, Barrera told Granma.

Hard-currency hotel rates are unaffordable for Cubans who solely depend on their low wages as income. Barrera said that, in order to create low-cost alternatives in Varadero, some 100 hotel rooms in converted office space came on line this summer.

Source: /www.cubastandard.com/2011/08/18/domestic-tourism-rising-unexpectedly/