Cuba reopens but faces challenge wooing back tourists
Issued on: 20/11/2020 - 21:18
A receptionist sanitizes her hands at the Melia Habana Hotel in Havana -- Cuba is reopening its doors to foreign tourists after months of coronavirus-related closures, but will travelers return? YAMIL LAGE AFP
Havana (AFP)
Cuba is reopening its doors to foreign tourists after an eight-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the cash-strapped country faces an uphill struggle to woo back wary travelers.
Tourism chiefs are banking on the island's track record of keeping the virus in check to win back holidaymakers.
"This is a major challenge," said Francisco Camps, deputy general manager of Melia, a Spanish hotel chain that currently is operating only 10 of its 34 locations in Cuba.ADVERTISING
The industry is pinning its hopes for the November-April high season on the capital Havana, the country's main tourist draw, which opened its international airport last weekend.
With its old fashioned Caribbean charm, the UNESCO World Heritage city attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
"Havana is important because it has regular flights, which allows connections with Europe," says Camps.
"It also allows a flow of visitors who do not only come to see the city but also do tours" -- bringing more tourist dollars than mere beachgoers.
The rest of the country's six international airports reopened last month to charter flights.
Tourism was worth $2.6 billion to Cuba in 2019. Deprived of that revenue this year, the island had to drastically reduce imports -- the source of 80 percent of its food.
Across the country, lines outside supermarkets are getting longer, with shortages of basics like coffee, milk and even toilet paper increasingly common.
"The shortages we are experiencing are quite significant -- I think it's the worst since the 1990s," said economist Ricardo Torres of the University of Havana.
That decade was dominated by a period of extreme austerity known as the Special Period, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- 'Safe destination' -
Torres said tourism "is the sector that really managed to pull Cuba out of its worst economic crisis," after that period.
But these days, opening the country's doors to international visitors is not risk-free.
Several cases of coronavirus have been detected on flights of British and Russian tourists who have recently come to visit the island's beaches, forcing dozens of travelers into isolation.
"This is undoubtedly a great risk," said Francisco Duran, chief epidemiologist at Cuba's health ministry.
"I think our population needs to be aware of this, so that they can protect themselves as well as the people who arrive."
Case numbers here are among the lowest in the Americas, with just over 7,700 infections in a population of 11.2 million.
"Cuba, a safe destination" has been adopted as a slogan designed to reassure travellers.
Cuba's protocols require new arrivals to take a PCR test costing $30 on arrival and limit their movements until results are made available 24 hours later.
Every hotel will have a permanent medical team in place, due to a national health network that boasts 82 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants -- compared with 32 in France and 26 in the United States.
"Cuba's very successful strategy in controlling the epidemic is also an asset when it comes to opening up," said Torres, "because the tourists in the coming months will be looking for safe destinations from a health perspective."
"So, yes, we have to protect people's lives, but we also need to revive our economy, which is in a downward spiral," he said.
- Teleworking from Cuba? -
Cuba hosted a seminar for a group of 150 German travel agents earlier this month. Such is the importance of the German market that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero went to meet them.
But several European countries such as France are still not allowing citizens to travel abroad for pure tourism due to a second wave of the pandemic.
Canada, Cuba's biggest tourist market, is imposing a quarantine on people returning from the island.
The World Tourism Organization does not foresee a rebound in the industry before the end of 2021 -- hence the need for Cubans to be creative.
Melia now offers long stays -- of two to three months -- to Canadian "snowbirds" seeking to escape the harsh northern winter.
The industry is also seeking to exploit the new trend of teleworking, but that poses a challenge in a country where internet connections are often slow and unstable.
"One thing that is obviously important is the need to ensure connectivity," said Camps.
"So, for each of the five pilot hotels selected, we have acquired a gigabyte of bandwidth."
But Melia will keep a third of its Cuban hotels closed in 2021, believing a return to normal is unlikely for at least two years.
© 2020 AFP
Havana (AFP)
Cuba is reopening its doors to foreign tourists after an eight-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the cash-strapped country faces an uphill struggle to woo back wary travelers.
Tourism chiefs are banking on the island's track record of keeping the virus in check to win back holidaymakers.
"This is a major challenge," said Francisco Camps, deputy general manager of Melia, a Spanish hotel chain that currently is operating only 10 of its 34 locations in Cuba.ADVERTISING
The industry is pinning its hopes for the November-April high season on the capital Havana, the country's main tourist draw, which opened its international airport last weekend.
With its old fashioned Caribbean charm, the UNESCO World Heritage city attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
"Havana is important because it has regular flights, which allows connections with Europe," says Camps.
"It also allows a flow of visitors who do not only come to see the city but also do tours" -- bringing more tourist dollars than mere beachgoers.
The rest of the country's six international airports reopened last month to charter flights.
Tourism was worth $2.6 billion to Cuba in 2019. Deprived of that revenue this year, the island had to drastically reduce imports -- the source of 80 percent of its food.
Across the country, lines outside supermarkets are getting longer, with shortages of basics like coffee, milk and even toilet paper increasingly common.
"The shortages we are experiencing are quite significant -- I think it's the worst since the 1990s," said economist Ricardo Torres of the University of Havana.
That decade was dominated by a period of extreme austerity known as the Special Period, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- 'Safe destination' -
Torres said tourism "is the sector that really managed to pull Cuba out of its worst economic crisis," after that period.
But these days, opening the country's doors to international visitors is not risk-free.
Several cases of coronavirus have been detected on flights of British and Russian tourists who have recently come to visit the island's beaches, forcing dozens of travelers into isolation.
"This is undoubtedly a great risk," said Francisco Duran, chief epidemiologist at Cuba's health ministry.
"I think our population needs to be aware of this, so that they can protect themselves as well as the people who arrive."
Case numbers here are among the lowest in the Americas, with just over 7,700 infections in a population of 11.2 million.
"Cuba, a safe destination" has been adopted as a slogan designed to reassure travellers.
Cuba's protocols require new arrivals to take a PCR test costing $30 on arrival and limit their movements until results are made available 24 hours later.
Every hotel will have a permanent medical team in place, due to a national health network that boasts 82 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants -- compared with 32 in France and 26 in the United States.
"Cuba's very successful strategy in controlling the epidemic is also an asset when it comes to opening up," said Torres, "because the tourists in the coming months will be looking for safe destinations from a health perspective."
"So, yes, we have to protect people's lives, but we also need to revive our economy, which is in a downward spiral," he said.
- Teleworking from Cuba? -
Cuba hosted a seminar for a group of 150 German travel agents earlier this month. Such is the importance of the German market that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero went to meet them.
But several European countries such as France are still not allowing citizens to travel abroad for pure tourism due to a second wave of the pandemic.
Canada, Cuba's biggest tourist market, is imposing a quarantine on people returning from the island.
The World Tourism Organization does not foresee a rebound in the industry before the end of 2021 -- hence the need for Cubans to be creative.
Melia now offers long stays -- of two to three months -- to Canadian "snowbirds" seeking to escape the harsh northern winter.
The industry is also seeking to exploit the new trend of teleworking, but that poses a challenge in a country where internet connections are often slow and unstable.
"One thing that is obviously important is the need to ensure connectivity," said Camps.
"So, for each of the five pilot hotels selected, we have acquired a gigabyte of bandwidth."
But Melia will keep a third of its Cuban hotels closed in 2021, believing a return to normal is unlikely for at least two years.
© 2020 AFP
How To Make A Classic Cuba Libre Cocktail
Written by
Colleen Graham
Updated 09/09/19
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Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)141 Calories
0g Fat
4g Carbs
0g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
The Cuba Libre recipe is an easy and popular mixed drink that you will find very familiar. Translated from Spanish, the name means “Free Cuba,” a phrase that was popularized around the end of the Spanish-American War and used to celebrate that Cuba was freed from Spanish rule.
This simple mixed drink is similar to a rum and Coke, but the addition of fresh lime juice lightens up the mix and cuts through the sweetness of the cola. The lime is the single element that defines the Cuba Libre as a separate drink and it should be fresh (not from a bottle) to keep the drink authentic.
Ingredients
1/2 lime (juiced)
2 ounces light rum
4 ounces cola (Coca-Cola)
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients.
Squeeze the juice of half a lime into a collins glass or highball glass.
Add ice cubes and pour the rum into the glass.
Fill with cola and stir well.
Serve and enjoy!
Tips
If you want to make a more complex drink, after squeezing the lime, drop it into the serving glass and muddle it to release the citrus oil from the rind. Remove the fruit before adding the other ingredients.
Written by
Colleen Graham
Updated 09/09/19
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)141 Calories
0g Fat
4g Carbs
0g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
The Cuba Libre recipe is an easy and popular mixed drink that you will find very familiar. Translated from Spanish, the name means “Free Cuba,” a phrase that was popularized around the end of the Spanish-American War and used to celebrate that Cuba was freed from Spanish rule.
This simple mixed drink is similar to a rum and Coke, but the addition of fresh lime juice lightens up the mix and cuts through the sweetness of the cola. The lime is the single element that defines the Cuba Libre as a separate drink and it should be fresh (not from a bottle) to keep the drink authentic.
Ingredients
1/2 lime (juiced)
2 ounces light rum
4 ounces cola (Coca-Cola)
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients.
Squeeze the juice of half a lime into a collins glass or highball glass.
Add ice cubes and pour the rum into the glass.
Fill with cola and stir well.
Serve and enjoy!
Tips
If you want to make a more complex drink, after squeezing the lime, drop it into the serving glass and muddle it to release the citrus oil from the rind. Remove the fruit before adding the other ingredients.
A collins glass is taller and narrower than a highball glass, so it would maintain the carbonation of the cola longer. However, you can make a Cuba Libre at home in any tall glass you have handy.
If you can source some Mexican Coca-Cola that is sweetened with cane sugar, it will be more authentic than the American Coca-Cola sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). You can use other brands of cola or artisanal colas as you prefer.
Light rum is usually chosen for the Cuba Libre, and to be traditional you should use a Cuban-style rum.
HAVANA CLUB AMBER
However, if you like dark rum, you can give that a try in your cocktail.
History
While the origins of the Cuba Libre and the rum and Coke claim to come from the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, that is doubtful. Coca-Cola did not arrive in Cuba until 1900. If there was a Cuba Libre before 1900, it was made with rum, water, and brown sugar.
A Bacardi advertising executive claims he was in Havana in 1900 when the drink was first mixed with Bacardi Rum and Coca-Cola. A competing story is that the Cuba Libre was first mixed at La Florida restaurant in Havana in 1902 on the anniversary of Cuban independence.
Iced drinks had been popular in Cuba since the 1800s. Although Cuba didn't make its own ice in those days, they had plenty of ice because it was imported by ice entrepreneur Frederic Tudor to the Caribbean islands in the early 1800s.
The popularity of rum and Coke spread to the U.S. and during Prohibition, Coca-Cola was useful in hiding the flavor of low-quality booze. When the U.S. placed an embargo on Coca-Cola imports to Cuba in 1960, Cubans began making Cuba Libres with TuKola instead.
How Strong Is a Cuba Libre?
The Cuba Libre is a rather mild mixed drink. Its actual alcohol content will vary depending on the strength of your rum and the amount of cola you end up pouring. On average, though, it will mix up to just 11 percent ABV (22 proof). It's perfectly normal for highball drinks and about as strong as a glass of wine.
While the origins of the Cuba Libre and the rum and Coke claim to come from the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, that is doubtful. Coca-Cola did not arrive in Cuba until 1900. If there was a Cuba Libre before 1900, it was made with rum, water, and brown sugar.
A Bacardi advertising executive claims he was in Havana in 1900 when the drink was first mixed with Bacardi Rum and Coca-Cola. A competing story is that the Cuba Libre was first mixed at La Florida restaurant in Havana in 1902 on the anniversary of Cuban independence.
Iced drinks had been popular in Cuba since the 1800s. Although Cuba didn't make its own ice in those days, they had plenty of ice because it was imported by ice entrepreneur Frederic Tudor to the Caribbean islands in the early 1800s.
The popularity of rum and Coke spread to the U.S. and during Prohibition, Coca-Cola was useful in hiding the flavor of low-quality booze. When the U.S. placed an embargo on Coca-Cola imports to Cuba in 1960, Cubans began making Cuba Libres with TuKola instead.
How Strong Is a Cuba Libre?
The Cuba Libre is a rather mild mixed drink. Its actual alcohol content will vary depending on the strength of your rum and the amount of cola you end up pouring. On average, though, it will mix up to just 11 percent ABV (22 proof). It's perfectly normal for highball drinks and about as strong as a glass of wine.
ALTERNATE RECIPE
THE NOSEY CHEF
Cuba Libre
Ingredients
60ml Havana Club Especial rum (this is not the place for white Bacardi, people)
7.5ml freshly squeezed lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
150ml Coca-Cola
BESIDES WE WOULD NEVER USE A REACTIONARY ANTI CUBA BACARDI
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