| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 28/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 29 |
| Copyright: Other |
CUBA
CUBA
Cuba has transformed itself from an inexperienced holiday destination to athriving tourist hot spot that offers high standards.
CUBA has finally come of age as a holiday destination. Operators say its resorts are now mature, the standard of hotel accommodation is good and customer satisfaction is high.An increase in bookings to the island this year clearly demonstrates that holidaymakers have renewed confidence in the destination, which suffered a setback last year following reports of building work disrupting holidays in many resorts – especially Varadero.
Unijet general manager for the Caribbean and South America Brian Booker said: “Clients have put most of that behind them now and I can see Cuba simply becoming more and more popular.”
Cosmos head of specialist products David Binns said: “Cuba was a bit slow this time last year but it is now one of our best-selling Caribbean destinations.
“Sales were affected initially by some bad publicity Cuba got from [the TV programme] Watchdog about the building work in resorts and the quality of service from the national airline Cubana.
“But the building work has calmed down now so we have had few complaints this summer and we have switched from Cubana to Monarch Airlines. Since then our bookings have picked up.”
Cosmos’ sister brand Distant Dreams has also dropped Cubana’s scheduled service in favour of Monarch’s charters, which operate from Gatwick to the resorts of Varadero, Cayo Largo and Holguín.
From next summer, Monarch will also begin flying from Gatwick to Ciego de Avila on behalf of JMC Holidays. The flights will be the first from the UK to serve Cuba’s new, purpose-built resort of Cayo Coco and the resort of Cayo Guillermo (both situated off Cuba’s north coast) which are being featured by JMC for the first time next summer.
Ciego de Avila is a two-hour transfer from Cayo Coco but by the summer of 2002 the resort will have its own airport, and it is expected that the Monarch charters will be diverted to the new airport as soon as it becomes operational.
JMC Holidays product director Alan Maclean said the introduction of the two new resorts had boosted its sales by over 200% year on year. “Sales to the original resorts of Varadero and Holguín are also up by 150% and 50% respectively,” he said.
UK director of the Cuba Tourist Board Max D’Ou said he thought there would be more interest in Cayo Coco from UK operators when the new airport opens.
“I am hoping that Airtours, which already has charters to Varadero, will consider adding flights to Cayo Coco in 2002,” he said.
Operators have typically stuck to offering mainly all-inclusive hotels in Cuba, which they believe make clients feel more comfortable about visiting a relatively new and unfamiliar destination.
JMC has added six new all-inclusive properties to its Tropical Shores 2000/2001 brochure and Cadogan Holidays has added an all-inclusive property in the Cayo Coco area to its new Cadogan All Inclusive programme.
In future, there will be even more choice of cash-free holidays in Cuba as many of the 3,500 new hotel rooms being added this year will be part of all-inclusive properties.
SuperClubs, which already operates three all-inclusive properties in Cuba, will start building three more within the next few months.
The three new hotels will be the four-star Breezes Coco Rojo in Cayo Coco with 300 rooms, the four-star Breezes Costa Verde in Holguín with 480 rooms and the five-star Grand Lido Princesa in Varadero with 400 rooms.
All three are due to open within the next two years, the first of which will be Breezes Costa Verde in Holguín in November. This will be the first Breezes resort to include a camp for children.
Panorama said it was considering expanding its all-inclusive portfolio in Cuba. Sales and marketing director Martin Young said: “In Havana, people want to get out and about so all-inclusives are almost non-existent but Varadero is a beach destination and is well-suited to the all-inclusive style of holiday.
“We will be looking into expanding our all-inclusive product range in Cuba when we see the same quality of service elsewhere that is present with the hotels on our programme.”
Prices for all-inclusive holidays with Panorama lead in at £705 for seven nights at the Hotel Bella Costa in Varadero.
Atmospheric: Cuba offers the tourist Caribbean exoticism as well as a rich cultural and political history, making the country endlessly fascinating