Cuba is to broaden its holiday message in a bid to achieve its 1999 goal of 80,000 UK visitors.
The island beat its 1998 target by more than 4,000 visitors, notching up 64,000 UK arrivals by the end of last year.
New Cuba tourist board director for the UK, Max D’Ou Lam, said: “Our main goal this year is to increase our UK market share and to do that we need to attract new business to Cuba. Apart from selling our beaches, we need to put the emphasis on our people and how warm and friendly they are. Then we want to highlight the variety of attractions we have in Cuba.
“Yes, the sun, sand and sea image is important, but our research, and that of our operators, tells us that a big percentage of holidaymakers to Cuba want to explore beyond the beach.”
A major new advertising campaign that will run through summer ’99 and into 2000 is now on the drawingboard. According to D’Ou Lam, the campaign will put the focus firmly on the Cuban people, as well as on the island’s beach, historical and cultural attractions.
A budget for the new campaign, which will run globally, has not yet been finalised. It has not been decided whether the island’s existing advertising slogan “Cuba – variety is the spice of life” will be retained.
British Airways starts its first, long-awaited direct service to Cuba on April 10. The Gatwick-Havana route will initially be served by DC-10s, but will switch to new Boeing 777s before June. “The new BA flight gives us a lot of kudos, as well as much-needed extra capacity, and this is definitely the right moment to start raising our profile,” said D’Ou Lam.
More seats may be added if Cubana’s plans to launch a direct Gatwick flight to the new resort island of Cayo Coco take off. At present the island’s gateway airport of Ciego de Avila, on Cuba, is too small to take a Boeing 767, but expansion work is taking place.
Cayo Coco is located just off the north coast, midway between Varadero and Guardalavaca. It has a more upmarket image than Cuba’s other resort island, Cayo Largo on the south coast, and already boasts several four and five-star hotels. Sandals is planning to build its third Cuban hotel on the island in co-operation with Cuban ground handler Cubanacan in the next two years.
If Cubana does launch its Cayo Coco flight in May as planned, it will open up the whole of the north coast, as the flight will continue on to Havana and then stop off in Santigao de Cuba in the south of the island, said D’Ou Lam.
D’Ou Lam is keen to concentrate more on the trade this year and plans to attend every trade event, including World Travel Market and any Caribbean Tourism Organisation roadshows. In addition, he plans to participate in agent training programmes and roadshows in conjunction with tour operators such as Thomson, Airtours and Cosmos.
D’Ou Lam also wants to drum up support for the Cuba Tourist Convention, an annual Cuban trade event taking place this year in Havana from May 3-7. This will be the largest Cuba Tourist Convention ever and will be the event for anyone who wants to do business with the Caribbean and Latin America in general, said D’Ou Lam.