CUBA OPEN TO FIRST TOURISM CRUISE SHIP

Port of Havana Cuba

CRUISE SHIPS IN CUBA
Cuban Ports opened up to the Spanish cruise ship carrying 220 tourists anchored in Havana Friday, the first foreign cruise ship to visit the U.S.-embargoed nation. The Gemini, owned by the Spanish Happy Cruises company, has a capacity for 800 passengers. It carried tourists from 11 countries, mostly Spain, who will start to tour Cuba and Mexico on Saturday.
The Spanish cruise company, together with the Cuban travel agency Cubatur, operates the tour, which will take the tourists to the Mexican ports of Cozumel and Cancun, and conclude in Havana. It was the first time in three years that Cuba had been visited by a foreign cruise ship after the Spanish company "Pullmantur" suspended its operations in Cuba following its acquisition by U.S.-owned Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Philip Lester Oliva, president of Cubatur, said the Spanish Happy Cruises company is expected to keep stable operations until the first half of 2011.  He also said a British and a Russian cruise are scheduled to start regular operations in Cuba.  "Cuba expects a big growth of cruise tours in the future," he added.

CUBA USATRAVEL
According to the Cuban Tourism Ministry, if Washington lifts its embargo banning U.S. citizens from traveling to the island country, Cuba would receive an estimated 1,000 cruise ships a year carrying 1.2 million U.S. tourists. Cuba and the United States have been separated only by 90 miles of narrow strait of Florida. Next step is to open Cuba to American tourism.