Trump blamed for tourism slump

– A steep drop in US travellers to Cuba after a tightening of travel restrictions by President Donald Trump helped drive a 7% slide in foreign visitors to the Caribbean island in the first three months of 2018, Cuban official data showed on Tuesday.

The US restrictions and warning on travel to the Communist-run island were to blame for the lower number of US arrivals from the same period a year ago, the Cuban tourism ministry’s commercial director, Michel

Havana

Bernal, told a news conference in Havana.

Another issue affecting Cuba’s tourism sector is unjustified worries about the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma last September, he said, given that the country had long since fixed its tourist installations.

“The total of US clients is only 56.6% of what it was in 2017,” Bernal said.

The state-run Cuban News Agency published the percentage decline in overall foreign visits separately, citing tourism authorities. The number of Americans travelling to Cuba surged after former US president Barack Obama reached a landmark detente with then-Cuban President Raul Castro in 2014 and eased travel restrictions, while maintaining a ban on tourism.

Increased US arrivals to Havana in particular fostered the rapid growth of the country’s fledgling private sector, with many Cubans rushing to open B&Bs and restaurants. – Reuters