Russia beats records on Cuban tourist market

The tourist flow from Russia to Cuba in 2017 was a record for its entire history, having increased by almost 70%. For the first time Russia entered in the TOP 10 of key incoming markets of Cuba. As of December 18, according to the Cuban tourist office in Russia, 100.319 citizens of Russian Federation visited Cuba, which exceeded by 67% the figures for the same period of 2016. It is noted that for the entire 2016 Cuba was visited by about 65 thousand Russians. Thus, for the first time in the history of Russian out coming tourism, the tourist flow to Cuba from Russian Federation has exceeded the mark of 100 thousand people. Before, the highest indicator of Russian tourism was the figure of 87 thousand tourists for 2012 year. A significant increase of demand is confirmed by tour operators. So, ANEX Tour operator reported that only in this company the demand increased by about 40-45% in comparison with the last year. In this winter season, Russian transportation to Cuba is also a record in terms of volumes. Daily regular flights to Havana are performed by Aeroflot. Several times a week charters of tour operators ANEX Tour and PEGAS Touristik fly from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Varadero. In addition, every 10 days PEGAS Touristik flies from Moscow to the resorts of Cayo Coco and on December 25 this tour operator launched its third charter chain to Cuba - this time to Holguin - the eastern Cuban resort. According to the representatives of Cuban tourism, by the end of 2017 the Russian market could reach the figure of 105 thousand tourists. The loading of flights to Cuba on New Year's dates was expectedly high, despite the higher cost of the product during this peak period. So a trip for New Year's holidays in Cuba will cost from 77 250 Rubles ($ 1330) per person.