Cuba aims to promote eco-tourism

(NECN/APTV) – Amid dipping tourism revenues, the Cuban government gathered top leaders from its state-run vacation industry and European and Canadian tour operators this week for a conference aimed at boosting eco-tourism. Cuban Deputy Minister of Tourism, Alexis Trujillo, expects Cuba to attract nearly three percent more total overseas tourists than last year’s record $2.35 million, but said that price cuts to keep demand high amid the global recession means overall revenues will fail to meet the $2.5 billion generated in 2008. Cuba is betting environmentally conscious vacationers, who are often willing to pay premium prices and stay longer than those hankering for cheap beach getaways, can boost profits. Eco-tourists focus not only on nature – biking, hiking, bird-watching, scuba-diving – but also on the country’s social and cultural charms, while leaving as little negative impact as possible on nature. A key attraction will be the national park near the Bay of Pigs where this week’s conference was held – the Cienaga de Zapata, or Zapata Swamp. Cuba’s equivalent of the Florida Everglades, it’s the Caribbean’s largest bioreserve, 1.5 (m) million acres of mangrove-choked canals teeming with the wildest Cuban wildlife. Just 125 miles southeast of Havana, it features more than 1.5 (m) million acres and 354 species of bird – from pink flamingos to the bee hummingbird the world’s smallest bird – and 130 varieties of plants, dozens of which are found nowhere else on earth. The Boca de Guama crocodile farm that’s home thousands of Cuban crocodiles, is also a top tourist draw – though there are so many crocs that officials simply give them identification numbers rather than names.