Cuba: US travelers to island up 84 pct in 1st half of 2016
Published on Jul 7, 2016, 1:00 pm AST
Updated on Jul 7, 2016, 1:14 pm AST
FILE - In this May 24, 2015 file photo, US tourists walks outside the Bodeguita del Medio Bar frequented by the late American novelist Ernest Hemingway in Old Havana, Cuba. Cuba's official news media announced on Thursday, July 7, 2016 the number of American travelers to the island is up 83.9 percent for the first half of the year, compared with the same January-June period in 2015. Prensa Latina reported that there were also significant increases in visitors from nations such as Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan File)
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban authorities say the number of American travelers to the island is up 84 percent for the first half of the year, compared with the same January-June period in 2015.
State news agency Prensa Latina reports that Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero gave that figure to members of parliament.
The total number of U.S. visitors was not made public, and the figure does not include the hundreds of thousands of Cuban-Americans who travel to the island each year on family visits.
Overall tourism to Cuba was reportedly up 11.7 percent for the first six months of 2016, with a total of 2,147,600 travelers to the island.
Prensa Latina said Thursday that there were also significant increases in visitors from nations such as Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany.
www.trinidadexpress.com/20160707/news/cu...-in-1st-half-of-2016
