Cuba cruise tourism grew nearly 30% in 2018

HAVANA, May 20th A total of 17 cruise lines brought about 800,000 passengers to Cuba last year, according to Cuba tourism ministry numbers published by the U.S. Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

That’s a 29% increase over the 619,000 who arrived in 2017 and compares to 541,000 in 2016, the first year cruise lines resumed sailing between the U.S. and Cuba.

Total international visitor arrivals in Cuba in 2018 were 4.75 million, up from 4.5 million a year earlier.

The 800,000 figure compares to about 4.8 million cruise visitors to the Bahamas and about 1.8 million to Jamaica.

Recent comments by National Security Advisor John Bolton suggest the U.S. may tighten rules on travel to Cuba this year. Amendments to the U.S. rules covering proscribed travel to Cuba have not yet been published, however.
First published in travelweekly.com