International Tourists Flock to Cuba’s Secluded Beaches Amid Pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Claude Paquette, a Canadian tourist from Montreal, starts his day with a morning coffee and a beautiful view of the ocean at Cuba’s Jardines del Rey seaside resort in the central province of Ciego de Ávila, some 520 km east of Havana.

Like him, thousands of tourists continue arriving on the island as the country is stepping up efforts to help the economy recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 62-year-old, who traveled with his wife and a couple of friends, said he feels safe in the Caribbean nation, thanks to the rigorous cleaning and disinfecting procedures adopted by the authorities to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

The trip, said Paquette, was penciled in for May but was postponed in light of border closures in Canada and Cuba due to the global health emergency.

“At first, I was reluctant to travel because I am an elderly person with an underlying health condition,” he told Xinhua while dozens of tourists in bathing suits danced to the Latin music played around the swimming pool. “Once I arrived here, I got rid of stress sparked by the virus.”

Connected to the mainland through a 35-km causeway, Jardines del Rey resort is famous for its semi-virgin beaches nestled among mangrove forest areas and ecological reserves.

Among other attractions of the tourist destination is a footprint of the American writer Ernest Hemingway, who was awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1954 and found inspiration in these secluded settings to write his famous novel “Islands in the Stream”.

At present, only eight out of 25 hotel facilities of Jardines del Rey are available for international tourists, due to the sharp decrease in arrivals during the COVID-19 crisis, Yoleidy Sosa, deputy director of tourism in Ciego de Ávila, told Xinhua.

“Cuban hotels are operating in conformity with guidelines approved by the country’s ministry of health and international standards,” she said. “We have more than 10,000 rooms for tourists across the archipelago.”

In early September, a plane carrying 104 international tourists arrived at Jardines del Rey International Airport from Canada, the first commercial flight landing in Cuba, two months after the Caribbean country gradually started to reopen tourism for foreign visitors.

As the travel peak season on the island unfolds, a batch of hotels and villas in the Caribbean nation have reopened following a low-occupancy period due to the COVID-19 hiatus.

Passengers are subjected to temperature checks and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Covid-19 tests when arriving at Cuban airports. Medical teams also conduct epidemiological monitoring at tourist centers and hotels.

Yanet Marrero, who works as a bartender at Daiquiri hotel, said employees behind the counter should urge customers not to violate COVID-19 protocols after a few drinks and salsa music moves.

“My workmate and I disinfect the counter every 30 minutes,” she said while mixing pineapple juice, coconut cream and rum to make a piña colada cocktail. “We have well over 100 tourists at the facility now. We serve more than 500 drinks a day. It is serious work.”

Cuba suspended international flights in late March and partially reopened borders in early July for tourists interested in visiting the northern and southern parts of the country.

According to official figures, more than 7,000 international visitors from Canada and Russia have arrived at Jardines del Rey over the past three months.

As Ciego de Ávila remains under lockdown measures, foreign visitors are only allowed to enter the resort, albeit excursions inside the area allocated for tourist activities are at the disposal of foreign tourists.

The new regulations also protect the staff serving foreign visitors at resorts, as they are required to stay home during a whole week under medical observation after working seven days.

Alejandro Jaime, director general at Memories Flamenco hotel, told Xinhua that Cuba is one of the safest destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean due to the strength of the island’s health system.

“(The) COVID-19 pandemic has changed almost everything in the tourism sector,” he said. “Cuba has the potential to continue developing its leisure industry and attracting international tourists. Safety is fundamental to address the virus-triggered situation.”

Since the onset of the pandemic on the island in March, Cuba has reported 9,181 confirmed COVID-19 cases with only 136 deaths.

Source: Xinhua

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