ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: Cuba says a rapidly growing tourism industry will fuel economic growth of more than 6 percent this year. While economists dispute the projection, there's no doubt Cuba has become one of the most popular tourist sites in the Caribbean. Tourist dollars are helping fill the vacuum left when the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped sending aid to its long-time ally. The Caribbean Broadcasting Union takes a closer look at Cuba's growing tourism industry.</s>SANDY JONES, CARIBBEAN BROADCASTING CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cuba's tourism industry first took off in the 1950s, with most of its arrivals coming from the United States. At that time, Cuba accounted for 40 percent of all tourist arrivals to the Caribbean. Some 70 years later, arrivals to Cuba are growing at an average rate of 16 percent per year, three times faster than for the whole of the Caribbean. In 1988, 53,000 tourists from Canada visited Cuba. That figure was up to just over 250,000 in 1998. In 1988, arrivals from Europe totalled 112,000. Ten years later, more than 700,000 Europeans were going to Cuba's shores. Cuba's physical infrastructure has kept pace with the growth. The number of hotel rooms has grown at an average of 16.8 percent per year, from 7,526 rooms in 1988 to 35,000 by 1998. Government funding, joint ventures and international investment have provided the island's capacity. Projections are for continued growth in the industry. In terms of arrivals, Cuba was already the fifth-largest destination of the Caribbean in 1998, behind Puerto Rico, Cancun, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas. For 1999, Cuban may move up to the fourth position. By 2010, Cuba may well see between 5 million and 10 million tourists per year.
Cuba's Tourism Industry Continues to Grow