Given the urgency of the situation and the risk to the lives of the sick passengers, the Cuban government has decided to allow the docking of this vessel and will adopt established sanitary measures to receive all citizens on board, in accordance with protocols established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

In conjunction with British authorities, arrangements have been made, once the travelers arrive, for their safe and immediate return to the United Kingdom on charter flights.

These are times of solidarity, of understanding health as a human right, of strengthening international cooperation to face our common challenges, values that are key to the humanist practices of the Revolution and of our people.

Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Havana, March 16, 2020

According to researcher and professor at the University of Havana’s faculty of Tourism, José Luis Perelló, interest from large cruise companies in the region has grown in 2015.

In regards Cuba, he noted that senior cruise company officials have established contacts and held meetings with authorities, given their desire to learn about the island’s potential, based on hotel infrastructure, its favorable natural and climatic conditions and geographical location.

Speaking to the press the academic reported that among the cruise lines interested are RCCL, Carnival, NCL, Harmark, Costa Cruises, MSC, Pearl Seas Cruises and United Caribbean Lines.

Dr. Perelló also described the characteristics of the Caribbean which make it ideal to develop the so-called leisure industry through multi-destination tourism.

A report by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) indicated that ships transported 22 million passengers in 2014, noting that global demand has increased 68%over the pastdecade.

The Caribbean is popular with U.S. tourists, with the region registering 59.9 million travel days in 2014, an increase of 16% as compared to 2013 and of almost 55% over the decade, noted the company.

Of the 22.4 million cruise passengers in 2014, some 55% boarded in the U.S. and 29% in Europe, noted the report.

(Prensa Latina)