HAVANA, Cuba. – This past February 28th, the website for National Geographic magazine (NG) en Español joined the ranks of other international publications that are promoting Cuba as a tourist destination, at a time when tourism indicators for the island are far from encouraging, on the contrary, they are quite worrisome because the product is no longer attractive. The reasons for this crisis are clear judging from the comments of the Mexican public –at whom the NG promo is directed- who find the inconveniences and obstacles are too much to choose Cuba as a vacation place.
The NG article, replicated a few days ago on the NG official Facebook page, focuses on “other requirements” that, in addition to the tourism card, Mexican citizens must present before and after flying to Havana. Although it is evident that the author’s intention is to convince the reader how “easy” it is to take “a skip and a jump” to Cuba, the truth expressed by some readers is that to many requirements and health warnings only serve to scare tourists and make them choose other destinations in the Caribbean, the more so when opinion about the real reality in Cuba –far from fantasies promoted by travel agencies- all agree that today, Cuba has very little to offer beyond sun and beaches.
The “simplicity” that NG pretends to convey stands in sharp contrast with the harsh recommendations made by some people, which are no joke, like difficulties with Internet connectivity, atrocious food, high prices for very poor service, the dismal living conditions of the population and even the need to travel with your own toilet paper since under present conditions it is difficult, almost impossible to find it in stores or in hotels where it is one of many items that are rationed along with other personal hygiene products.
“There isn’t even hot water. You complain, and you are told that they will fix it, but they never do,” someone commented on the forum that showed the very small number of favorable opinions that the NG publication inspired. Some readers have suggested to NG – because of its decades-old prestige as a magazine- that it use real photographs that can show Mexicans what Cuba is like for Cubans, as opposed to the stale, retouched and deceiving image that they have used to illustrate a text in “cut-and-paste” fashion much like the Cuban Ministry of Tourism publications.
Apparently, as it’s been for the last several months, the regime has gone out into the world with payoffs and promises in hand, to knock on press doors where friends and acquaintances work, like it did in 2016 when things were booming, now that decadent times are rapidly upon us, to request that they give Cuba a hand with promos.
Only this past January, it was The New York Times who took a risk again –after seven years- to recommend Cuba as a “fashionable destination” totally ignoring that people flee from here because the situation is so bad (the only fashionable thing being the word sponsor, like yesterday it was coyote and volcanoes), just like they did in 2016, now it is NG’s turn to try to sell ice to Eskimos.
The Cuban regime is desperately mobilizing its contacts. The statistics for 2023 are beginning to look too much like those of 2022 when, regarding the number of visitors, Cuba’s tourism was the worst in the entire Caribbean area, reaching barely 37% of what it had achieved before closing due to the pandemic, and 60% of what is planned for 2023. Net income for the Tourism sector faced its worst moment, with only 36.2% of what was earned in 2019. Much too little, but perhaps enough to pay the honoraria to the “contacts” who answer the call.
ARTÍCULO DE OPINIÓN
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