Havanatur, the International Group of Tour operators and Travel Agencies — with experience in the promotion of tourism in the Caribbean and Latin America, specifically in Cancun, Mexico D.F., Mérida, Guatemala, Nassau, Jamaica and others—has just added to its portfolio trips to the Dominican Republic with competitive prices and a sound infrastructure for services.
As the president of the Group, Jose Manuel Biske, explained, “this is a significant step because the sales of multiple destinations is one of the most important elements of our development strategy. Though the Dominican Republic has a lot of similar products in contrast with Cuba, it is also a supplement that enriches our offer for increasing sales not only in Cuba but also in the different agencies we have, mainly in Europe”.
TanianaStepochkina, executive director of Aclub, a tour operatoragency in Punta Cana and Santo Domingo, noted that this venture with the Cuban agency is the result of a strategic and bilateral interest of promoting the Cuban and Dominican markets.
The director expressed that Aclub made this decision due to its “good prices and dynamic and professional work. This offer includes reception, transfer, lodging and plain tickets.”
Havanatur, founded 35 years ago, has branches in Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Brazil, China, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany, England, France and Russia; and it has signed agreements in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
According to its president, at present the agency is preparing for entering new markets such as China, Panama, Holland and others. “Adding the Dominican Republic as one of the tourist destinations in our portfolio is part of the actions undertaken on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Havanatur.
As part of the celebrations we have established different lines of actions, which include boosting multiple destinations, developing the whole program of circuits and improving our position in terms of specialized and health tourism. We also intend to increase the sales of tickets to different parts of the world by automating sales points through the Amadeus global distribution system, which will allow selling tickets and hotels and car rentals to many countries of the world in real time.
As to new destinations, we have recently added Martinique and we are aiming at improving our links with Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico, but the most immediate projects are Grand Cayman, Nicaragua and El Salvador.”
“All this makes us stronger and improves our negotiating capacity”, he noted. In addition to multiple destination trips to other countries in the Caribbean, Centro America and America, Havanatur basically includes set and specialized tours, organization of congresses and events, combined lodging trips, lodging in Havanatur Collection hotelswith added values for customers; incentive trips, VIP attention; wedding and honeymoon trips; deluxe tourism with Havanatur Prestige; specialized tourism, tours, and day trips all over Cuba.
In accordance with the data provided, the most important tourist issuing nations for the Caribbean are the United States, Canada, England, and to a lesser extent, France, Germany and Italy. An interesting fact is that South America also has a leading role as to trips to the Caribbean, mainly Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and even Chile.
Asian nations are also taking the lead. Besides, Russia is an issuing market with a considerable development and growth, which is expected to reach one million visitors in the area in the next three years.
By: Melby Nicola
