The first flight of the Panamanian airline Copa to the Abel Santamaría International Airport in Villa Clara marks the beginning of direct flights of that airliner from more than 20 Latin American cities to the central Cuban province.
The new arrivals will travel to the northeastern keys of Villa Clara where there are over eight thousand hotel rooms in operation and infrastructure.
The new operations in the Abel Santamaría airport confirm forecasts of an increase of 20 percent in visitor arrivals from other nations in the current winter season.
During this season they expect the arrival of 80 flights per week, ten more than in the same period last year, said Mario Ricardo Mir, director of the airport.
Also today the Panamanian Travel Agency Belraysa will open an office, in Villa Clara airport, said Jesús Díaz-Canel, director of the National Tourist Information (INFOTUR) in the territory.
He said that these facilities will contribute to the arrival of more tourists from Latin American nations to the Cayo Santa Maria pole, with thousands of capacities in hotels of four and five stars.
The high season for tourism in Villa Clara began last November with the arrival of the Lot airline, that flights between Warsaw and this city, and that was the first flight in history made from Poland (unusual market for the province) to this airport.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics and Information, so far from January to October this year, over two million 410 thousand 700 foreign visitors arrived in Cuba, 4.3 percent higher than the same period in 2013, including the extension the places of origin of the travelers.
