Cuba welcomed a record four million tourists in 2016, up 13 percent over last year, with much of the increase thanks to a crush of visitors from the US and Europe, officials said on Saturday.
Havana's Ministry of Tourism said in a statement published in the Granma official newspaper that the island set a record for international visitors this year, exceeding projections by some six percent. Tourism is the number two source of revenue on the cash-strapped island, second only to the export of doctors and other medical services. Officials in Havana say the surge in US visitors is a result of the restored relations with the United States and Cuba's President Raul Castro two years ago.
