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CNN Live At Daybreak

Cuban Tourist Industry Hopes for U.S. Tourists

Aired May 15, 2002 - 05:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Jimmy Carter is perhaps Cuba's most high-profiled tourist in years. Tourism is the island nation's top industry despite close-by Americans being prohibited to visit.

Our Kate Snow looks at tourism Cuba style and tells us about the hopes some Cubans have for the return of the American dollar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty years ago, it was a playground for rich Americans. Twelve miles of white sand called Baradero (ph) Beach. These days, you don't find many U.S. citizens here; the U.S. travel ban keeps them away. More than half of Cuban tourists are Europeans. Twenty percent come from Canada.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The food is wonderful. The people are so friendly and sweet, and they're genuine. I mean genuinely beautiful people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're very happy. If you look in their eyes, everyone smiles, everyone singing -- all the time. The atmosphere is best in the Caribbean area.

SNOW: Cuban officials love to hear that. They've mounted an aggressive campaign to attract more dollars to the island. At this convention, investors from outside Cuba visit with airlines, state-run tourism outfits and hotel chains.

Cuban hotels are officially owned by the government, but about half are now managed by international companies. Spanish company Sol Melia will run two dozen hotels in Cuba by the end of the year.

GABRIEL GARCIA, SOL MELIA: See when we arrive in 1999, you see the things were done through lots of kindness, you see. And they put a lot of interest in which they still have, but now things have got much more professionally organized.

SNOW: Things will be even better, say Cuban officials, when the U.S. allows Americans back.

(on camera): The Cuban government says some 80,000 Americans visited here last year illegally. If the travel ban were lifted by the U.S., it's estimated a million Americans might show up on the island in the first year alone. IBRAHIM FERRADA GARCIA, CUBAN TOURISM MINISTER (through translator): It's possible even more will come, whether it's out of curiosity or because they've been restricted from traveling here for all those years.

SNOW (voice-over): American tourists would be a boom for what's become Cuba's number one industry. But what about that Cuban charm all the tourists talk about?

(on camera): Do you think it would be ruined if Americans came here?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honestly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want us to be honest?

SNOW (voice-over): Nelson Rios Cordero says he's not afraid of Americans trampling the place. A former agricultural engineer, he makes more money now in tips handing out towels. But no matter how much he makes, like most other Cubans, he can't stay at the nicest tourist hotels. "If the Americans came," Rios says, "maybe things would change."

NELSON RIOS CORDERO, HOTEL WORKER (through translator): Once the economic situation changes, of course, I think so. If the salary you make is enough you'll be able to stay.

SNOW: Then maybe he could finally be a guest at the beach resort where he works.

Kate Snow, CNN, Baradero (ph), Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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