Cruise tourism to Cuba accelerated in 2018, figures from the
Cuban Ministry of Tourism show.
A total of 17 cruise lines brought about 800,000 passengers
to Cuba last year, according to Cuba tourism ministry numbers published by the U.S. Cuba Trade and
Economic Council.
That's a 29% increase over the 619,000 who arrived in 2017
and compares to 541,000 in 2016, the first year cruise lines resumed sailing
between the U.S. and Cuba.
Total international visitor arrivals in Cuba in 2018 were
4.75 million, up from 4.5 million a year earlier.
The 800,000 figure compares to about 4.8 million cruise
visitors to the Bahamas and about 1.8 million to Jamaica.
Recent comments by National Security Advisor John Bolton
suggest the U.S. may tighten rules on travel to Cuba this year. Amendments to
the U.S. rules covering proscribed travel to Cuba have not yet been published,
however.