As Henry noted, here, to travel to Cuba is to go Sheryl Crow one better on toilet-paper by the square and just live ‘free’ of the carbon compound. That’s what tourists are finding out when they go to Cuba, their dreams about castro being green not quite the same as what they imagined or the bill of goods they were sold.
Henry cites the estimable Cuban blogger Tomás Estrada-Palma, who wrote that a castroite tourist vacation to hell has this sort of outlook:
While we hate that their tourist vacation investment dollars and euros prop up Raul, you better believe that Canadians and Europeans are returning home in droves converted by their experience. True, most still do not have a clue of what is the right thing to do concerning Cuba. But they sure as hell know what’s going on there now is completely wrong. Somehow not having adequate toilet paper, clean drinking water and decent food for a week or two has had the effect of wrenching the tourists’ eyes open and clearing the ear canals. These tourists enter Cuba with their hearts in their hand filled with ideology and good will then have their wallet lifted and their kid’s shoes stolen by the locals. They return home wondering why this happened to them and try to brush it off as just bad luck.
Well, the proof of the pudding in all this is the new castroite tourist numbers, ones that for certain are exaggerated lies, because all castroite numbers are subordinate to the purpose of making castro look good.
Hear how they scream:
Cuba’s crucial tourism industry sagging
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Tourism, for 15 years the locomotive of the otherwise weak communist economy, faces erosion from within Cuba and without, the magazine Bohemia has reported.
In 2006 tourist arrivals fell 3.6 percent, “falling short of plans to grow by almost eight percent and reach 2.5 million foreign tourists on our streets and beaches.”
Only 2.2 million showed up, the weekly Cuban magazine said in an article dated May 8.
The number of European visitors slid during the 2007 December-April peak season. Canadians, most numerous visitors to the Caribbean island, grew a meager 1.6 percent compared with 2006.
The magazine blamed the slowdown in part on US restrictions on travel to Cuba, including Washington’s tightening of visits by Cuban-Americans to their families.
Bohemia said this cut visits to Cuba by “tens of thousands,” reducing overall visits from North America by 7.5 percent last year.
“Topping it all, last year US investment companies took over a cruise ship line and a Spanish tour operator … which were automatically prevented from traveling to the island,” it said.
Other factors dampening visitor levels include the high cost of oil, European tourists’ preference for short trips, and the appreciation of Cuban peso in 2004, which cut hotel investment.
“Foreign tour operators and Cuban hoteliers noted a drop in the quality of services in the sector.”
No sheet, Surelock!
I wonder how far the tourist numbers have really fallen. Any questions now as to why Michael Moore picked this time to tout Cuban tourism in his movie ‘Sicko’? I think castro called in a chit, or sent Jabba some home movies of his embarassing ‘appetites.’ I am sure his new movie is related to this tourism data, because everything Moore says makes no sense, it sounds like someone’s got the strings on him.
We should watch castro for his lunatic reaction to the tourism numbers collapsing, too. The island Moloch doesn’t take kindly to Cuban people not contributing to his own personal bonfire of vanities. He’s got a bank account to keep fat and they aren’t contributing to it anymore. I predict he’ll start screaming soon.
You would have to be crazy to believe any of the statistics released by the castro regime. None of their industries can be doing very well if 11 million people live in poverty even though Chavez sends them free oil and Cubans from Miami send them
millions in medicines and dollars!
The castro brothers’ only “success” has been to stay in power, they have never built anything, only destroyed a beautiful country.
Wait a minute Jose. There is one major accomplishment… since the only toilet paper that is widely available in Cuba is El Granma, todos los culos en Cuba saben leer.
As an expert Cubanologist, I confirm that all the statistics provided by the Cuban government are true. My assistant Uva Carijo de Aragan brought them to me from Havana on her last trip, before my famous public debate in Miami, where I was the only panelist brave enough to defend the Cuban revolution.
Coño, ya Lisandro formó el peo. That’s all we needed, another dialoguero on this blog, along with Mariafea Perez-Unstable and Carmelo Meca-Gado. It’s a good thing Ana Menendez claims that she does not read blogs.
Defend the revolution? There has never been a defense for slavery. Cubans have been relieved of everything including ownership of their very own labor. Sorry bub! Any way you glance at it in any light – that’s slavery. We cannot excuse Hitler or Fidel for their attempts at imposing their own forms of slavery including all the deaths which they caused. The Hitlers, Stalins and Castro’s of the world I condemn. I like Gandhi.
Does the Lisandro dork not realize that even Cuba is admitting that its tourist numbers are down? If they’re down 4%, they must really be down 20% or more. The reality is too hard to conceal anymore so they admit to a slight dropoff because the direction is unmistakeably DOWN!