The arrival in Cuba’s central Villa Clara province of over 74,000 visitors mainly from Canada and the UK during the first three months of the year translated into an increase of 15,000 tourists more than same period of 2008.

The figure represents a 26 percent increase in the number of visitors, said the representative of the Cuban Tourism Minister in the central province, Tomas Vazquez, who noted that there is still capacity available since the local tourist infrastructure counts on more than 3,300 hotel rooms.

Villa Clara was picked as holiday destination by some 127, 000 vacationers last year, which reveals the increasing acceptance level by tourists who are mainly attracted by the keys to the northeast of the province, which boast nice beaches and magnificent resorts.

A sign of the growing interest in this area by visitors is the increasing number of operations at the Abel Santamaria international airport, which surpassed the average figure of 20 weekly arrivals scheduled for the high tourist season in 2008.