The date is due to the birth of Elpidio Sosa, revolutionary fighter, worker of the Hotel Sector, and part of the group that participated in the raid of the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in July 26th ,1959.

The young revolutionary who was born in this date but in 1929, sold his position in the bar he used to work by the amount of 300 Cuban pesos to later donate this money for the arrangements of the raids, that would serve as an epilogue to the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

The date is a commemoration to the efforts done by the workers of this sector in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and to develop a wide recovering program of this industry by the MINTUR.

For this occasion, the moto was:  ¨For the efficiency and quality, strategic tasks of the tourism sector¨. This is a Day to praise those who stood out in the endeavors in fulfilling many tasks at the end of 2021, like the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak.

These opinions were opportunely expressed by the Secretary of the National Syndicate of Workers of Hotel and Tourism(SNTHT) sector, Victor Manuel Lemagne, who displayed his optimism on this regard.

The 40th International Fair of Tourism (FITCUBA 2022) from May 3rd to 7th was also announced after being delayed for two years due to the sanitary crisis.

The in-person meeting will take place in Varadero, 140 km east from Havana in Plaza America, under the modality of Sun and Beach as main product and Russia as guest of honor´s country; decisions that had already been taken three years ago.

Varadero, in the northern coast of Matanzas, is the main beach resort in Cuba, with the 90% of its hotel plants with 4 to 5 stars and represents a significant source of income for the country due to the tourism activity.

A recent balance carried out by MINTUR demonstrated that 2021 was a complex scenario for developing tourism due to the pandemic effects and the economic, financial and commercial blockade that was strengthened by the United States to Cuba.

However, some spokesmen highlighted the search of strategies carried out in order to find out a solution and to bring the touristic recovery.

It was specified that Russia, Canada, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom are responsible for the 80% of the coming tourists last year, while the share of tourism emitting markets declined in comparison with 2020.

Gaviota stood out over the rest of the operator entities of the tourism sector as the second hotel group with the biggest involvement in receiving visitors followed by Gran Caribe, Cubanacan and Isla Azul.

In this environment, a renewed Plaza de las Americas and its Conventions ‘Center will host the International Fair which will re-launch the Cuban touristic product.