• Nacional Hotel and the Tropicana cabaret outstanding in the Gran Caribe Group

                   BY MIGUEL COMELLAS

                   CUBA received a just over 1.9 million visitors from abroad in 2003, a 12%
                   growth on the previous year’s total.

                   Tourism, the number one industry within the Cuban economy, was badly hit
                   as a result of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the
                   Pentagon in Washington.

                   With close to 40,000 rooms in dozens of new hotels and paradisiacal
                   installations in various cays, the island achieved this degree of growth on
                   account of the quality of its services, security within the country, and the
                   variety of its tourist options.

                   For 2004, projects include further hotel construction, theme parks, nautical
                   and other activities to be enjoyed by two million tourists, the target figure for
                   this year.

                   In 2003 the flagship of the Cuban hotel industry had an income of $20
                   million.

                   The majestic building belonging to the Gran Caribe chain and located in the
                   center of the Cuban capital, has 446 rooms and luxury suites, two swimming
                   pools, a cabaret and various restaurants with a large garden area and
                   attractive terraces.

                   Giving the information, Yamila Fuster, from the five-star hotel’s Public
                   Relations Department, added that the majority of guests during 2003 were
                   from Europe or the United States, followed by Latin American and Asia.

                   The spacious hotel in the Vedado district was also the venue for many cultural
                   events, commercial encounters among entrepreneurs, science and technology
                   meetings and exhibitions.

                   The Nacional celebrated its 73rd anniversary at the end of last year, having
                   been completely renovated a few years ago, and is currently listed as a
                   five-star installation with the finest conditions and amplitude in the capital.

                   For six years it has retained the condition of a National Vanguard hotel, a
                   recognition annually awarded by the Central Organization of Cuban Workers
                   (CTC) to production and service enterprises for efficiency, quality, variety and
                   other attributes of excellence, and of a selective rather than mass nature.

                   The star Tropicana cabaret, which also belongs to the Gran Caribe chain,
                   grossed more than $10 million in 2003.

                   Fifty percent of Gran Caribe’s 23 companies are involved in the Business
                   Improvement Plan. The group manages dozens of hotels with a total of
                   11,000-plus rooms, as well as other tourist-related installations and more in
                   the pipeline.

                   Alejandro Escobar, president of Gran Caribe, noted that his group occupies
                   87th place in the world in terms of room numbers and the Nacional Hotel is in
                   third position globally in guest preference.

                   An increased number of activities, inauguration of installations and business
                   with foreign enterprises are planned for 2004, the group’s 10th anniversary.