At this point, June and July are already sold out for travel from Cuba to Haiti, at least for the tour packages offered by Gran Cuba, one of the agencies that sells tour packages from the island to that Caribbean country.
Cubans who travel to Haiti for shopping, where they buy clothing, footwear, household appliances, and other products, are the main consumers of these tourist packages.
In the words of a Gran Cuba employee for the digital news portal 14 and a half"We might start selling August capacity next Tuesday, which is the earliest date we can offer at the moment, because everything is already booked up before then."
The Gran Cuba employee himself explains: "The offer includes seven nights in a hotel with breakfast, a round-trip ticket, transportation to and from the airport and a day of city tour shopping».
The price of the tour package is around 1000 CUCTour packages can only be purchased in person at the offices located on Calle 23 and Calle P in Vedado, Havana. Online purchases are not yet available.
Despite the high prices of these tour packages, a growing number of Cubans are interested in these options for shopping in Haiti. The goal is to resell imported products in Cuba.
The process of booking a tour package is very simple. The offer includes two weekly flights from the capital, Havana, one on Thursdays and one on Sundays.
The Gran Cuba employee assures that many Cubans travel to Haiti for shopping. For this reason, tour packages sell very well. Therefore, it is likely that offers will increase next year.
The Haitian airline Sunrise Airways is the one used by the Gran Cuba agency to organize its packages. This airline offers six weekly flights between Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey.
Sunrise Airways allows each Cuban flying with it to import a total of 36 kg: 30 kg as checked baggage and 6 kg as carry-on baggage. Meanwhile, other airlines only allow imports of 33 kg in total.
According to the Gran Cuba employee, "The hotels in Haiti are close to the Port-au-Prince airport and the city itself." He also states that the hotel facilities are three-star.
Since the launch of direct flights between Cuba and Haiti, tour packages have been promoted as a tourist route between the two nations.
Haiti's promotion as a destination in all media outlets has been based on the "strong historical ties" that exist between Cuba and the Caribbean island, with which the largest of the Antilles has maintained close cooperative relations for years.
Direct flights between the two nations began in February; however, it wasn't until last Friday that the flights operating between the two capital cities were officially launched.
According to Philippe Louis Bayard, president of the Haitian airline Sunrise Airways, flights between Cuba and Haiti will increase based on demand. He added that the Explore Caribbean agency also promotes other tourist packages.
The Cubans travel to Haiti increasingly turning to shopping tourism, although the World Bank maintains that Haiti remains the most impoverished nation in the entire Western Hemisphere. Similarly, according to the United Nations, two out of three Haitians survive on less than $2 a day.
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3 comments
That agency, "Gran Cuba," was closed by the government in October, allegedly for human trafficking.
I would like to know if it is possible to cancel my tourist package to Haiti due to the political situation in that country, or at least postpone it, because the situation does not allow me to go out on the streets and to go shopping in the stores.
Hello, I am interested in working and living in Russia. I have a degree in accounting and have completed courses in microcomputer operation and hospitality and tourism school as a sales clerk. Thank you.