Havana, Aug 7 (Prensa Latina) The number of visitors who travelled to Cuba from Canada, its main tourist market, recorded a substantial growth in the first seven months of 2015, a top manager of the tourism sector stated today.
According to preliminary statistics, since early January to July 19, more than 104,000 Canadians arrived in the island in the same period last year, the director of Cuba's Tourist office in Toronto, Eloy Govea, exclusively told Prensa Latina.

To get a better idea of what this increment represents, it is sufficient to note that figure alone exceeds what has been achieved by the second largest market for Cuba, that of Germany, from where some 91,700 passengers arrived in the reference period, he said.

Govea explained that until July 19, and always according to preliminary estimates, Canada surpassed 877,500 visitors, representing 42 percent of the total of arrivals registered by the Caribbean nation.

Questioned about the elements underlying the marked increase in tourist market, the manager mentioned, firstly, a current factor, but of much impact: the existence of an opinion matrix that encourages visiting Cuba before a foreseeable "boom" of the U.S. tourist market occur.

The fact that there are 30 Canadian cities from which they can be flown directly to Cuba, as well as having an aerial platform that assures more than one million seats per year, also favors a lot, he added.