In the midst of an unprecedented fuel crisis in Cuba, the regime has organized a "safari" featuring a convoy of off-road vehicles for attendees of the TURNAT 2024 event. The travel agency Ecotur S.A., which organized the event, advertised a route from Marea del Portillo to Santiago de Cuba. Participants traveled through stunning, untouched landscapes in eastern Cuba, riding in a fleet of off-road vehicles owned by the agency.
Ecotur S.A., a subsidiary of Cuba's Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), specializes in nature, adventure, and rural tourism on the island. They organize events to promote exclusive tourist offers to groups of visitors, such as itineraries through ecologically significant areas or VIP routes through unique island locations.
TURNAT 2024: Promoting Rural Tourism in Cuba
The 14th Edition of the International Nature Tourism Event (TURNAT 2024) kicked off on September 24 and concludes this Sunday in Baracoa. The event chose the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo to highlight Cuba as a unique destination for rural tourism. According to the organizers, "the event showcases Cuba's strength and opportunity to develop Nature, Adventure, and Rural Tourism, motivating service providers to design recreational, educational, and environmental cultural products using heritage, cultural, and natural values from a sustainability perspective."
However, while the country faces an unprecedented energy crisis, the Cuban regime continues to squander resources on promoting its tourism interests, with diminishing success and increasing public disapproval. This year, TURNAT 2024 attendees paid $1,636 per person for a single room or $1,581 per person for a double room. The five-night package included various activities such as hiking, diving, and photographic safaris.
Extravagance Amid Crisis
Notably, the photographic safaris drew the attention of Cuban netizens, who criticized the regime's extravagant spending to market the island as a tourist destination to "tour operators, travel agencies, promoters, and opinion leaders who know, love, promote, and manage nature tourism." Photos shared on social media showed off-road caravans traversing remote areas of Cuba's geography, off-limits to national tourists, featuring idyllic and pristine landscapes "with a high degree of biological diversity, well-preserved, and with high aesthetic and scenic value."
The vehicles, manufactured by the Chinese company Dongfeng and painted in olive green, were spotted lined up in Guantánamo city, in front of the Hotel Martí. Images posted on social media showcased the spectacular route organized by Ecotur S.A., taking participants through hard-to-reach natural areas along the southern coast bordering the provinces of Granma and Santiago de Cuba.
In a statement to the publication Trabajadores, Ecotur's director Raúl Naranjo explained that this event is the most significant for tourism, nature, adventure, and rural segments in Cuba. Each site included in TURNAT 2024 was selected by the National Commission for Nature Tourism, with collaboration from the ministries of Tourism, Culture, Science, Technology, and Environment, the Flora and Fauna Enterprise, and the National Council of Cultural Heritage, among other institutions.
"We are making good progress, aiming to highlight the island's potential, learning to place its cultural, historical, and natural treasures in their deserved place," stated Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz during the TURNAT 2022 event. He also lamented that the Caribbean island is marketed solely as a sun and beach destination, despite having other attractions such as health, sports, and gastronomy.