Matanzas, Cuba: Tourism and Things to Improve
Photo Feature by Elio Delgado Valdés
HAVANA TIMES – With the development of tourism in Varadero, Matanzas has taken a different look. The relative prosperity of its inhabitants is evident, it is no less true that it does not escape the shortage of products in the country.
The local Government has taken care of tourism development, which is prosperous for the population that works in that industry, and for the rest that provides services to the community.
Conversing with some of the residents they told me that public transport deficiency is what hits the private sector the most, because if there is not a good passenger transport service, the tourist and local population movement towards the city center is less and more so in the evenings.
The community has raised the problem in every possible place, because the center of the city is a place with good options for restaurants and cafes on the riverbank, art galleries and small businesses where you can listen to Cuban music and dance.
The biggest problem is when people try to go back to the places where they live or are staying. It is a loss for both the private and the state sectors.
I hope that President Díaz-Canel’s words of providing a better service outside the hotels so that tourists go out and interact with the population and there can be a greater flow of capital becomes a reality.
Hopefully with the visits that the Cultural officials are making to the provinces, reviewing the quality of the services offered by the Houses of Culture and the institutions in charge of art, improve the movement towards the city center in Matanzas.
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Edward “Ned” Walsh, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your comment; and found it to be more positive AND enlightening than most of the articles I have indulged the mixed blessing of reading on HT recently. What a rich and exciting teaching experience for you! I’m agape with wonder that there would be enough students pursuing a Major in English to merit a dedicated department in Matanzas!! I suspect you’re still reaping the rewards of your teaching stint in Matanzas; and I salute you for defying all the propaganda, as any well-informed American history teacher might feel compelled to do whether he’s invited to teach in Cuba … or not. Fredrick the Great was reputed to have said these words:
“A man that seeks truth and loves it must be reckoned precious to any human society.” The world needs more “Ned” Walshes!! BRAVO! 🙂
What do we really know if it was not for this medium.
I love this city! Way back in the fall of 1995, during Cuba’s Special Period, I became the first U.S. citizen to be approved by the Cuban Ministry of Education to teach at the University of Matanzas. I taught U.S. history to 3rd year English majors and I taught the course in English which greatly improved the classes grasp of the English language. Since then, I have made over 40 trips to Cuba and led numerous delegations to Cuba including the North Carolina Department of Agriculture’s first agribusiness delegation since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. I have advocated for an end to the U.S. Embargo against Cuba on numerous occasions to leaders of the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. This past January I visited the city of Matanzas and took my son who had never been to Cuba. I was delighted to see the tremendous progress in the beauty of this Athens of Cuba.