The Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruzreceived this Wednesday Nesamani Maran Muthu, president of MGM Muthu Hotels, a hotel chain that already has more than 7,000 rooms on the island and is interested in investing in a water parkas revealed by the official press.
Marrero himself boasted on Twitter not only of the intention of Muthu Hotels to continue expanding in Cuban territory, but also to invest in a water park, the latter announcement that takes place in the middle of serious problems at the national level for the water supply.
At the beginning of this month it was revealed that more than 600,000 Cubans received drinking water in tanker trucks; to this is added the terrible quality of the water that reaches many homes, as is the case of Santiago de Cuba, where thousands of people from Santiago they receive as “water” a cloudy liquid.
On twitter, several outraged Cubans were quick to reproach Marrero for his enthusiasm for the alleged tourism alliance that is coming.
“The PCC is always concerned about the well-being of the people. With this new revolutionary measure, the working people who resist creatively will have their vacations guaranteed as they well deserve. Thank you, comrade,” an Internet user commented wryly.
“Foreigners doing business and tickets in Cuba while Cubans escaped from the Island and the PCC (Communist Party of Cuba) continues to sell it”; “You celebrating with an Indian millionaire and the country every day more miserable… Aren’t you ashamed?”; others opined.
Marrero Cruz did not anticipate any more details about the business expansion with MGM Muthu Hotels, nor did he give any clues about the probable location of the water park.
Muthu Hotels was established in Cuba in 2017 and they claim to have been in charge of inaugurating the first LGBTIQ+ hotel in Cuba, the Grand Muthu Rainbow Hotel, a facility located in Cayo Guillermo, in the province of Ciego de Ávila.
The company has five hotels soon to open in Varadero, Holguín, Las Tunas and two in Havana.
To this is added three in operation in Cayo Guillermo and one in Holguín, Cayo Coco, Cayo Santa María, Varadero and Havana. The latter was the Hotel Gran Muthu Habana, which opened its doors in February in Miramar.
MGM Muthu Hotels already has a children’s water park in Guardalavaca, Holguín province.
The MGM Muthu Hotels group of companies was founded in 1963 and currently owns more than 50 hotels and resorts in Portugal, Spain, Scotland, England, Cuba, France, Kenya and India.
Water parks in Cuba
In December 2017, the Cuban Ministry of Tourism advanced some aspects of its portfolio of foreign investment opportunities for 2018, an agenda that included new projects to develop non-hotel leisure, recreation and adventure lines.
At that time, the Cuban tourist company Palmares SA had orchestrated at least eight new investment proposals under the modality of service management contract with financing. Among these initiatives, the construction of two water parks, one in Varadero and another in Havana.
In July of last year, despite the widespread crisis in the country, the Cuban government indicated that it planned to invest millions in sums in more than 150 projects for tourism purposes that they included the construction of water parks, dolphinariums and golf courses.
Luis Martínez, president of the Cubasol Business Group, declared then that these plans, to be executed before 2030, have a “priority nature”, and indicated that to strengthen the non-hotel and real estate industry they would seek “the necessary resources”, even if they had to go to foreign capital.
tourism down
Last month, Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted that Cuba will not achieve the 3.5 million international tourists it aspired to receive this year, which is a severe blow to attempts to alleviate the economic crisis through that sector.
“It will not achieve the 3.5 million visitors projected for the year, but it shows a growth rate that should exceed all indicators for 2021-2022, thanks to the recovery of the Cuba destination in stable issuing countries during the pre-pandemic stage,” said Díaz- Canel closing the X Legislature of the National Assembly.
The president assured that the recovery of the tourism industry continues to be affected by the inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries that sponsor terrorism by the US government, and by other issues related to logistics, fuel and energy.
