Expobodas: An event promoting the celebration of love in Cuba

By Daily Pérez Guillén

Do you dream of a wedding in the Caribbean? The Cubatur Travel Agency, responsible for the first fair dedicated to this market segment in Cuba, is demonstrating from Friday that this is an ideal destination to celebrate a marriage at the Tryp Habana Libre Hotel.

About a hundred participants, including hotel chains, private sector entrepreneurs and agencies of the Cuban Ministry of Tourism, are presenting services and products designed to please the most diverse tastes, as part of an exhibition area comprising some 30 stands.

Diana Olivera, director of the Cubatur Travel Agency.

“Cubatur proposes an alliance between all of those of us who are committed to celebrating love in Cuba. We offer tailor-made programs in different destinations: beach, nature, colonial cities; according to the expectations of each client. We guarantee all logistic and transportation services along with hotel offers for visits and honeymoons,” Cubatur General Director, Diana Olivera, stressed in her opening remarks.

Among those attending Expobodas are Jorge and Irán, entrepreneurs who stand out for designing events, especially in the tourist resort of Guardalavaca, Holguín, in the eastern part of the country and one of the favorite sites for wedding ceremonies.

Jorge and Irán run a company dedicated to event design.

“We do everything: we help our clients with all the suppliers, whether it’s the cake, the DJ. Everything the client needs is in our hands. We work independently and together with the hotel chains. We started at the Hotel Brisas Guardalavaca and we have come here to meet other colleagues and make ourselves known as event decorators in eastern Cuba who are up to the task of any event,” Irán González Céspedes, one of the partners of the enterprise with more than 15 years of experience in the sector, told TTC.

Foreign hotel chains such as Iberostar and Blue Diamond are also attending the event. Yeslin Pozo, sales executive for the MICE segment of the latter company, shared her interest in exhibiting here: “We are participating in the fair because we have specific wedding packages: Alegría, Paradisus, Renewal of Vows, Romantic Escape and also others à la carte. All the service suppliers here are involved in some way. We establish relationships and can coordinate. We also work with honeymoon packages. Almost all of them include perks for the bride and groom.”

Yeslin Pozo, sales executive for Blue Diamond’s MICE segment.

As a novelty, she noted that they are trying to sell Hindu weddings. “A wedding of this type is being developed at the Royalton Hicacos hotel in Varadero. We are very interested because it is a novel project for Cuba. For us, the Canadian market is very strong, but we do weddings for brides and grooms from anywhere in the world.”

Meanwhile, the Mallorcan chain circulated a press release highlighting its experience of more than 30 years organizing the best wedding ceremonies, parties and events in its more than 20 hotels in Cuba. “We adapt to your needs and put at your disposal indoor and outdoor spaces: terraces, beaches and meeting rooms to offer coffee breaks, cocktails and wedding banquets. And if you want to organize your honeymoon in our beach or city destinations, to make your trip unforgettable, we have hotels for adults, where couples can celebrate their love under the watch of Cupid.”

Expobodas is part of the events aimed at diversifying tourism offers in Cuba and “is proof of all the potential we have,” according to Cubatur’s top executive, who also told TTC that in the coming years, this event could be held in other destinations of the archipelago.

The program of the first edition of Expobodas includes conferences, simultaneous presentations of products and/or services, photographic exhibitions, fashion shows, workshops on makeup, hairdressing, decoration and others, while promoting networking. On the last day on Saturday, it will be open to the public with raffles and launches of various honeymoon packages, trips and stays.