Photo: TTC

Tĥe Spanish shipping line Atlantic International Cruises is planning to connect the Mexican island of Cozumel and Havana, Cuba, with cruises having a capacity of 1,000 passengers, Tour news website reported on Wednesday.

That company will be in charge of turning the Punta Langosta sea terminal in Cozumel into the home port of the journey to the Bay of Havana, something that will increase the connections with Cuba and have a greater economic impact, according to the predictions by the company’s executives.

Although some aspects of the new cruise route have not been specified yet, it is estimated that Atlantic International Cruises could start its operation in the fall of 2022, presumably as of October.

Since Nov.15, when Cuba reopened international tourism, which had been restricted due to the high number of Covid-19 cases, airlines and tour operators have shown their interest in Cuban tourism options with the opening of new routes and trips from several regions of the world.

On Dec.25, the arrival in the city of Santiago de Cuba, in southeastern Cuba, of World Voyager, from the Nicko Cruises company, from Europe and with German passengers, meant the resumption of tourism activity of cruise ships, virtually non-existent for the last two years.

More than 800,000 tourists traveled to Cuba in 2018 on cruise ships, but due to the more than 240 mesures adopted to tighten the economic blockade, in June, 2019, the White House banned US-based shipping lines from docking in Cuban ports, something worsened by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the world.

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