San Cristóbal Travel Agency: The key to Cuba’s heritage

By: Rachell Cowan Canino

In the 1990s, Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler came up withthe idea of a travel agency specialized in historic and heritage tourism, in correspondence with the work of the Havana City Historian’s Office, that would function as a link between the institution and the world to help reveal Cuba’s wonders to foreign and domestic visitors.

Almost three decades later, the San Cristóbal Travel Agency stands out as the only Cuban agency offering this type of tourism and is the key to Cuba’s heritage. The agency will celebrate its 29th anniversary this April 4, focused “on providing a service capable of attracting and satisfying all the needs of international tourism,” as noted by Antonio Guerrero, its president.

Currently, the agency is present in several areas of the Cuban capital, including a sales office in the Miramar Business Center, as well as in the provinces of Villa Clara and Camagüey. Among its main proposals are specialized visits to essential sites of the in the island’s Heritage Cities, in addition to themed tours such as Eusebio Leal’s House and Martí’s Havana.

As every year, San Cristóbal will be present at the International Tourism Fair FITCuba 2024, to showcase the living heritage of Cuba’s beautiful cities and towns. The event, running May 2 to 5 at the Jardines del Rey resort, will promote Cuban tourism in the region, with a particular focus on nautical and extra-hotel activities.

In addition, the agency proposes for this 2024 a novelty tour called The Italian Footprint in Havana’s Heritage, “which basically recreates the presence of Italian marbles that were brought as ballast by ships and then used in buildings to become true works of art which are today appreciated in the architecture of the city,” as Ileana Artigas, vice president of the agency, told TTC in an exclusive interview.

San Cristóbal is also characterized by the excellent cultural training of its guides, who are fluent in several languages. It is a young agency that offers a particular travel experience, allowing visitors to discover admirable and enjoyable sites that distinguish Cuba as a destination, but also a country with an extraordinary cultural and patrimonial richness.