Amidst the most intense imperialist aggressions threatening the development and well-being of our peoples, the technical teams for the main areas of the tourism sector met for the second time in Havana, Cuba, to follow up on the agreements reached at the working groups held in San Cristóbal, Táchira state, Venezuela, last November.

In the spirit of consolidating a prosperous tourism in the Latin American and Caribbean region based on the discussions of the working groups on: multi-destination, connectivity, regional tourism, legal regulations, and training, today, May 3rd, 2025, the ALBA-TCP Ministers and High-Level Authorities on Tourism meet once again to endorse the work carried out by the technical teams, in an intense day of debate.

In the development of technical working groups in the area of ​​tourism:

1. The steps for commercialize a multi-destination product was presented and accepted, such as: defining the concept and destinations, designing attractive tourism packages, establishing strategic alliances, optimizing promotion and marketing, facilitating logistics and connectivity, and ensuring sustainability and quality.
2. Cuba and Venezuela finalized, through two of their tourism agencies, the negotiations for a multi-destination product with the Chinese market.
3. A proposal was presented by a tour operator in the area, to use this agency to commercialize multi-destination products, and also proposes to incorporate other products such as Honey Moon tourism, MICE, and archaeology.
4. A proposal was submitted from another tour operator with the potential to commercialize a cruise in the region on appropriate platforms to achieve its positioning.
5. It was decided to promote multimodal transport that would benefit the tourism sector in the Alliance countries, with alternatives that allow breaking the siege of unilateral coercive measures and the blockade suffered by some member countries.
6. Some countries present, such Honduras, agreed to join in the creation of a multi-destination product between Cuba and Venezuela.
7. It is proposed that, at least once a year, there be an exchange of High-Level authorities from the areas of transportation and tourism to evaluate the agreements linking both sectors in the development of tourism and tourist movements with the different modes of transport.
8. It was agreed that new products would be presented at the upcoming Venezuelan International Tourism Fair (FITVEN) to allow for the inclusion of other countries in the region and complement the offering of other multi-destination products.
9. Nicaragua will share information on Central America’s experience with certifications.
10. Cuba offered academic packages for the training and development of tourism professionals and offered two grants at the Cuban School of Advanced Studies in Hospitality and Tourism for the training of personnel working in external business settings, such as commercial offices abroad, embassies, among others. The courses will begin in September of this year.
11. Cuba offered academic packages for the training and development of tourism professionals and granted two places per country at the Cuban School of Advanced Studies in Hospitality and Tourism for the training of personnel working in external business settings, such as commercial offices abroad, embassies, or others, for which academic training is offered free of charge. The course will begin in September 2025.
12. A team comprised of staff from Havanatur and Venetur will depart on May 20 with Chinese tour operators for a technical visit to China, in order to promote the demand of the region.
13. The importance of defining and incorporating tourism agencies and private sector companies to promote the marketing of ALBA multi-destination products was emphasized.
14. From the promotion point of view, the teams revised the slogans proposed at the last meeting and shared some criteria to create a communication campaign with impact. In this sense, a meeting of the communications department heads of the tourism ministries of the ALBA countries will be convened to work on promoting and developing ALBA tourism.
15. Antigua and Barbuda will work to develop common criteria for the quality certification process for tourism and associated services and products, given the experience in this particular area of ​​Caribbean countries in CARICOM.
16. The airlines present at the meeting discussed new connectivity opportunities and the creation of incentives for air operations to reduce air ticket prices in order to make tourist packages more competitive.

Likewise, from the debate among the working groups, new proposals arose for the developing of the tourism sector’s potential. These include: developing a repository of academic and research documents on tourism from all ALBA countries; designing a search engine with a counter system for a geographic and institutional histogram; advancing training and capacity building through machine learning and deep learning; and holding an ALBA Forum for tourism training, capacity building, research, and innovation, among others.

Given the importance of certain topics, the following steps were defined for monitoring and implementing the proposals:

1. Cuba will work on the possible implementation of cruise tourism among the ALBA countries.
2. Venezuela, through INATUR, together with part of the Cuban team, will work to implement the ALBA Forum for Tourism Training, Development, Research, and Innovation.
3. Likewise, Cuba, following Agreement No. 9 from the previous meeting, related to AI, will work on how to integrate a destination proposal modality into the Alliance’s website, based on the selection of multiple questions answered by the potential client, based on their preferences and needs.

All participants agree to provide an update of progress by next September.

These advances will be significant and decisive for the realization of the 1st ALBA International Tourism Fair, scheduled for 2026.

Havana, May 3rd, 2025