Havana, September 2 (RHC) -– The number of Cuban vacationers who stayed at Varadero, Cuba's major tourist resort, was calculated at 112,000 during the first half of the year, representing 21 percent growth if compared to a similar period last year, according to the Tourism Ministry.

The statistics say that 23,000 more Cubans spent holidays at Varadero hotels, a resort located on the Hicacos peninsula, some 140 kilometers east of the Cuban capital. Tourism Ministry official in Matanzas province, Ibis Fernandez, told Giron newspaper that local tourism increases in the summer season, when most Cubans go on vacations.

We launched surveys to learn about the demands of the visitors and their suggestions, which helped us design a strategy that has yielded good results, said the official, who referred to an investment project in rental houses as another accommodation modality.

Varadero offers about fifty hotels with over 20,000 rooms in a 20-kilometer area of fine and white sands bordered by warm and transparent Caribbean waters.

Canada ranks the first source of tourists to Varadero, which is a major destination in the Caribbean area with a record of one million foreign visitors in 2013 for the sixth year in a row.