Havana, January 14 (RHC)-- With a long history of success, Meliá Hotels Internacional Cuba currently reiterates its commitment as a safe destination against COVID-19, highlighting the launch of new products and the push for digitization.

"Cuba has always been considered a reliable place, but with the management carried out regarding the health contingency, it has been exemplary in the global context, a value that we have to promote," said the Director of Communications and Marketing of the company, Maite Artieda.

She explained to Negocios en Cuba (Business in Cuba) that, since the beginning of the pandemic, the nation has being working to implement measures, and she mentioned the Stay Safe with Meliá program, certified by Bureau Veritas, with which noticeable actions have been made.

The project is based on safety for employees and clients, reducing contact in interactions, optimizing operational processes by simplifying and digitizing the service, and adapting the company's brands to new paradigms and needs of visitors.

"Our establishments obtained the Most Hygienic and Safe Tourism certification, granted by the corresponding ministry and the Ministry of Public Health, which conveys confidence to travelers who come to the island and to the hotels we manage," Artieda said.

She pointed out that the sector has internationally faced a very complex period, so they began to think about a creative or innovative way to search for new products, or to improve other segments for which the destination itself was well prepared.

They noticed the feasibility of developing two attractive and competitive programs.  The first one: "Work from Cuba," which encourages travel by emboldening remote or distance work.  "We saw that the way in which the Caribbean island had faced the pandemic made it a very safe destination, we perceived that a client can come and work from here for their company," said the directive.

Regarding this variant, she specified that they are mainly concentrated in the Canadian market because, in the middle of the winter season, they would offer the possibility of having the office on the beach with good connectivity.

“The other program is the "Long-Stay Program" that, depending on the validity of the visa, we offer facilities with special rates to stay the desired time.  Now the countries with the highest incidence of arrivals are Canada, Russia and Germany,” she said.

"At a global level, the epidemiological situation has affected, fundamentally, the tourism sector that is based on mobility, but the important aspect has been the perspective of creating new experiences, executing maintenance in the facilities and promoting digitization," said the Director of Communications and Marketing at Meliá Hotels Internacional.

She added that all the hotels will have free Wi-Fi from this winter season, one of the demands made most by customers staying at the facilities.

Meliá Internacional and Sol Palmeras maintained operations during summer, oriented to national tourism and complying with all security protocols, together with Meliá Habana -- which received humanitarian flights and tourists who could not travel due to the pandemic -- and Habana Libre Tryp Hotel.

Also in Varadero, the Meliá Peninsula has already reopened; in Holguín, the Paradisus Río de Oro; the Meliá and the Tryp in Cayo Coco; the Meliá San Carlos in Cienfuegos, and the reopenings will continue as requests increase.

And the Director of Communications and Marketing of Meliá Hotels Internacional Cuba, Maite Artieda, concluded: "The biggest challenge at the moment is to get into this new normal, to show that these hotels are safe environments, to convey confidence to encourage the increasing of the demand little by little, and that tourists feel calm when they come and enjoy their vacations."