Helsinki, November 26th.- On the morning of Friday, November 26th, the acting head of mission of Cuba in Finland, Víctor Manuel Rodríguez Etcheverry, held a pleasant virtual exchange with the Head of Products and Contracting of the largest tour operator in the Nordic country, Aurinkomatkat OY, Mrs. Mia Kopola.
Kopola explained to the representative of the Greater Antilles the operation of the company, linked to the FINNAIR airline, which holds almost 30% of the market and moves more than 260 thousand clients per year, with an average income of 220 million Euros. The businesswoman referred to Cuba as an attractive market, due to its safety, the quality of the service and the natural beauties of the Island, where the Finnish airline had a direct Helsinki-Havana flight until the beginning of the pandemic.
During the positive meeting, the Cuban diplomat updated his Finnish counterpart about the massive vaccination campaign against COVID-19 on the island, reaching more than 80% of the population in record time. Likewise, he confirmed the willingness of the Cuban hotel facilities to receive all foreign visitors with a fourth booster dose of the vaccine for all their staff.
On November 15th, Cuba opened its borders to the world under very flexible measures, which includes the presentation of the COVID vaccination passport, as the only document to display for vaccinated visitors. In the case of those not vaccinated, they will continue to present PCR 72 hours in advance and children under 12 years of age will be exempted from tests or certificates.
“Tourism is a strategic industry for the Cuban economy, which has suffered the impacts of COVID, added to those of the Economic, Commercial and Financial Blockade imposed by the United States for almost 60 years and recently reinforced, under the Trump Administration, with more than 240 additional measures, but, even under these conditions, we are ready to continue providing an excellent service to our visitors, after almost two years of pandemic”, said the Cuban diplomat.
