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Cuba announced as partner country for 2019 OTDYKH Leisure expo

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Cuba has made the exciting announcement that it will be the official partner country at the OTDYKH 2019 expo, which will take place in Moscow on September 10-12.

A long-time contributor to the OTDYKH Leisure Trade Fair, Cuba has been participating since 2001. Their sponsorship as partner for the 2019 expo will include an exciting display of traditional music, dance, cuisine and cocktails, from the country famous for its tropical salsa rhythms, vibrant attire and delicious mojitos.

This year Cuba makes an auspicious choice for partner country, as Russian tourism in Cuba has been flourishing in recent years. Last year a record 137,000 Russian tourists came to Cuba, marking in increase of 30% from 2017, a year in which Russian tourism in Cuba had seen a 70% increase from the previous year. These encouraging statistics put Russia in the top 10 source markets of Cuba. 

This comes at a time when the number of visitors to Cuba from European countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK has decreased by 10-13%. Cuba is also experiencing a decrease in tourism from countries in the Americas including Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.  However, in spite of this downward trend, the Russian tourist market is steadily on the rise. Forecasts predict that there will be 150,000 Russian visitors to Cuba in 2019.

Cuba announced as partner country for 2019 OTDYKH Leisure expo

Not only is Cuba 2019’s partner country at the OTDYKH Leisure expo, but they have increased their stand to include more co-exhibitors, increasing the potential for trade between Russian and Cuban travel and tourism related companies.

The entire expo will span across 15,000 m2 with a total of 180 speakers at 30 business events including workshops, presentations and seminars from industry professionals from all over the world.

In 2018 the expo welcomed 38,000 visitors over the course of three days, and 287 media attendees from 80 media partners. This year will feature multiple conference halls with guest speakers and exclusive live performances.

Exhibitors are invited to participate and celebrate the 2019 OTDYKH Leisure trade fair and celebrate 25 years of the expo’s continued success.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ms. Anna Huber, International office: +43 1 230 85 35, [email protected]   

New US Cuban sanctions target tourism, remittances and banking

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The US is targeting Cuba with additional sanctions, including restricting travel to the island nation, limiting remittances, and sanctioning additional entities, White House national security adviser John Bolton said.

US citizens sending remittances to Cuba will be limited t $1,000 per person per quarter, Bolton said on Wednesday. Non-family travel will be restricted to reduce “veiled tourism” that benefits the Cuban government and military, he added.

“Through the Treasury Department, we will also implement changes to end the use of ‘U-turn transactions,’ which allow the regime to circumvent sanctions and obtain access to hard currency and the US banking system,” Bolton said in a speech to veterans of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, when Cuban exiles tried to overthrow Fidel Castro’s regime.

The move comes a day after the White House announced it would stop issuing waivers on implementing the Helms-Burton law, which would penalize anyone in the world who did business with Cuban entities using property seized from US owners following the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Treasury has not officially announced the new sanctions, but Bolton said five entities will be added to the Cuban blacklist, including the military-owned airline Aerogaviota.

The US cut diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, and over the following decades imposed a wide range of sanctions on the island nation, just 90 miles south of Florida. Former president Barack Obama sought to soften the US policy in 2015, leading to the reopening of the US and Cuban embassies and loosening of travel restrictions.

In June 2017, however, Trump rolled back all of Obama’s changes, returning to a hardline policy on Cuba. Additional sanctions were introduced this year, as Trump administration has accused Cuba of and its military of occupying Venezuela and helping Nicolas Maduro’s regime to stay in power.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Maroon 5, Ozuna, Gladys Knight, Third World announced for Curaçao North Sea Jazz 2019

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Curaçao announced first names for the ninth edition of the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival. This year Maroon 5, Ozuna, Gladys Knight and Third World will make their appearance at the festival at the World Trade Center at Piscadera Bay. The organization is still busy with various other artists who will be announced in the course of the coming months. The festival opens on Thursday, 29 August with free concerts of Havana D’Primera and Aymee Nuviola.

American band Maroon 5 has sold over 20 million albums and received three Grammy Awards. Their debut album, Songs About Jane, became their big breakthrough and its successor, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, did even better. Hits were aplenty: Harder To Breathe, This Love, She Will Be Loved, Makes Me Wonder, Moves Like Jagger featuring Christina Aguilera… the list goes on. Their latest album, Red Pill Blues, was released at the end of 2017 and contained the number 1 hit single Girls Like You, featuring Cardi B. This past January, Maroon 5 had the honor of performing during the Super Bowl Half-Time Show.

Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado, known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton and Latin trap singer. In early 2016, Ozuna rose to prominence for his appearance on the single La Ocasión, going from strength to strength ever since. He has released two albums to date; 2017’s Odisea and 2018’s Aura, and won two Billboard Music Awards and three Latin American Music Awards, among others. In 2017, he made his acting debut in the film Que León.

Six years after making her debut in Curaçao the ‘Empress of Soul’ Gladys Knight is returning to the island. With her band The Pips she had great hits, such as I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Midnight Train To Georgia, and Baby Don’t Change Your Mind, in the 1960s and 1970s. At the end of the 1980s Knight started her solo career and found instant success with the James Bond title track License To Kill. Her latest album, Where My Heart Belongs, was released in 2014 and is a bona fide gospel album, on which The Pips also performed. Knight now has seven Grammy’s and numerous other awards to her name.

Jamaican band Third World celebrated its 45th anniversary last year. Calling themselves ‘Reggae Ambassadors’ and describing their sound as reggae fusion, Third World mix reggae with many other genres such as soul, funk, and disco. Their biggest hit to date was 1978’s Now That We Found Love. Their success has brought them all over the world and put ten Grammy nominations to their name. Their latest single, Loving You Is Easy, was produced by Damian Marley and released earlier this year.

Cuban Timba band Havana D’Primera was founded by Alexander Abreu in 2008, the band was formed by a collective of musicians in the Cuban music scene, numbering 17 members in total. Abreu is considered one of the best trumpeters of his generation, and is also a skilled composer, singer, and bandleader. Fusing rhythms across salsa, jazz, funk, and Afro-Cuban, the band have released four studio albums so far. The latest is 2018’s Cantor Del Pueblo, which landed them their second Latin Grammy nomination for Best Salsa Album.

Aymée Nuviola, nicknamed ‘La Sonera del Mundo’, is a well-respected singer from Cuba who trained at the Manuel Saumell Conservatory in Havana. Nuviola is one of the biggest Cuban stars of today, and she even recorded a song with American legend Jackson Browne. As a young singer Nuviola moved to Miami where her solo career really took off. Last year she won her first-ever Latin Grammy Award for her 2017 album Como Anillo Al Dedo.

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