The Cuban tourism industry, considered one of the elements of greater dynamism in the national economy, concentrates the interest of foreign investors, attracted by the opportunities of the sector.

The priorities are oriented to new hotels in destinations such as Havana, Varadero, Trinidad, Holguín and the northern coast of the island, as well as businesses linked to nature products.

In addition, a portfolio of 110 new investment opportunities was approved in 2016.

It also highlights the negotiation and approval of several management contracts where foreign operators provide financing for the remodeling of hotels, a mode in which foreign investors are increasingly interested.

The tourism sector attracted about 16 percent of foreign investment in recent years, with 27 joint ventures covering about 5,000 rooms and management contracts for 18 international chains in 69 hotels.

Likewise, an extensive program of recovery of patrimonial properties is executed throughout the country, with a view to the expansion of the hotel chain Encanto.

Among the most recent initiatives is the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana, run by the Swiss Kempinski Group, a five-star plus luxury complex in the historic Manzana de Gómez, built between 1894 and 1917 as the first European-style shopping center.

Kempinski La Habana has six levels and a capacity of 246 rooms, 29 per cent suite type and junior suite, as well as a variety of restaurants and bars.

Also on the sixth floor are a public swimming pool, a bar, a cafeteria, four business rooms, a gym, a SPA, lounges offering massage and acupuncture services, and a terrace with a panoramic restaurant overlooking a City declared wonder of the modern world.

On the ground floor, there is a sales area of the Tiendas Recaudadoras de Divisas (TRD) Caribe chain and the CIMEX business group, with 16 stores destined for products from well-known brands such as Armani, Versace, Mango and Lacoste.

In its beginnings it occupied only a plant, with covered galleries until 1918 that adds now four levels, and to facilitate the accesses they place eight elevators.

In total, 560 cubicles were used in offices, and other instances such as the Pittman business academies located on the second level and Gregg in the fifth, with students looking to prepare themselves in shorthand and typing methods.