Havana, Cuba.
Enjoy five nights and 6 days hotel in Cuba it is today more than ever within reach of any pocket, with one condition: the guest cannot leave the room. The “confinement packages” are the answer to the collapse of tourism on the island by the covid-19 pandemic.
Some Caribbean country hotels are reluctant to be left empty: six establishments in Havana, One in Varadero and five more in other regions receive since last weekend customers of all nationalities who have taken advantage of one of the new offers.
You can read: Argentina, on the verge of collapse: 50,000 deaths from coronavirus
With a minimum price of $ 250 and a maximum of about 600, the confinement package includes transfer and accommodation with full board in establishments of between three and five stars, in addition to medical care and the number of PCR tests required so that on the sixth day the client can be released if covid-19 infection is ruled out.
TWO OPTIONS: FREE AND PAYMENT
Cuba is currently suffering from the second wave of covid-19 infections with between 500 and more than a thousand cases a day in recent weeks, record figures for this country of 11.2 million inhabitants that had exceeded successfully the first months of the pandemic, in which the daily positives never reached the hundred.
To contain the contagions, which in this second wave were attributed mainly to travelers from abroad, everything up in the country is required to be subjected to isolation until at least two negative PCR tests accumulate with at least five margin days.
See here: Shocking images of the massive shock in the US
Thus, there are two options of isolation: the free, which is to spend at least a week in state institutions of dubious comfort enabled in places such as camps and student residences, and the paid, with one of the new packages that can be purchase online at origin or directly at the airport arrivals hall.
Cubans and residents of the island can choose between the two, while foreigners arriving as tourists or for other purposes do not have the option of going to a state center, and must spend the period of isolation in a hotel.
“We are doing actions in the networks so that the customer comes with the package purchased,” said the marketing director of the state agency Havanatur, Isabel Docampo, in a meeting with Efe and other international media in Havana to explain the new initiative.
CUBANS AND TOURISTS
So far, most of the hundreds of travelers who have purchased any of the “confinement packages” are Cubans residing in other countries, mostly in the United States, who return to visit their relatives, according to Docampo.
There are also Cubans returning from personal or business trips, such as Madeline Hernández, who arrived from the Dominican Republic this week with her family and is staying at the four-star Comodoro Hotel in the west. of Havana.
“I travel for work and my company pays us for the package, so we don’t have to go to an isolation center, which are other conditions,” explains the 49-year-old woman, who works for the balcony of her bungalow. to a foreign company in the Cuban capital.
While Cubans now occupy the vast majority of hotel rooms reserved for travelers in isolation, Havanatur believes that their offerings could also be attractive to European, Asian or American tourists. they want to escape the cold and harsh restrictions imposed in their respective countries.
“The tourist who arrives and buys the package is in solitary confinement for five nights and six days and, if he refuses, he can continue to tour the whole country or continue the program he came to do here,” said the representative of Havanatur.
THE DOCTORS COMMAND HERE
Some Cuban hotels, such as the Comodoro or the neighboring Meliá Havana (five stars), never closed due to the pandemic and now accommodate travelers in isolation, so part of its facilities have had to be adapted. to the strict hygiene and safety protocols required by this type of guests.
Marí Elorza, general manager of the Meliá Havana, explains the basic rules to avoid contagion: “physical barriers, such as screens and gloves on workers, the maximum observance of all processes marked by Public Health and continuous communication with our team of doctors inside the hotel “.
These doctors visit each guest in isolation twice a day to check their health and take their temperature.
“I always tell customers: now the one in charge of the hotel is the white robe, it’s the doctors, because the priority is that we take care of everyone,” says the director of this hotel, which reserves 90 rooms for travelers in isolation of which are currently occupied 22. EFE