Nearly 3.5 mln tourists visit Cuba in 2015

HAVANA - Nearly 3.5 million international tourists visited Cuba in 2015, the National Statistics and Information Agency (ONEI) reported on Monday.

A total of 3,524,779 visitors traveled to Cuba in 2015. A majority of them were leisure travelers, with nearly 10,000 arriving by cruise ships, the agency said.

Foreign visitors came mainly from Canada, followed by Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain. In Latin America, Cuba's leading tourism markets were Mexico and Venezuela.

ONEI also noted a marked increase in the numbers of travelers from Japan, Haiti, Costa Rica, Ireland and Poland.

The island also saw an increase in the number of US visitors following the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States, and the easing of travel restrictions imposed by Washington.

Tourism to Cuba has steadily grown since 2012, up by 17.4 percent in 2015 year on year.