Havana, Cuba.- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has urged on Thursday a greater domestic national production linkage with tourism industry, conceived as driving force of the Cuban economy.

Diaz-Canel, met with MPs to the National Assembly of People´s Power, said that this initiative is quite necessary to boost tourism revenues and to substitution of imports.

He stated that tourism sector is currently employing over 111 000 Cubans and is one of the main sources of liquid foreign currency.

Diaz-Canel called to expand beyond beach tourism, such as health, cultural, historical, nature tourism, among others.

He also urged the search for new markets, especially when the United States banned US citizens from travelling to Cuba by cruisers, sailboats, private planes.

It was expected that about one million cruise passengers to visit Cuba this year, a figure that was halved by the White House´s latest sanctions so as to strengthen the economic, financial and commercial blockade that has been imposed for six decades.