As part of efforts to consolidate the Cuban tourism industry, a new air service between Japan and Cuba was announced Wednesday with two charter flights scheduled for August.

Cuba received in the first half of 2012, 1 626 243 tourists, representing an increase of 5.8% over the same period of last year, the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) said.

Cuba`s Floridita bar, one of the favourite haunts of US writer Ernest Hemingway during his time in Havana, mixed a giant 275-liter daiquiri to beat the world record as part of the celebrations of the establishment`s 195th anniversary.

Lourdes Cisneros, Dean of the Tourism Faculty at the University of Havana, said academic studies are crucial for the sector’s development.