Signs exclusive representation agreement for Cuba with Hotel operator Adonis Resorts
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 02, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cuba Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) (OTCBB:MPSFF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has formally created an internal division focused on consulting in the Cuban Hospitality & Hotel sector. Hotel & Resort Management Company Adonis Resorts agrees to an exclusivity agreement for the island of Cuba. Cuba Ventures to begin searching for suitable properties to be managed by Adonis Resorts. Update on Hurricane Irma & U.S travels to Cuba.
Cuban hospitality Consulting Division
Management wishes to outline the underlying motivations for the creation of a Cuban hospitality Consulting Division. The company operates 432 Cuba focused websites, generating approximately 35 million page views annually. The wholly owned, fully licensed travel division, Travelucion, generates significant annual revenues from Travel related sales, including hotel & resort bookings. On July 27, 2017, the company acquired equity in a Florida, the USA licensed Travel Company, thus securing legal travel sales in the United States. On March 22, 2017, Cuba Ventures announced its exclusive agreement with Hotel industry supplier Tyrval and, on Aug. 03, 2017, the company announced the conclusion of a commercial mission with the founding director of Tyrval, which generated potential orders of over 10 million USD, from which Cuba Ventures is party to a 5% royalty. Similarly, over the past 12 months, management has been incessantly approached by numerous hotel chains, from Europe and North America, looking to enter the Cuban market. This evident triangulation of; in-house, self generated accommodation bookings, hotel refurbishment opportunities via Tyrval and the prospect of securing suitable properties, in partnership with established hotel groups, cannot be overlooked as a closed loop vision. Should our nascent Cuban hospitality Consulting Division be successful, it will ensure guaranteed and exclusive rooms to our network of websites. Simultaneously, while the hotel properties are undergoing facelifts, Tyrval will undoubtedly benefit. Consequently, as tourism continues to increase to Cuba, the exclusivity surrounding guaranteed room allocations will increase interest from worldwide travel consortiums in the hotel & resort infrastructure and digital marketing prowess controlled by Cuba Ventures Corp. Beyond the short term consulting related revenue obtainable from Hotel chains anxious to enter Cuba, Cuba Ventures Corp will propose a less onerous consulting service, which reduces significantly ongoing and fruition fees for consulting services, in exchange for both total exclusivities on room inventory and equity in any resulting hotel or resort agreement. Cuba Ventures Corp will forge relationships with current Cuban consulting specialists and, may also consider acquiring prominent players in this realm.
Cuban hospitality Consulting Division Team
Steve Marshall, the CEO, spent 11 years in Cuba. During this term, he founded the first real estate focused company, in partnership with Cuba's largest commercial entity, Corporation Cimex. Steve is considered an expert in; Cuban joint ventures, government approvals of hotel & resort management contracts and real estate ventures in Cuba. Walfrido Quinones, corporate council to Mr. Marshall for 20 years. Walfrido is a widely respected Cuban attorney who specialized, alongside Marshall, in both contract law and government approvals of joint ventures and joint production agreements between foreign and Cuban entities. Alfredo Manresa was licensed by the National Bank of Cuba to operate the final institution CAM (Acquired by Sabadell) in Havana and has a profound knowledge of financing and banking legislation in Cuba. W. Patrick Murphy was Secretary of the largest real estate political action committee in the United States named Cen-Pac. Mr. Murphy served on the Senior Management of Century 21 Real Estate Corporation and developed the largest real estate franchise network in the Caribbean Basin, Venezuela, Colombia and Central America with 45 offices, 500 agents in 23 countries or protectorates.
New advisor joins the new Cuban hospitality Consulting Division
Bernard Lonis - Is the founding owner of Adonis Resorts and numerous technology focused companies. Bernard is a hospitality & tourism specialist with over 3000 hotel beds currently under his company's control. He is a specialist in emerging travel markets and the unique complexities these present. Bernard is a distinguished member of European hotel associations, honorary consul to Senegal, owner of the European School of Management (ESM) and, a prolific trilingual entrepreneur. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Lonis have been friends for 25 years.
Update on Hurricane Irma
The company wishes to provide an update concerning the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Cuba. During the two days prior and four days after the hurricane, the company experienced around 20% rescheduling of travel services, usually for later dates within a seven day window. Likewise, 90% of these re-bookings have now been fulfilled, with the remaining 10% being for future dates. Properties commonly used to accommodate the company's tourists were not affected. The small number of installations affected on Cuba's north coast Jardines del Rey islands of; Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Coco, and Cayo Guillermo are expected to be operational by November 3rd, while approximately 85% of the properties in this archipelago were only slightly affected and remain operational, thus providing adequate accommodations for what is in essence, Cuba's low season. Bookings to Cuba have remained constant, with little to no effect for the upcoming high-season. Many Cuba travel destinations were unaffected by the recent hurricanes, with only 7 of 258 hotels experiencing any sort of shut down. Management believes that travel to Cuba may increase in the next twelve months as other Caribbean islands experience infrastructure challenges associated with the two most recent category 5 hurricanes which resulted in widespread damage to many other island resorts and locations. Finally, shareholders should note that the majority of travel bookings are from; Europe, Asia and Canada, therefore, U.S travelers still only represent a small percentage of revenue, fundamentally on group visits. Cuba Ventures remains "future-ready" after its equity acquisition of Florida based agency IBTO, if and when travel to Cuba from the United States generates the desired volumes.
About Cuba Ventures Corp.:
Cuba Ventures Corp. is a publicly traded Canadian company capitalizing on the growth and unique opportunities in the USD 3.5 billion per year Cuban travel and tourism industry. Travelucion, a wholly owned subsidiary, is a digital media and marketing company which owns a vast portfolio of Cuba related websites and online portals providing Cuba travel information in up to six languages, featuring individual web assets for Cuba's popular cities and towns, online booking solutions and online reservations through proprietary software, catering to international visitors to Cuba. Travelucion's online travel division is a duly licensed retail travel supplier handling millions of dollars in sales annually.
Cuba Ventures Corp has acquired an equity interest in a Florida, the USA domiciled, licensed and bonded travel agency which specializes in travel to Cuba. This equity ownership permits the company and, its subsidiary Travelucion, to promote U.S compliant travel packages to Americans citizens through its equity partner International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
Travelucion's 432 Cuba focused multilingual websites generate over 35 million page-views per year, directing traffic to the company's online booking and e-commerce sites. These online websites cover all facets of Cuba including over 80 travel destinations, hotels & resorts, bed & breakfast, tours, car rentals, restaurants, as well as Cuban culture, history, music, celebrities, sports, medical treatments and more.
Cuba Ventures FinTech division is embracing world renowned entities to bring together a global force to stimulate Cuba's archaic economic systems. Financing of both internal and external debt, blockchain deployment - across the all important private enterprises and remittance industry are primary objectives of this division. Finally, bridge loans for foreign enterprises who receive Cuban bank payment instruments will enable faster transactions and rapid advances in the economy.
Cuba Ventures consulting division harnesses over 60 years of combined advisor experience in submitting and, obtaining approval, for joint ventures, joint production agreements, and import/export permits for foreign enterprises. More recently the company has taken a royalty approach for future agreements between third parties anxious to begin commercial operations with Cuba and, the company's Cuba Consulting Unit. Current contractual partnerships include Tyrval, a worldwide hotel industry supplier. Cuba Ventures intends to augment the amount of financially beneficial consulting related businesses.
For further information on Cuba Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) or Travelucion visit the Company's website at www.cubaventures.com (http://www.cubaventures.com/) or www.travelucion.com (http://www.travelucion.com/). The Company has 78,662,487 shares issued and outstanding.
CUBA VENTURES CORP.
STEVE MARSHALL
Steve Marshall
CEO
For further information contact myself or:
Nick Findler
Cuba Ventures Corp.
Telephone: 604-639-3850
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@cubaventures.com (mailto:info@cubaventures.com)
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com (http://www.sedar.com/) for further information.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Cuba Ventures Corp. via Globenewswire
