Despite hurricanes and Trump, Cuba retains charm for foreign tourism firms

A tourist enjoys a rooftop of a recently renovated Belle Epoque shopping mall housing the Gran Hotel Manzana in the top floors and luxury stores on the ground floor in Havana, Cuba, May 9, 2018. Picture taken on May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

HAVANA (Reuters) - New U.S. travel restrictions and a destructive hurricane season last year sucked some air from Cuba's tourism boom but foreign businesses from Spain's Melia Hotels to China's Jin Jiang are pursuing new investments in what remains a promising frontier.

According to sources with knowledge of industry figures, tourist arrivals in the first three months of the year fell to roughly 1.4 million compared with 1.5 million in the same period of 2017.