It’s been 15 months since President Obama placed a phone call from the Oval Office in the White House to Havana, Cuba. He was calling Raul Castro. That conversation upturned more than a half century of American foreign policy as relations have moved from silent isolation to a presidential visit. A lot of history has been made in those short 15 months. Here's some of that history by the numbers:
88 • number of years since a sitting U.S. president visited Cuba
3.5 million • number of tourists to Cuba in 2015 according to state news media
15% • increase of tourists so far this year
77% • increase in Americans traveling to Cuba in 2015 according to Havana Consulting Group
50,000 • number of new hotel rooms the Cuban government tourism company Gaviota plans to add by 2020
70,000 • total number of hotel rooms in Cuba today
13,000 • number of American travelers booking rooms in Cuba via Airbnb
4,000 • number of Cuban homes listed on Airbnb
0 • number of regularly scheduled commercial flights from U.S. to Cuba
10 • number of regularly scheduled daily flights American Airlines wants to fly between Miami and Havana
12 • number of self-selected categories an American traveler must choose from to visit Cuba
3 • Cuban ports of call on the itinerary for Carnival Corp's Fathom cruise brand
2 • number of Cuban currencies
$81 billion • Cuba's estimated 2014 GDP
$299 billion • South Florida's 2014 GDP
$2 billion • remittances sent annually to Cuba from the U.S.
54 • years the U.S. embassy was closed in Cuba
43,159 • Cubans entering the U.S. in fiscal year 2015
78% • increase in Cubans entering U.S. in 2015 compared to year earlier
1 • number of U.S. banks with a debit card that is accepted in Cuba
3 • number of questions Raul Castro answered in a press conference with President Obama
4-1 • winning final score of Tampa Bay Rays baseball game against the Cuban national team
2 • original 1962 members of The Rolling Stones who played Havana in 2016
