Havana, July 24 (EFE) Cuba welcomed 1.37 million tourists in the first half of 2009, a figure that was up 2.7 percent from the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said.

Tourism continued to be one of the island's main sources of foreign exchange, Cuban officials said, without providing details on the revenue generated by the industry.

In 2008, 2.3 million tourists visited Cuba, up 9.3 percent from the year before that.

The Cuban government said it expected 2.5 million tourists to visit the island this year.

The main sources of tourists visiting Cuba are Canada, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain, France and Mexico.