HAVANA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Cuba has witnessed a 7.2-percent increase of tourists in the first four months year-on-year, better than expected as the country plans to receive 5.1 million visitors in 2019, a senior official said Saturday.

Cuba has received 1.8 million tourists since the beginning of this year "in spite of the complex situations facing the country," said Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero on local television.

"This year began with some difficulties in the European zone. Although not only in Cuba, there is a decrease in visits by people from that region to the Caribbean for various reasons," Marrero said.

He highlighted, however, that they managed to boost the number of visitors from Canada, the country's main source of tourists, as well as from other countries such as Russia.

"All the necessary publicity and promotion measures have been taken" to increase the arrival of tourists in 2019, he added.

The 39th International Tourism Fair of Cuba will open on Tuesday in Havana to mark the city's 500th anniversary.

Havana plans to relaunch itself as a renovated tourism destination. During the fair there will be presentations of new tourism products and recreational programs in various areas.

Tourism has become one of the main sources of income for Cuba, which brought in more than 3 billion U.S. dollars last year, an increase of 17.6 percent compared to that of 2017.