HAVANA Tourist arrivals in Cuba from January-May surged 11 percent from a year earlier, and the island is on track to welcome two million visitors in one year for the first time, the Tourism Ministry reported.

In the early 1990s, tourism overtook the politically symbolic nationalized sugar industry as Cuba's top source of hard-currency earnings, AFP reported.

"This year we reached one million visitors almost three weeks earlier than in the 2000 season," Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz said.

Foreign visitors now generate directly and indirectly 43 percent of Cuba's income -- up dramatically from 4.1 percent as recently as 1990, according to official data.