HAVANA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Cuba received over four million international visitors in 2017 on Monday, 54 days earlier than last year, the Tourism Ministry announced.

The ministry stressed that achieving this result right at the beginning of the high season in November shows "the continuous increase of those who choose our country as a destination."

On November 1, Cuba opened its tourism high season, with all destinations ready to operate, including in the northern keys of Santa Maria, Guillermo and Coco, which were all heavily hit by the hurricane.

Tourism is Cuba's second main source of foreign currency and reached four million visitors for the first time in 2016. It has set a target of 4.7 million visitors from overseas in 2017 and five million for 2018.

Canada is the leading source of tourism to Cuba, with its nationals accounting for 34 percent of the total arrivals.