Iberostar Cuba Hotels & Resorts has launched its new brand campaign, “Feel Its Rhythms,” an initiative that invites visitors to rediscover Cuba through its cultural, musical and natural expressions.
The launch comes at a time when the Spanish hotel chain is strengthening its presence on the island and establishing a strategic alliance between Iberostar Cuba and the prestigious Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba (LADC) company, which will act as co-producer of audiovisual content and brand ambassador.
According to its promoters, “Feel Its Rhythms” is inspired by Cuba’s recent recognition as the Caribbean Leading Cultural Destination for the fifth consecutive time by the World Travel Awards, an award that reaffirms the value of its deep cultural roots as a driving force for tourism.
Multimedia strategy with a social purpose
The “Feel Its Rhythms” campaign will be rolled out through Iberostar Cuba’s own channels, Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba, the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), and commercial partners, with a presence in online and offline media, and targeted at the end consumer.
The participation of music and dance influencers is planned, who will take familiarization trips to destinations such as Varadero, Havana, Holguín, Cayo Coco, Cayo Cruz and Cayo Santa María.
The initiative also incorporates a social component by supporting the Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba + Local Development project, which offers free dance workshops for children and teenagers, and wellness spaces for senior citizens, aimed at strengthening the Cuban social fabric.
Launching in November 2025 and scheduled to run until the end of 2026, the campaign will be relaunched during the 2026-2027 season, coinciding with the Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba international tour.
“The Cuba we dream of”
During the presentation, Lizt Alfonso, director of the LADC company, spoke of the origins of the project and the spirit that drives it.
“What we have today is not the Cuba we want, but we continue to dream. That is the Cuba we dream of. And that is why it is forbidden to stop dreaming. That is why we have to keep working every day, because we cannot give up,” she said.
“We started brainstorming the whole ‘Feel Its Rhythms’ campaign, thinking that each of us moves to a rhythm, every space in the city moves to a rhythm, every place in Cuba moves to a different rhythm. And we Cubans, before we even walk, we dance and feel the music. So, based on that, the idea for this campaign emerged, a campaign that goes from the present to the retro, and now we’re going to continue and it’s going to go even further. But I’ll leave that as a surprise because, of course, there’s still a lot to do, but at least we already have the first result, which we’re also very happy with because I think it’s a completely different campaign.”
For his part, Gabriel Dávalos, photographer and co-director of the advertising videos, in statements to OnCuba, also highlighted the decision to create a promotional video for the Cuba destination “solely through the codes of dance.”
It means, he said, allowing “dance to take center stage and tell us who we are, how we live, where we are and what we invite you to experience.”
“We also had the intention and the challenge of doing it with the fantasy of Lizt’s shows, her choreography, her music, the signature style of her performances. We tried to use those long takes that have a cinematic feel. We wanted to create material that traveled to the past and also seeped into the present and invited us into the future, through the costumes, the colors, the different Havanas that appear in the video.”
Iberostar, a consolidated presence in Cuba
The Iberostar Spanish chain maintains a strong presence in Cuba with nearly 20 four- and five-star hotels distributed across the island’s main tourist destinations. Its portfolio includes four hotels in the heart of Havana and 13 hotels on the idyllic beaches of Varadero, Cayo Cruz, Cayo Ensenachos, Cayo Guillermo and Holguín, in addition to a boutique hotel in Trinidad.
Among its most prominent properties is the Iberostar Selection La Habana, the tallest hotel in Cuba at 154 meters high with 594 rooms, which opened in early 2025. The 42-story tower represents one of the largest recent hotel investments in the country.
In Old Havana, Iberostar operates three iconic properties: the Iberostar Grand Packard, located on the Paseo del Prado and recognized multiple times by TripAdvisor as one of the best hotels in the Caribbean; the Iberostar Selection Parque Central, facing the historic Parque Central; and the Iberostar Marqués de la Torre.
On Cayo Ensenachos, where the chain has an exclusive presence, it operates two high-end hotels: the Iberostar Selection Ensenachos, with 460 rooms, designed for families and couples, and the Iberostar Coral Ensenachos, reserved for adults only, with 46 Garden Villas and personalized service.
Reviving tourist arrivals
The “Feel its Rhythms” campaign is launched amidst the worst crisis in Cuban tourism in decades. According to official data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), Cuba received 1,366,720 tourists between January and September, a 20.5% drop compared to the same period in 2014.
The most optimistic projections indicate that Cuba will close 2025 with around 1.8 million visitors, well below the government’s target of 2.6 million and far from the 4.2 million the country received in 2019, before the pandemic. This figure represents the worst result since official statistics have been kept, with the exception of the pandemic years.
The crisis is attributed to structural and temporary factors: prolonged power outages, shortages of basic supplies, a reduction in international air routes, precarious tourism infrastructure and U.S. sanctions. Hotel occupancy remains at minimal levels, close to 25% in the first half of the year.
Experts like economist José Luis Perelló estimate that Cuba will not reach pre-pandemic tourism levels until 2030, constituting a “lost decade” for one of the main drivers of the island’s economy.
In this challenging context, Iberostar’s commitment to strengthening its presence in Cuba and launching a cultural promotion campaign represents a vote of confidence in the destination’s potential, although the road to the sector’s recovery appears long and complex.
