{"id":322142,"date":"2025-05-01T19:42:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T23:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=322142"},"modified":"2025-05-01T19:42:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T23:42:03","slug":"tourism-in-cuba-a-driving-force-in-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/economy\/tourism-in-cuba\/tourism-in-cuba-a-driving-force-in-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism in Cuba: a driving force in decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tourism in Cuba<\/b><\/a> hasn\u2019t been able to get back on its feet. The so-called engine of the Cuban economy, hit hard by the pandemic, remains mired in a worrying decline that has dispelled its semblance of recovery and shattered the government\u2019s plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>official figures<\/b><\/a> leave no room for doubt, nor do the beaches and streets once crowded with tourists today display a very different image. This, even though the government <\/span>has repeatedly emphasized<\/b><\/a> tourism as an economic engine and has opted for <\/span>high investment<\/b><\/a>, which is out of step with the reality of the sector and the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In such a difficult situation \u2014 conditioned by the multi-crisis on the island that has been going on for several years \u2014 the FITCuba 2025 International Tourism Fair opened its doors, the main showcase for Cuba\u2019s ailing tourism industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event, which takes place every year around this time, is being held at Havana\u2019s Morro-Caba\u00f1a Historic Park and will feature China as the guest of honor. According to authorities, FITCuba aims to be a \u201cstrategic platform\u201d to revive ties with different markets and reposition the country as an attractive and competitive destination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below, a look at the current state of tourism in Cuba, a sector in decline that urgently needs a change of direction if it hopes to return to being the driving force it once was or, at least, halt its decline in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tourists in a nosedive<\/b><\/p>\n

The most visible and popular indicator for analyzing the performance of tourism is quite clear: Cuba has seen a sustained decline in tourist arrivals, which contrasts with the boom in other destinations in the region, such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After surpassing 4 million visitors in the years before the pandemic \u2014 with 2017 peaking at around 4.7 million \u2014 and losing the momentum brought by the brief thaw with Washington, tourism on the island felt the impact of COVID-19. It hasn\u2019t been the same since.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the logical drop in 2020 and 2021, 2022 showed signs of a slight recovery with the arrival of 1.6 million tourists, a figure that rose to 2.4 million in 2023. However, last year saw a decline with just 2.2 million foreign visitors, even though the government had hoped to receive more than 3 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the first quarter of 2025 was even worse. Between January and March, months that traditionally mark a peak in the year, there was a <\/span>year-over-year decline of almost 30%<\/b><\/a>, with a collapse in the main source markets \u2014 including mainstays such as Canada, Russia, and the United States \u2014 according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).<\/span><\/p>\n

This seriously compromises the government\u2019s goal of 2.6 million tourists, seemingly more realistic than that of the previous year, but in practice still visibly far from reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

For economist Pedro Monreal, this dismal result \u201cwould indicate that 2025 could not only be another bad year for tourism in Cuba, but also that it would have gone from being a \u2018locomotive\u2019 to becoming the graveyard of substantial state investment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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2\/3 Canad\u00e1, principal mercado, cay\u00f3 31,8% en marzo 2025 respecto igual mes de 2024, y Rusia, hasta hace poco presentada como nuevo mercado din\u00e1mico se contrajo a la mitad. De los 4 principales emisores, EE.UU y la comunidad cubana tuvieron las contracciones menores pic.twitter.com\/7BTQr7dIQG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal) April 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n