{"id":322954,"date":"2025-05-17T16:18:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T20:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=322954"},"modified":"2025-05-17T16:18:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T20:18:33","slug":"cuban-tourism-more-than-honor-at-stake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/economy\/cuban-economy\/cuban-tourism-more-than-honor-at-stake\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban tourism: more than honor at stake"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January 2025, the Dominican Republic received 1,155,484 tourists \u2015 395,555 of them cruise passengers \u2015 22% more than in 2024. In the first quarter, the country received 3,348,716 visitors (a 4% increase compared to the same period in 2024) and achieved an 81% hotel occupancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2025, the main countries sending tourists to the Dominican Republic were the United States (36%), Canada (25%), Argentina (8%), Colombia (5%) and France (3%).<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in those first three months, 571,772 international visitors arrived in Cuba (71% of the total in 2024). The main source of visitors came from Canada with 272,274 (68.2% in 2024) and a 47.6% participation; Cubans residing abroad with 59,896 (80% in 2024) and a 10.4% participation; the United States with 39,447 (84.4% in 2024) and a 7% participation of total visitors; and Russia with 33,395 (50% in 2024) and a 6% participation of the total.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Cuban Statistical Yearbook, completed in 2023, there were 86,559 physical rooms in the country across all types of facilities, not including rooms in the private sector. By the way, why aren\u2019t they included? Aren\u2019t they part of the tourism sector?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of these rooms 81.7% were concentrated in 5-, 4-, and 3-star hotels. Considering that some hotels were completed in 2024 and that the new hotel on K and 23 was added in these first four months of the year, the number of rooms must have grown somewhat.<\/span><\/p>\n

The average annual occupancy rate in 2023 was 31.7%. In 2024, <\/span>\u00a0it dropped to 23%<\/span><\/a>. A lower occupancy rate is expected in the first quarter of 2025, given the increase in the number of rooms and the decrease in the number of visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The graph above summarizes one of the greatest contradictions facing the sector today: maximizing tourism revenue with a room surplus that has been accumulating idle capacity for more than twenty years and that, even in the peak years of tourist arrivals (2015-2018), has never managed to consistently exceed 60% occupancy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cuban tourism sector faces multiple challenges, some external to the sector and even to the country, and others definitely internal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it is obvious, I will emphasize that all strategies and policies adopted will be suboptimal because the blockade and the Trump administration\u2019s policies condition\/limit\/hinder Cuba\u2019s participation in this \u201cbusiness\u201d on equal terms with its competitors. Let\u2019s consider the blockade as a negative parameter and focus our efforts on reducing its effects. The challenges are multiple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>first challenge<\/span><\/i> would be the competition and existing competitors in the region, who today enjoy the same natural advantages and surpass us in almost everything, from advertising campaigns to \u201cnon-hotel amenities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the purpose of illustrating this point, some of these amenities, which are external to the sector, are detailed below.<\/span><\/p>\n