Beyond the optimistic predictions of the authorities and the announcement of some measures that seek to revive the sector, the tourism in Cuba still not taking off.
Proof of this is that it fails to reverse the decline experienced throughout 2025 and recorded its worst October in the last four years, according to official statistics.
In the first 10 months of 2025, the island received 1,477,892 international visitors, 19.9% less than in the same period of 2024. according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
The entity specified that in October 111,172 international travelers arrived on the island. Although September’s record improves, it is the worst October since 2021.
In this way, the government’s goal of adding 2.6 million visitors in 2025 is confirmed as unviable and it is also very difficult to exceed the 2.2 million in 2024, which was already the worst mark in 17 years, not counting the two years most affected by COVID-19.
To achieve this, Cuba would have to receive more than 700 thousand tourists between November and December, a practically impossible figure judging by the trend of previous months.
First markets
By country, Canada, Russia and the United States are confirmed as the three main markets for issuing visitors by volume, although all three register decreases compared to 2024.
Of the top 10 countries of origin, only Argentina and Colombia increased the number of accumulated tourists so far this year, with more than 8% and 9% in interannual terms, respectively.
As for the biggest drops, visitors from Russia fell by 36.2%, followed by those from Spain (28.2%), France (23.8%), the United States (19.2%) and Canada (18%).
Likewise, the number of Cubans residing abroad who travel to the island – which would be the second largest sending market after Canada – has fallen 20.2% year-on-year.
One million Canadian tourists to cushion the decline in Cuban tourism
Tourism and crisis
The weakness of the Cuban tourism sector, the island’s economic engine for years, has as its main factors the serious economic and energy crisis that the country is suffering – and which has an impact on services and experience -, the cutting of air routes and US sanctions.
Tourism is essential for the Government’s economic recovery plans, due to its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and the foreign exchange income it represents, which is usually among the most important, along with professional services and remittances.
Cuba received 2.2 million international visitors in 2024, a total of 2.4 million in 2023 and 1.6 million in 2022, according to official data.
These figures are far from those registered in 2018 (4.6 million) and in 2019 (4.2 million), record figures linked to the “thaw” of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba in those years and the elimination of Washington restrictions on travel to the island.
Currently, the tourism situation in Cuba contrasts with that of similar destinations in the Caribbean region, such as Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) and Cancún (Mexico), which have registered historic highs in visitors after the pandemic.
EFE / OnCuba
