The Cuban government began to close some hotels on the island and transfer tourists to other facilities as part of the package of measures adopted in response to the US oil siege, they confirmed to EFE this Saturday sources from the sector.
The deputy prime minister, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, said on state television on Friday that “a tourism plan has been designed to reduce energy consumption, compact tourist facilities and take advantage of the high season that is currently taking place in our country.”
The also head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment did not specify details about this “compaction” of the tourist infrastructure, but the sources – who preferred anonymity – told EFE that since yesterday hotels have been closing and international tourists being relocated to other centers.
This mainly affects some tourist facilities located in the resort of Varadero (west) and the keys in the north of the island.
Among the main hotel chains that operate in Cuba are the Spanish Meliá and Iberostar, and the Canadian Blue Diamond, among others.
Tourism on the decline
The tourism sector in Cuba, once considered the engine of the island’s economy, confirmed its crisis in 2025 by closing with its worst record of international travelers (1.8 million) since 2002, not counting the years of covid-19.
The figure does not come as a surprise – in the first half of the year, the hotel occupancy rate registered an annual decrease of seven percentage points (21.5%) – but it does confirm the plummet in tourism in the last seven years.
Data from 2025 confirm an “annus horribilis” for tourism in Cuba
Canada, with 754,010 people, and Russia, with 131,882, were the two main markets of origin for visitors last year, according to official data, but with year-on-year falls of 12.4 and 29%, respectively.
The decline began after 2018, when the island reached its historical record of tourists: 4.7 million in one year. Cuba came from the years of the “thaw” with the United States of President Barack Obama.
Then came the measures of his successor, Donald Trump, during his first term. Added to the sanctions were the pandemic (which froze the sector for almost two years) and the serious economic and energy crisis that the country is suffering – and which has an impact on services and experience – and the cutting of air routes.
Tourism is fundamental to the economic recovery plans of the Cuban Government, due to its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and the inflow of foreign currency it represents, which is usually among the most important, along with professional services and remittances.
Anti-crisis plan
Cuba has been suffering a serious energy crisis since mid-2024 due to the frequent breakdowns of its obsolete thermoelectric plants and the lack of foreign currency to import the fuels necessary to fuel distributed generation.
The US military operation in Caracas on January 3 meant for Havana, in addition to the blow to a key regional ally, the end of vital energy supplies for the island.
Then, US President Donald Trump increased the pressure by signing an executive order on January 29 that threatens tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island.
Cuba responds with survival measures to the challenge of an energy collapse designed by the US
To face this scenario, the Government launched the emergency plan for fuel shortages that also includes rationing fuel sales, prioritizing teleworking and implementing blended classes at universities.
This anti-crisis package takes as reference the “indications” of former President Fidel Castro during the so-called Special Period, due to the depression that the fall of the Soviet bloc meant for the island.
Announcing it on Thursday, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, rescued the concept of “zero option”, the survival plan proposed in the nineties in the face of the “zero oil” scenario.
This involved extreme rationing, the use of animal traction, charcoal for cooking and non-motorized transportation, and food self-sufficiency.
