Tourism in Cuba does not recover: 134,948 visitors in June

MADRID, Spain.- Cuba received a total of 1,680,485 visitors during the first half of 2024, according to official figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI). Although this number represents an increase of 101.1% compared to the previous year, it barely reflects an increase of 0.9% compared to the same period in 2023. This figure shows that the Cuban tourism sector is still far from achieving the regime’s goal of attracting 3.2 million tourists in 2024.

The negative trend has continued, with the third consecutive month of decline in the arrival of visitors international. Last June, only 134,948 tourists visited the island, compared to 154,590 in the same month last year.

Canada It remains the main issuing market, although its visitors decreased slightly from 583,027 in 2023 to 577,549 in 2024. The arrival of Cubans living abroad also fell from 176,349 to 155,320. In contrast, Russia showed a significant increase of 166.7%, going from 67,612 tourists in 2023 to 112,721 in 2024. Other markets, such as the United States, Mexico and Argentina, also showed growth, while traditional European markets such as Germany, France, Spain and Italy registered declines.

To reverse this negative trend, the Ministry of Tourism is focusing on improving direct air connections to the Island. In contrast, Caribbean tourist destinations such as Punta Cana and Cancun have experienced a significant rebound in the number of visitors post-pandemic, reaching historic levels.

With the figures of travelers who have arrived in Cuba in the first six months of the year becoming known, renowned economist Pedro Monreal considered that “halfway through the year, the official data on visitors received do not seem to be promising, with a dynamic very similar to that of the same period in 2023 and very far from the data of the last normal years (2017-2019)”.

Last JuneCuban authorities had announced the arrival of 1.8 million tourists in the first six months of 2024. However, Monreal refuted this figure, arguing that, to reach that number, 625,112 visitors would have had to have arrived in June, something that was highly unlikely given that the maximum number of visitors in a month of June in recent years was 342,195 in 2018.

Monreal concluded from May that the figures provided by the Cuban government were “incongruent” and did not reflect a true recovery of the tourism sector in the country.

In 2023, Cuba received 2.4 million visitors, a figure considerably lower than the 4.2 million in 2019 and the 4.6 million in 2018.