Although it has slightly reduced its fall, the tourism in Cuba remains in red numbers. Until the end of September, the sector lost almost 400 thousand international visitors compared to last year, which confirms the impossibility of meeting the official forecast.
In total, between January and September the island received 1,366,720 tourists, 20.5% less than in the same period in 2024. according to published data by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
Last year at that time Around 1,719,000 foreign visitors had arrived, which in itself already represented a drop of 5.2% when compared to the figure for 2023.
At the end of August This year the decline had been 21.64% and a month before, At the end of the first semester, It was 25%. However, the reduction achieved in September is very insignificant in light of the government’s objectives.
To meet the initial estimate of 2.6 million tourists, Cuba would have to receive practically the same number of visitors in the last quarter as in the rest of the year. Even the current scenario makes it very difficult to reach the 2.2 million in 2024 in 2025, which was already the worst mark in 17 years, not counting the two years most affected by COVID-19.
Markets in decline
By country, Canada, Russia and the United States continued to be the three main markets for visitors by volume, although for the first time the European country occupied second position to the detriment of the world’s leading economy.
However, the three countries continued to decline compared to 2024. Canada, 19.5%; United States, 19.6%; and Russia, 37.2%, one of the steepest drops.
Of the top ten countries of origin, only Argentina increased the number of tourists accumulated so far this year, by more than 7% in interannual terms, while Mexico fell by 9.3%. Regarding European markets, visitors from Germany decreased by 43.5%, followed by those from Spain (27.1%) and France (23.8%).
Likewise, the number of Cubans residing abroad who visited the island—and which would be the second largest sending market—fell 20.7% year-on-year.
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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 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.
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
