For the Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) and other voices, one of the most significant obstacles is the pressure exerted by the United States against the island, known as the blockade, in financial, commercial, and economic matters.
This is part of 243 measures promoted and intensified by the current administration of President Donald Trump, which indeed are felt, authorities insisted. The country’s media, relying on recent reports from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), which were debated on the Cuban Television Mesa Redonda round table discussion, learnt that tourism in Cuba fell 25% at the end of the first half of the year, when the country received 981,856 visitors from January to June.
Canada remains the main market, with 428,125 travelers, although the number is only 75% of what was recorded in 2023, and the decline affects almost all Cuba’s destination: Russia, Germany, France, and Spain.
During a visit to Colombia, Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia, who stressed on the need of encouraging accessibility in the region to revive the sector, extoled his stay there was part of a government strategy to revitalize tourism, which has been affected by the economic crisis.
Tourism is key to the Cuban economy, contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP) and generating foreign currency, surpassed only by professional services and remittances.
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