The headline states that this sector is still alive and kicking amid the crisis. This exchange was widely reported this Monday and echoed by several European media outlets, such as Reportur, which specializes in tourism and travel.

The publication notes that when US President Barack Obama disembarked Air Force One on Cuban soil in 2016, he was one of approximately four million visitors to the island that year.

A record at the time, the number of visitors to Cuba continued to grow, reaching a peak of nearly five million people two years later. Since then, however, the decline in Cuban tourism has been abrupt.

Hit by the double impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the most severe travel restrictions imposed by the administration of current US President Donald Trump, last year was one of Cuba’s poorest for the industry this century.

Conceptually, tourism remains the country’s economic engine. “Well, I’m not a doctor, but I can tell you that Cuban tourism is alive and doing well, despite the fact that “we face obstacles that none of our competitors do,” Garcia said.

The BBC emphasizes that, referring to the six-decade-long US economic embargo on Cuba, the measures adopted by Washington since President Trump’s first term in 2017 were specifically designed to harm Cuban tourism.

But Garcia concludes, “We’re going to fill the hotels. We’re going to get out of this economic situation, and tourism will do its part.” jdt/mem/rfcc