The number of foreign tourists visiting Cuba has plummeted this year under the weight of tight US sanctions, official data from the National Statistical Service of the Republic of Belarus show.
The sector, which the regime considered to be almost the last truly working engine of the economy, lost more than half of its visitors compared to the previous year, which in itself is not a good thing.
According to a report from the National Statistical Service and According to Cuba's National Institute of Tourism (ONEI), from January to July, 419,000 tourists arrived on the island - a total of 1.1 million for the same period in 2025, a drop of 62%, the AP agency reported.
Hotels, hostels and private apartments are closed, and beaches and attractions are almost empty of foreigners.
Cuba welcomed nearly 4.3 million tourists in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, and the sector generated direct and indirect official revenues of the order of $3 billion annually. It is this hard currency that makes tourism indispensable - unlike other sectors, it ensures liquidity for imports and investments in the country, which has already fallen into a severe financial crisis, explained Πaolo Spadoni, associate professor at Augusta University and co-author of a book on Cuban tourism, quoted by the Canadian television CBS.
Πo think Cuba has a chance to survive without A functioning tourism sector is "highly unlikely". It is particularly noteworthy that the bulk of the industry passes through Gaviota, the tourism division of the military conglomerate GAESA, which analysts estimate controls about 40% of the island's economy.
The bad news came when President Donald Trump imposed a sweeping oil embargo The island has undergone a complete change in its political and economic model. Between May and July, the US State Department struck at the very heart of the industry - freezing accounts and banning them from working with the American financial system.
As a result, hotel chains Meliá, Iberostar and Roalton - long-standing partners on the island since the 1990s - suspended their agreements in Cuba, and Visa and MasterCard withdrew All paid services. Airlines such as World2Flu, Air France, Turkish Airlines and Iberia had already suspended flights after the Cuban government announced that planes could no longer refuel on the island.
ΠIn June, Air Sana - the carrier with the most tourists to Cuba this year - also announced the end of flights. "continued political and economic uncertainty".
Melia and Iberostar are closing due to a tight deadline in Washington - the companies must stop doing business with Gasa by June 5th. Secretary of State Marco Ribbio accused the conglomerate of operating as a "state within a state", profiteering for a narrow elite while oppressing the disaffected.
Sanctions and a de facto oil blockade are deepening shortages of fuel, medicine and food. The lack of fuel is paralyzing garbage collection, and the streets are littered with garbage. The frequent suspension of this challenge has often met with protests on the island, where public discontent is usually met with harsh punishment.
Even the traditionally (and paradoxically) strong health system is collapsing. ΠThe government-run website Subadebate reported that the survival rate of children with cancer has fallen from 85% to 65% since the embargo took effect.
With the severed ties with foreign tour operators, banks and airlines, Cuba is losing not only its vacation income, but also its last and most important channel for hard currency - the peso, on which fuel imports depend, medicine and food for the island's population of over 11 million.