Canadian and Russian Tourists Abandon Cuba in Droves
Tourism from Canada and Russia has dropped by 33% and 49%, respectively, while European arrivals hit historic lows.
HAVANA TIMES – The number of Canadian tourists visiting Cuba plummeted by 33% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2024. A year ago, Cuba received 261,009 travelers from Canada between January and February, while in 2025, that number dropped to 176,611, a significant decline of 87,398 visitors, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Tourism published by economist Pedro Monreal this Tuesday.
“The outlook for the 2024-2025 high tourism season in Cuba looks grim. Preliminary data indicate contractions in January-February 2025 among visitors from the country’s four main markets: Canada, the Cuban community, the U.S., and Russia,” the expert stated.
According to the data, the Cuban community’s arrivals decreased from 45,999 to 38,757, a 15.7% drop. Meanwhile, US visitor numbers fell by a smaller margin of 10.9%, from 28,289 to 25,197. However, the most concerning case is Russia. The ally once seen as a savior of Cuban tourism is now showing the sharpest decline of all, with a 49% drop from 43,859 visitors in 2024 to just 22,306 this year.
The figures released by the ministry do not provide the total number of tourists who have arrived on the Island in these two months, so we will have to wait for the publication of the monthly report from the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei). However, there are some other revealing data points.
The decrease in the number of accumulated travelers in January and February 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year has led to some more or less expected declines. One of them is from Argentina, which had a positive balance in 2024 but experienced a downturn that has been confirmed in these first two months, with 7.4% fewer visitors.
The European tourist market continues its downward trend, with Germany experiencing the mildest decline at -14.7%, followed by France at -22%. Spain and Italy saw similar decreases of -25.21% and -25.82%, respectively. However, Spain’s drop is particularly alarming due to the deep cultural and economic ties between the two countries.
According to Cuban authorities, one of the main reasons for this decline is the US visa restriction, which requires European visitors who have traveled to Cuba to apply for a visa before entering the US, rather than benefiting from the ESTA visa waiver program.
This confirmation of Cuba’s ongoing tourism slump comes just two days after the Lisbon Tourism Fair, a key industry event that concluded on Sunday. At the fair, Cuba attempted to market itself as a top travel destination to Portuguese tourists.
The state-run news agency Prensa Latina published a piece on Monday praising the “successful participation” of the Cuban delegation in Lisbon. The Cuban delegation aimed to promote direct air connections to Cuba without a stopover in Madrid. However, this goal appears unrealistic since Portuguese tourists—from a country with a population of 10.5 million—are rarely mentioned in Cuba’s national tourism reports and are usually grouped under the “other” category.
“The high season ends in March, and we will have to wait until October for the 2025-2026 high season to begin. February’s final numbers and March’s figures are yet to be released, but 2025 could be another bad year for tourism in Cuba,” Monreal concluded.
After years of tourism setbacks, the Cuban government has set a modest target of 2.6 million visitors for 2025, compared to 2.7 million in 2024. However, the early numbers from this high season are setting off alarm bells, suggesting that even this lower goal may be difficult to achieve.
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
I agree most people in Russia are struggling and many are very busy countries like Turkey are much cheaper and closer than Cuba. People from Canada are very concerned about the large amount people from Canada who got robbed or scammed. With no way to take out foreign currency in Cuba and shortages it no longer the best option, plus the shortage of gasoline and electric power in my opinion.
Russians have no money to come to Cuba. Putin’s war isn’t free.