Spain Recommends Against Traveling to Cuba
“If you are not vaccinated against Chikungunya, Dengue and Hepatitis A”
The drop in tourism in the last five years has led the Government to reduce its investments in that sector, which until now was a priority.
HAVANA TIMES – The Spanish Foreign Ministry issued a health alert this Friday stating that “Cuba is currently experiencing a serious epidemic, with simultaneous outbreaks of various mosquito-borne viral diseases.” Consequently, it recommends against traveling to the island if one is not vaccinated against chikungunya, dengue, and hepatitis A.
This warning comes at the worst possible time for the Cuban government, in the middle of the peak tourist season and at the end of a catastrophic year in which the number of international travelers will not even reach half of the four million registered in 2016.
The new guidelines from Madrid were released this Wednesday, after it was confirmed that the situation in Cuba has deteriorated significantly. The accumulation of garbage and the increasing number of hours without electricity—two factors that directly impact hygiene—explain the updated alert, according to sources consulted by Confidencial Digital.
According to the most recent data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), between January and September 2025, 36,788 Spanish tourists traveled to Cuba, representing a 27.1% drop compared to the same period in 2024. Canada—traditionally the leading source market for Cuba—has also drastically reduced its presence on the island this year. In the first seven months of 2025, the number of Canadian tourists who traveled to Cuba totaled 478,388, down from the 622,204 registered in the same period of 2024.
The health emergency that is now keeping tourists away is a direct result of the neglect of basic services. And that neglect, in turn, stems from an investment policy that for years prioritized tourism over agriculture, energy, health, and infrastructure.
Over the past decade, the regime has turned the tourism industry into its economic totem and its riskiest gamble. The result in 2025 is empty luxury hotels in cities where water can take weeks to arrive, beach destinations with more rooms than food in the markets, and a healthcare system lacking staff, resources, and supplies.
Official investment figures up to 2024 confirm this. While agriculture received a mere 3% of the total and public health a meager 1.9%, hotels and restaurants absorbed 10.8%, and the so-called “business services, real estate and rental activities” – a category that includes a significant portion of hotel spending – accounted for a hefty 26.6%. In other words, more than a third of national investment was earmarked for building or renovating tourism infrastructure.
The paradox is that, just now that Spain is recommending vaccination before visiting the island and even bringing a complete first-aid kit because hospitals lack medicines, the Cuban government seems to have discovered – late, very late – that perhaps it should invest more in basic services.
Data from January to October 2025 show a shift. Funding for tourism falls to 5.2%, and the real estate and business sector drops to 17.1%, while the provision of essential services for the general population—electricity, gas, and water—jumps from 12.6% to 36.7%, becoming the main recipient of investment. Transportation—key to moving goods and people in a semi-paralyzed country—also grows, from 8.5% to 10.7%.
But the inevitable question is: will this change be enough at this point? Because the figures also reveal what the government continues to fail to prioritize. In 2025, investments in agriculture—the foundation of food security—represent a mere 2.1% of the total, compared to 2024. Education falls to 0.4%, science and innovation also to 0.4%, and public health to 1.3%, percentages that are barely enough to keep buildings standing, much less to modernize or supply them.
The Spanish government also warns travelers that, although Cuban healthcare personnel are generally competent, “medical facilities suffer from a severe lack of supplies” and fall far short of Spanish standards. Furthermore, it emphasizes that foreigners are required to pay for any medical treatment immediately and that Cuban authorities may prevent them from leaving the country if any medical bills remain unpaid. The alert also stresses the need to only use bottled water due to the risk of Hepatitis A.
Today, with several countries—including the United States, Russia, and Mexico—advising travelers to think twice before visiting Cuba, the regime is trying to correct its course. But investments are like economic cycles; their effects take years to materialize. What went under funded in 2015 or 2018 is now exploding in the form of blackouts, epidemics, and shortages. And what begins to be funded in 2025 may come too late to prevent the island from continuing to lose—among many other things—one of its main sources of foreign currency.
Translated by Translating Cuba.