Cuba’s Hotel Construction Boom Continues as Housing Falters
Tourism projects in Ciego de Avila are going full steam ahead
Delivery of materials to rehabilitate the runway of the Jardines del Rey International Airport and the roads in the area is guaranteed
HAVANA TIMES – Despite “a difficult economic situation in the country” and a 45% deficit in the housing plan for 2024, work in the tourism sector in Ciego de Ávila is going full steam ahead. According to the newspaper Invasor, the province is working on developing the tourist destination Jardines del Rey, “the second sun and beach enclave in Cuba and one of the most prominent in the Caribbean region.”
Although the article does not indicate how long the works will take or the total investment, it indicates that the Provincial Construction Materials Company (Avilmat) is participating in the project on the keys located in the north of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, with the aim of increasing hotel and non-hotel tourist capacity, “with high-standard facilities.”
To do this, Avilmat, “an example of a socialist state entity,” sells and transports construction materials to Cayo Cruz. The company, according to the text, will produce more than 260,000 cubic meters of materials such as sand, granite and gravel, despite the “complex situation with energy carriers, interruptions in the electrical service and the allocation of only 49% of the fuel planned for the year.”
Invasor also highlights that to ensure that tourism development takes place, Avilmat will produce 660,000 blocks of different sizes, “a figure greater than 30,000 square meters of flooring, 4,500 tons of mortar and more than 18,000 tons of crushed gypsum, the latter being an essential raw material for making cement.”
However, just over a month ago, the same newspaper reported, when assessing the residential housing plan in the province for this year, that only 240 of the 670 planned houses would be built. Much of the problem, according to the official newspaper, was due to the lack of construction materials throughout the country. “The main obstacles facing the territory are related to the lack of cement and steel, the lack of financing for subsidized housing and the still scarce local production of construction materials.”
The newspaper was critical in its report, saying that 2024 will join a long history of deficiencies and failures in the construction sector. “Currently, the housing stock in Ciego de Ávila shows a deficit of around 35,000 homes. At this rate, it will take almost 40 years to meet all the demand; and that assumes that in the next four decades cyclones and construction deterioration do not demolish a single house,” it reported on November 26.
Regarding road works for tourism in Jardines del Rey, Alberto Suárez Cid, deputy director of Avilmat, also reported that they provided resources for the repair of the runway at the archipelago’s airport.
According to Invasor, this material also made possible “the improvement and construction of roads in the aforementioned tourist development area, ensuring appropriate conditions for the safe movement of visitors and workers who provide services in these places.”
This “prosperity” highlighted by the newspaper contrasts with the poor conditions of the province’s roads, which are used by the majority of the population and which have contributed to two road accidents in the last eight days, which have claimed the lives of five people, two of them minors .
The policy of prioritising tourism development at the expense of the housing plan is repeated in other provinces of the country, such as in Sancti Spíritus, where, of the 390 million pesos that the Ministry of Construction dedicated to the sector in 2023, almost 60% – 227 million – went to the Meliá Trinidad Península hotel project, owned by the State and managed by the Spanish company. This measure meant that, of 100 homes planned that year, barely 35 were built.
Translated by Translating Cuba.
Another sad thing that’s happened is the Asian takeover of half ownership of Habanos SA the cigar conglomerate on the island. I spent many years along with others partaking in the cigar tourism on the island. Cuba was always a destination for cheaper Cuban cigars to thousands of cigar tourists. Now that Cuba has lost control of the market the prices have risen to a Hong Kong standard of prices which defeats the purpose of travelling there for the cigar aficionado crowd. It may be just a drop in the bucket of tourism but those thousands of cigar tourists now stay home. Greed has taken over and ruined the Cuban cigars industry and the spin-off tourism involved. Sad times indeed.
The comments are interesting.
Cuba is regrettably, sandwiched between it’s own self inflicted damages and the damages resulting from the 62 years USA Trade Embargo, which is the legal name given to what really has become a long, protracted Economic Siege. The terrible amount of trash out in Havana streets is no an American fault but certainly is the outcome of inefficiency and ineptitude of the City Authorities. But regardless of the package of contradictions present in today’s Cuba, it is somehow amazing their faith and hope in changing in this 2025.
Donald Trump is a businessman. Perhaps he can rationally use his transactional abilities to re-launch a pragmatical approach to Cuba that will result in a great benefit for his Foreign Policy and USS interests in Latin America.
Dont waste your money in cuba its full of corruption, no service, dont drink the bottled water its not safe.ect…
people are starving, have no food housing or medical help. till this changes i am not going there again. went there at least 10 times but i am not enjoining food when Cubans are statving
Socialism does not work.. just look at the other countries. Time to revolt and take back your country
Maybe if the free world would quit picking on Cuba because of its politics and offer assistance (like they do for the rest of the world)……things might improve for the people down there. I wish them the best of luck.
Like the last comment, I have experienced the same scenario. Empty luxury hotels, streets of garbage. It’s unsanitary, rats, sewage water. The greed, corruption, money laundering? Who knows. It’s just obvious the system in place has given up on moving the country into the future. Tourism will continue to decline. They can build all they want but online the images are circulating. The die hard seasonal tourists will come stay in the sun during the winter, but future generations of tourists is dwindling. The darkened city streets, highways from the airport have no light. It’s not a let’s save energy situation, it’s a safety issue. They can’t expect people to return. I return every few months only because of my relations on the island. But I’m reluctant to suggest Cuba as a desirable destination to my friends. The system is shameful, criminal.
This not a just a problem in Cuba but even in countries like Canada the lack of housing is a real problem because gov choices
I did some additional research simce I was perplexed why the government keeps building resorts: “Money Laundering Challenges for Construction
High-value projects and complex financial transactions associated with the construction industry have become particularly vulnerable to money laundering activities.”
The construction of tourist projects are often joint ventures, with materials brought in from abroad by Spanish, Russian or Chinese, and Indian partners.
Cuba and the other large islands of the Caribbean need to address the other aspect of being a republic: the fiscal and administrative decentralization/decolonization of local government functions to empower the provinces (as in Canada) to be independently in charge of maintaining community roads and Public facilities….towards giving grassroots Cubans a greater bottom-up participatory voice in national development…! This is the critical essence of SPATIAL DEMOCRACY/SPATIAL SOCIALISM!
Since the Cuban government hasn’t a clue about how to build an outhouse maybe they should
call Xi Ping and ask the Chinese for a loan. I think it would be a safe bet that future vacationers
will be coming from China more
than any other country.
The garbage in the streets wouldn’t phase the Chinese
as the restaurants I know about here in my country many
are cited for health violations.
Here is how home owners associations work. They collect money, contract out projects to their friends and family and all the money gets spent. Don’t you think the government is doing the same. They are spending reserve capital so all their buddies get that cash into their pocket on these projects. Remember, these people are not stupid. They get up each morning and think of greed and how to gain financial capital that is concealed as building resorts.
Havana should have been left in the hands of the Mafia back in the 50s. It would be a paradise today.
Whenever I read stories about the construction of new tourists properties, I can’t help but ask, if only to myself, if the Castros can really be this stupid and/or selfish? During my last visit to Cuba, it was disturbing to see how many streets in Central Havana were cultivating mountains of trash. Only blocks away from my Casa Particular and less than a block away from the University of Havana, one block was almost entirely trash. There was just enough room for less than a full car’s width open for traffic. How does the Castro dictatorship justify the cost of a new hotel while allowing it’s citizenry to live in filth? For example, there is a new and very tall luxury hotel at the end of the Prado boulevard facing the Malecon. One afternoon during our visit to Havana, we decided to check out this property. The large marbled lobby was a ghost town. Because I look Cuban, as is usually the case, the staff approached me with that “WTF are you doing here” look on their faces. Instinctively, I chose to respond in English by asking them which elevator takes me to the rooftop restaurant. Suddenly they were all smiles and very helpful. Every elevator was at the bottom floor and available. I took one to the roof and the restaurant, like the lobby downstairs, was deserted. Very nice looking restaurant but empty. Maybe the Castros have a crystal ball and see a future where these new tourist properties are 80% occupied and tourism doubles from a current estimated 2.5 million visitors in 2024 to 5+ million in 5 years. Is that what I am missing?