The Cuban Government’s Bets to Revive Tourism
Russian Oil Company workers and the Shanghai Tourism Fair
Authorities invite the Chinese to “discover the smile, gratitude, and spirituality of a noble, heroic, resilient, and optimistic people.”
HAVANA TIMES – Not in vain has the official Cuban press widely covered the arrival, this Friday in Varadero, of the first flight of the season loaded with 285 Rosneft employees from Russia. Bringing workers of the state-owned companies to Cuba is vital, at a time when the arrival of Russian tourists – in 2024, down by 50 percent from the previous year – is catastrophic.
Russian employees, reports Cubadebate, based on statements from Havanatur, “will start a two-week program designed to improve the quality of life and promoting corporate tourism.” In coming months, they expect two other similar flights, “each with more than 370 passengers,” and by the end of the year, another four, “with an increase in the number of travelers compared to previous years.”
Faced with the sector’s debacle, the Government is trying strategies of all kinds, including going to China. This Sunday, several authorities are in Shanghai, where the Tourism Plus Fair began. There, they expressed their willingness to work together to increase the flow of Chinese tourists, who, today, are not on the list of main international travelers to the Island.
For his part, the Cuban ambassador to China, Alberto Blanco, invited future visitors to China to “discover the smile, gratitude and spirituality of a noble, heroic, resistant and optimistic people.” He highlighted three elements as “unique” that favor tourism cooperation between both countries: “the complementarity between two socialist nations without conflicts of interest, the stability and security that characterize Cuba, and the special affection and historical admiration of the Antillean people for the Asian country.”
China will, in fact, be the guest of honor at the Cuba International Tourism Fair, which will celebrate its 43rd edition between April 30 and May 3. “This collaboration would allow us to adapt our facilities and services to the preferences of Chinese tourists,” Blanco explained at the press conference held in Shanghai, alluding to “efforts to adjust the gastronomic and cultural offer to the demands of this market.”
The head of the Cuban diplomatic delegation also announced the possibility of Chinese companies managing hotels on the island, “following successful models from other Asian nations.” The Indian chain MGM Muthu manages a dozen hotels in Cuba and the Indonesian Archipelago International operates five facilities under the Aston and Grand Aston brands.
As the official press recalls, in 2025 Cuba and China commemorate 65 years of diplomatic relations. The collaboration between the two countries in tourism matters has so far materialized in several measures, such as the establishment, in May last year, of a direct flight with Air China and the visa exemption for Chinese citizens with ordinary passports.
Faced with the search for international travelers in distant fishing grounds, other usual markets show their decline. This is evidenced, for example, by Cuba’s non-participation this year in the Tourism Fair in Barcelona (B-Travel), where the Embassy used to have a representation space.
Several Cuban activists went to the fair to denounce the reality of the Island, according to CiberCuba. One of them, Avana de la Torre, declared that if the official participation of the Island in B-Travel was suspended it is “because Cuba is a big lie, and we free Cubans show what Cuba is like from the inside.”
The monthly report on the arrival of travelers from the National Office of Statistics and Information, published on March 21, confirmed the debacle announced by the preliminary figures of the Ministry of Tourism published by the economist Pedro Monreal days earlier. Weighed down by the huge decline of Russians and Canadians, Cuba received 30% fewer tourists in January and February than in the same period of the previous year.
As of February, the arrival of 178,263 foreign visitors was recorded, 17,741 fewer than in January – when 196,004 arrived – and 153,649 fewer than in the first two months of 2024. The data make the Cuban government’s goal, already lowered compared to other years, of 2.6 million tourists in 2025 increasingly impossible.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba
Cuba had a thriving cigar tourism sector that was around since the early sixties until the government run corporation Cubatobacco sold 50% of the business to a group of greedy Asian businessmen. As soon as they where installed within the ownership they raised prices in Cuba to Hong Kong standard which in some cases caused certain brands to rise in cost by over 250%. This greed and mismanagement killed the cigar tourism sector literally overnight. You would think that for the small profit accrued to the new owners they could have left Cuban cigar prices alone. Now it’s gone and likely will never return to the aficionado cigar craze of the early nineties and 2000’s. Not that the cigar sector on the island was ever huge but as I say they lost thousands of tourists with one strike of the pen here. What other mistakes have been made I can only wonder.
The Cuban government is still in the clouds, let’s see when it puts its feet on the ground and realizes that none of its plans work, which are supposed to have included in their economic growth plans the blockade imposed by the United States.
The pathetic, corrupt, and repressive Cuban regime thinks courting other socialist countries like China will increase their tourism numbers, and maintain a steady flow of travelers is a desperate act destined to fail. They think that because they were able to entice some fellow communist comrades from Russia to test the vacation experience then China will be much the same. Firstly, generally speaking of course, Russian’s are used to a little hardship and perhaps not the greatest of culinary delights but as long as they have some good Russian vodka at their disposal all is not lost. Chinese vacationers are so much different from Russian ones it’s like night and day. Chinese vacationers are more sophisticated and require excellent food, clean environments, and exceptional experiences – none of which can be found in the dictatorial, and repressive, nightmare called Cuba. Where Russian’s might opt for a tan under the Caribbean sun with a vodka in hand, Chinese vacationers do not sun bathe – their fair skin does not take well to tanning and just sitting around is considered a complete waste of time and money to them. Without a doubt this weak attempt at capturing a new market of travelers will land flat on its face, like a belly flop from a 10m diving board. Instead of shaping up, improving the situation country wide, they just steal more from their own people, while ignoring their number 1 tourists – Canadians – they instead look for some other unsuspecting victims to lure into their crumbling tourist trap. The situation for tourism and the people of Cuba will not improve while the old revolution stalwarts remain in power. These thieves spend more on tourism than education and heath care combined – and the tourism sector sucks – so that tells you how bad the the situation is on the ground for the Cuban people, living behind the scenes. My Cuban friends tell me that it’s the worst time in Cuban history to be a citizen. Yet it’s fine times for the political and military elites. Viva Cuba y la revolución – NOT!!
2 class system now in Cuba – so much for egalitarian values eh? All is payola in every sector including hospitals where money in the hand is necessary to get ‘free’ services’.
Makes sense to entice other communist countries to build up tourism as Canada and many other countries have become exhausted from blackouts, bad food service, scams everywhere and rampant inflation. Banking system is a total ripoff as well offering only 33% exchange compared to the street: US dollar street exchange 350 peso while banks offer 120 and using credit cards involves hidden fees.
Canadian murdered in Varadero in March and not a word about it or the fact 2 Russians drowned as well. Cuban Crime is rampant in bad economic times!
New tourists uninitiated to the real Cuba will simply help fund more tyranny.
Reality is Cuba is a disaster with daily blackouts in most areas 15-20 hours daily along with phone lines and internet. Canada is banning all essential service personnel from going to Cuba simply because there is no way to reliably communicate especially in emergency situations! Blackouts put all businesses at a standstill!
Trying to entice unsuspecting tourist may be an idea and a complete denile by the Cuban ruling class to admit the terrible state the whole country is in and yes, threatening the public with hefty jail sentences if caught publicly writing or talking about the currient state of affairs certainly reveals how damn desperate the government is to surpress free speech!
Yes it would be great IF the wealth from tourism filtered down to the public and resulted in new construction of electric plants, rice factories, improving schools, hospitals and building parks for children and generally signs of improvement: but sadly most money goes into clandestine banks owned by the military who are not subject to scrutiny and always has!
Cuba is a dictatorship that convently parades a false facade that they are communists: fake news for sure! All is fake to handouts and financial perks fromm other dictators and so called communists
Will the public ever command change? Doubtful and difficult to unify with internet out most of the time and fear foremost of police and government forces bulling opposition.
So, wax eloquent about Cuba to unsuspecting tourists and pull the wool over their eyes promising them paradise and a defining cultural experience exploiting the sick, hungry, and elderly and monthly slave wages circa 3500 pesos (equal to 10 pounds of rice) or $.25 cents Canadian hourly wage. The hopeless are easily led” Yoda -Star Wars.
Yes, you can fool some people sometimes but not all the people all the time. Sugar coated tourism is a bandaid solution to a collapsing economy and 60 years of mismanagement and exploitation. None of this is new as testaments from Cubans all over the world verify this is all public media. Sad state of affairs and hard to believe the people running the country are humanly endowed with one ounce of compassion!!
I really hate to kick a man while he’s down but in the case of Cuba, the kick is well-deserved and overdue. What the hell are these guys thinking? Simply build a luxury K-23 tower and they will come? A buddy of mine in Havana tells me that because of the pathetic 23% occupancy, normal maintenance needed for the brand new facility is going undone. He says that there are rooms that have NEVER been rented. For his privacy, I won’t say how he knows what he knows but he says that certain parts of the building are overrun with black mold and rusting faucets. I just saw a YouTube video about the night life, or rather, the lack thereof in Varadero. Sending a handful of Russian oil company employees and Chinese government tourists won’t cut it. Tourism is largely organic. People go on vacation to places that promise to deliver the best return on their hard-earned money. At this point, Cuba is least able to offer vacation “deals”. Likewise, a Cuban “five star” hotel is a 3 or 4 star elsewhere in the Caribbean. Then there are the blackouts to consider. Finally, like any sinking ship, the longer it takes Cuba to recover, the harder it is to bail out the boat. Last person out the door, turn out the lights…
If left alone Cuba will become so popular than native population would have to become slaves to satisfy the needs of an insatiable demand. Be careful what you wish for. Every paradise people travel to just to get photographed, exist simultaneously in Cuba. The country is running out of reasons not to be visited. Just a thought.