Varadero, Cuba: Half-Empty Hotels and Deserted Restaurants
The famous resort town loses its lifeblood
Many workers have chosen to return to their cities of origin, chiefly Cardenas and Matanzas, to seek alternatives outside the tourist sector.
By Pedro Padilla Cruz (14ymedio)
HAVANA TIMES – During the 90s, amid the so-called Special Period [years of extreme economic hardship in Cuba that followed the collapse of the Soviet bloc], the Cuban regime placed its bets on international tourism as the life-raft for their tottering Socialism. Within several years, the Hicacos peninsula, better known as Varadero, had become the emblem of the new economic model with all-inclusive hotel packages, rum, tobacco, and a low-cost tourist offering that principally drew in the Spanish hotel chains.
However, only the memory of that high point is left. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Varadero has been experiencing its worst crisis in decades. The drop in tourism has left the hotels half-empty, the streets deserted, and thousands of workers barely subsisting.
After Covid, we had to reinvent ourselves,” says Maria Carla, who’s been an employee of the Floridita VaraderoRestaurant for thirty years. “There’ve always been ups and downs, but nothing like the last five years. The all-inclusive hotels have affected us a lot: the tourists no longer leave the hotels; they offer a tip within their package to assure good service, and leave without setting foot in a shop or restaurant outside the resort complex.”
She recalls with nostalgia the days when the town was buzzing with life. Today, except for some points frequented by locals, such as the beer parlor on 43rd Street, or the bowling alley on 45th, “Varadero is a desert.” Many workers are returning home to Cardenas and Matanzas, their cities of origin, to seek alternatives outside the tourist sector.
During the past decade, the official press boasted of having surpassed the figure of four million tourists annually, of which over a million had gone to Varadero. However, that figure has been questioned, even from inside the country.
“At Radio 26 where I worked, everyone knew that the numbers were inflated,” said an ex-technician of the provincial radio station. “Every December they’d claim we reached the goal of a million visitors, although we were still short of that number.”
International competition has also played a role: Puerto Cana, Cancun, Puerto Rico, Isla Margarita and the Bahamas all offer modern infrastructure and better service. The comparison is embarrassing.
“The hotels here resemble Cuba’s low-end workers’ resorts,” says Antonio, who works at the buffet of the Hotel Los Delfines. “You almost never see shrimp or lobster. And if they do come in, the workers fight for them. The salary doesn’t stretch far enough, and when a tourist comes and sees drips, toilets without covers, or leaking roofs when it rains, they don’t leave a tip. If you don’t believe me, go into the Cuatro Palmas Hotel on a rainy day.”
Anthony recalls bitterly a week he spent in a modest hotel in Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic. “That hotel, if it were in Varadero, would be one of the ten best.” He’s not surprised that the State-run chains – Cubanacan, Gaviota and Islazul – are recurring ever more to national tourism.
It’s the third year we’ve come with the family,” says Elena, a Havana resident from the Marianao sector. ”My husband and I work hard, and we allow ourselves this luxury. There’s been a noticeably large drop in the service and the offerings, but we still have a good time. However, every year we think it’ll be the last. Just three days at a small three-star hotel costs us over 100,000 pesos (US $265) – with that money we could eat for several months at home.”
To many from Matanzas or Cardenas, Varadero isn’t just a beach, but the sustenance of their homes. Every tip, every bag of groceries, or of leftovers from the hotel, ends up in their homes. “If Varadero is doing well, Matanzas is doing well,” is the mantra repeated by those who live from whatever “trickles down from the peninsula.”
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
I could go check but off the top of my head, I think the name of the hotel my family and I spent 3 days at in Varadero last year was the Intercontinental. The breakfast buffet was half-filled every morning. The extra towels we requested for the room were old and less than white. There was only one working elevator in the lobby. The lighting was dim. This hotel boasted of being a five-star establishment. By Cancún standards barely 3-stars. We ventured off the reservation onto the main street, and a lot of the businesses were either closed or understaffed. This particular trip was 15 months ago. I dare to imagine what Varadero is like today. One last whine: the prices in and around the hotel were still as high as they have always been in Varadero. If it sucks like this in a flagship tourism venue like Varadero, how bad is it in the hotels located in those cayos?