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National tourism in Cuba grew slightly between January and September 2025, despite the deep contraction of international tourism and the fact that the country is experiencing a complex economic and energy situation characterized by prolonged blackouts in several provinces.
This is reflected in the report “Tourism. Selected Indicators. January-September 2025” from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), which shows a rise in the number of Cuban tourists staying in tourist entities and the revenue in Cuban pesos generated by this market.
According to the ONEI, domestic physical tourists reached 1,579,431 in the first nine months of 2025, an increase of 4.7% compared to the same period in 2024, when there were 1,508,741.
Overnight stays also increased, from 4,809,086 to 5,018,753 tourist days, representing a 4.4% rise.
In parallel, the occupied room-days increased by 6%, while the available capacity (existing room-days) decreased slightly by 0.7%, which contributed to raising the occupancy rate from 7.8% to 8.3%.
The report also indicates that the earnings of tourism entities from the domestic market increased from 47,110.2 million pesos to 51,268.3 million, a growth of 8.8% in current terms.
The average income per tourist per day rose from 9,796.1 to 10,215.3 pesos, indicating a 4.3% increase, which shows that each domestic visitor spent more money at the facilities than the previous year, whether due to higher prices, increased consumption, or a combination of both factors.
The ONEI details that almost half of the income from national tourism comes from gastronomy, which accounts for 49.2% of the total.
Accommodation represents 17.3%, transportation accounts for 11.7%, retail trade contributes 7.5%, while recreation offers only 2%, and the remainder is categorized under "other income" (12.3%).
This distribution shows that Cuban spending on tourism is mainly focused on food and beverages within the facilities, surpassing the cost of accommodation itself.
Debacle of international tourism in Cuba
However, official data also confirms the structural crisis of the tourism sector: the same report shows that international tourism continues to decline.
Between January and September 2025, Cuba received 1,366,720 international visitors, compared to 1,719,009 in the same period of 2024, representing a decrease of 20.5%.
Overnight stays by foreigners decreased from 10,227,261 to 8,294,545, a reduction of 18.9%, and the hotel occupancy rate associated with this market plummeted from 24.3% to 18.9%.
The revenues in tourism entities associated with international tourism fell from 94,320.6 to 82,885.6 million pesos, a decrease of 12.1%.
By source countries, Canada remains the main market, with 559,715 visitors in the first nine months of the year, although this is below the 695,557 in 2024.
Also, the Cuban community abroad is declining, going from 224,266 to 177,823 travelers, with a significant drop in arrivals from the Russian Federation (from 141,612 to 88,879) and from several European countries such as Germany, Spain, and Italy.
In contrast, some South American markets like Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Peru are showing slight growth, although it is not enough to offset the overall decline.
The report also classifies visitors by geographical region: America remains the primary source area with 1,004,171 travelers, but this is below the 1,210,435 from the previous year.
The resurgence of national tourism occurs while broad sectors of the population report prolonged blackouts and failures in basic services, exacerbated after Hurricane Melissa passed through the eastern part of the island.
In the province of Guantánamo, for example, residents of the Ho Chi Minh neighborhood recently protested after being "without electricity" for days and facing serious difficulties accessing food and drinking water, according to witnesses speaking to independent media.
In this context, the figures from ONEI paint a contradictory picture: on one hand, more Cubans are utilizing formal tourism services and income in pesos from the domestic market is growing; on the other hand, international tourism is shrinking, hotel occupancy is significantly declining, and the country is facing an economic and energy crisis that is reflected in popular protests and the deterioration of the purchasing power of the majority of the population.
While authorities highlight the recovery of national tourism, data reveals that the sector is still far from overcoming the crisis and that its sustainability increasingly relies on an internal market battered by blackouts and inflation.
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