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On January 1, 2026, the official closure of the Havanatur office in France was marked, a key subsidiary of Cuba's main state tour operator.
The announcement, which began circulating among European travel agencies at the end of December, reflects not only the bankruptcy of this specific location but also a broader and deeper crisis in the tourism infrastructure of the Caribbean island.
The news has been confirmed by several specialized media outlets.
A financial and operational collapse
According to L’Echo Touristique, Havanatur has ceased operations in France after losing its insurance contract with Hiscox and being unable to find a new company to assume the risk.
This left the company in an untenable legal situation in the French market, where professional liability insurance is mandatory for operation.
“If they had found a new insurer, they would have continued their operations”, stated Emmanuel Toromanof, Secretary General of the Professional Association of Tourism Solidarity (APST), the financial guarantor of the entity in France, to the cited media outlet.
However, the company formally communicated to its partners its intention to declare insolvency before the Paris Commercial Court.
The agency network Selectour was one of the first to issue an alert about the closure with a letter sent to its members on December 23, informing them about the termination of the insurance policy and the upcoming initiation of insolvency proceedings.
Immediate consequences for agencies and clients
The French branch of Havanatur marketed exclusively through travel agencies, so direct customers are protected by the APST.
However, this does not eliminate the logistical and financial complexities that agencies are now facing.
The tourist packages to Cuba for 2026 sold by Havanatur have been canceled, and agencies must now offer viable alternatives to their clients or proceed with a full refund.
If the customer accepts a new offer, they must pay the difference if the price is higher.
If you do not accept it, a formal cancellation and full refund must be processed.
“It's complicated for travel agencies”, acknowledged Toromanof, who made it clear that the responsibility now falls on the intermediaries to resolve each case individually.
A sign of the Cuban tourism collapse
Although there is no confirmation at the moment that other Havanatur subsidiaries have closed, media outlets like Preferente warn that “it is logical for all of them to be facing economic problems” due to the collapse of tourism on the island.
Since 2018, when Cuba reached its record of 4.7 million visitors, the numbers have consistently declined.
In 2025, the Cuban government projected to welcome 2.6 million international visitors.
However, only about 1.9 million travelers arrived, which represents 73% of the official estimate. Additionally, the revenues were much lower than anticipated: $917.4 million, only 75.8% of what was expected.
The causes: Epidemics, blackouts, and toxic diplomacy
The debacle cannot be understood without considering the national context. Throughout 2025, Cuba experienced multiple health crises.
This is compounded by the deterioration of basic infrastructure: prolonged power outages, scarcity of drinking water, accumulation of garbage, and a healthcare system unable to respond.
Spain updated its health alert in December, advising against travel to Cuba without prior vaccination and warning about the precarious state of hospitals.
Canada, the largest source of tourists to Cuba, has reduced its visitor shipments by 20%. Other countries and airlines have recommended taking precautions or even altering itineraries.
At a geopolitical level, the region is also experiencing a period of tension. The military escalation in Venezuela, along with the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, has heightened the perception of risk in the Caribbean.
Destinations like Cancun and Punta Cana have not only recovered from the pandemic but are also showing high levels of hotel occupancy and expansion of airline routes.
Cuba, in contrast, offers an experience characterized by uncertainty, scarcity, and deterioration.
The lack of competitiveness is exacerbated by the limited flexibility of the Cuban tourism model, which is highly centralized and poorly adapted to the new profile of post-pandemic travelers.
The situation of Havanatur in France illustrates how the country's structural problems directly impact its already battered leisure industry.
Havanatur presents itself as "the leading international group of tour operators and travel agencies in the promotion and marketing of Cuba's tourism products." However, its closure in France demonstrates that this leadership is now unsustainable.
From abroad, the situation appears to be just a simple office closure. From within, it reveals the exhaustion of a model that bet on tourism as an economic lifeline, but which today faces financial, health, and political suffocation.
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