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Against the backdrop of the energy crisis affecting the Island, the Spanish hotel chain Meliá has decided to reduce its hotel availability in Cuba and align it with current occupancy levels, further indicating the deterioration of Cuban tourism even during the peak season.
According to the agency EFE, the measure currently affects three hotels and is, according to sources from the company itself, a decision that is “strictly operational,” based on low demand and the need to optimize resources due to supply constraints.
Meliá stated that the goal is to ensure the best possible service for clients and that it has local supplies to sustain the operation of the facilities that remain open.
The announcement comes just days after the Cuban government publicly acknowledged the closure of hotels due to a lack of fuel, a policy that the authorities have described as "streamlining" tourism.
On state television, Vice Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga acknowledged that facilities are being closed and tourists are being relocated to reduce energy consumption and "take advantage of the high season," without specifying the actual extent of the measure.
Sources in the sector have confirmed to EFE that the closures primarily affect hotels in Varadero and the northern cays of the country. At the same time, tourism workers have reported increasingly extreme working conditions, such as seven days of work followed by seven days off, with the requirement to stay in nearby hotels due to the inability to travel to their homes because of fuel shortages.
Although Meliá emphasizes that it maintains "close communication" with tour operators to offer alternatives to affected customers, the overall context points to a deeper crisis. That same Monday, Iberia and Air Europa announced technical stopovers in the Dominican Republic on their flights between Cuba and Spain, also due to supply constraints.
Official figures confirm the collapse. Cuba concluded 2025 with only 1.8 million international visitors and a hotel occupancy rate of 21.5% in the first half of the year. While the regime insists on presenting tourism as an economic driver, millions of Cubans continue to endure blackouts of up to 20 hours a day, inflation, and food shortages.
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