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Cuba started 2026 with another decline in the arrival of international tourists: in January, it received 184,833 visitors, around 11,512 fewer than in the same month of 2025, which represents a decrease of 9%, according to preliminary figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) cited by EFE.
This is the January with the fewest tourists in at least 13 years, excluding the pandemic years, according to an analysis by El Toque on the collapse of tourism in Cuba.
The figure contrasts sharply with the global trend. In 2025, global tourism reached 1.52 billion arrivals, a 4% increase from 2024, according to the UN Tourism Barometer.
Europe grew by 6% compared to pre-pandemic levels, Africa by 8%, and the Middle East surpassed them with a 39% increase. In January 2026, Dominican Republic welcomed 1.2 million tourists —6.5 times more than Cuba during the same month— and Mexico ended 2025 with a record 47.8 million visitors.
The drop in January is not just a momentary setback but rather the continuation of a sustained collapse. Cuba went from receiving 4.7 million visitors in 2018 to barely 1.8 million in 2025, the lowest level since 2002, excluding the pandemic, marking a 17.8% decline compared to 2024. Economist Pedro Monreal summarized it bluntly: "Cuban tourism is unable to recover".
The energy crisis worsened the situation at the beginning of 2026. The capture of the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January disrupted the crude oil supply to the island, and Cuban authorities issued an international notice of Jet A1 fuel shortage at all its airports —Havana, Varadero, Santa Clara, Camagüey, Holguín, and Santiago de Cuba—, extended until April 10. Canadian airlines such as Air Transat, Sunwing, and Air Canada canceled flights.
Canada repatriated nearly 27,900 stranded tourists, according to reports from Foreign Minister Anita Anand; Russia evacuated around 4,300 Russian tourists evacuated from Cuba due to the fuel crisis.
The impact extended to the hotel industry. The Meliá group temporarily closed at least three hotels, including the Meliá Buenavista in Cayo Santa María.
Among the closed establishments are the Valentín Perla Blanca, the Sol Cayo Santa María, the Gran Muthu Imperial, the Tryp Cayo Coco, and the Iberostar Torre K in Havana. The hotel occupancy rate in Cuba barely reached 20-21.5% during 2025, even though between 2021 and 2023, the regime allocated 36% of all state investment — about 24.2 billion dollars — to build hotels, which is 14 times more than was invested in health.
The sector is dominated by GAESA, the military conglomerate, which through its subsidiary Gaviota controls 121 hotels and 20 marinas, with workers earning between 11 and 16 dollars per month. Economist Ricardo Torres from the University of Havana notes that the issue predates the pandemic: "Cuban tourism had already been losing competitiveness even before the pandemic."
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