A visitor recorded the Malecón in Havana practically empty of vehicles and without tourists, posting the video on Facebook with a description that summarizes the current state of the Cuban capital: "everything looks desolate".
The author of the video, Norma Estrada, recorded the iconic coastal avenue from the hotel where she is staying and documented the desolation: "This is the hotel where we are staying, the Gran Aston in Havana. My car is there on the malecon."
The absence of cars on the Malecón is not a coincidence or an isolated image: it is a response to the most severe fuel crisis that Cuba has experienced in recent years.
Only three gas stations remain operational throughout Havana, with a limit of 20 liters per vehicle, waiting lists ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 requests per station, and the black market selling gasoline for 4,000 Cuban pesos per liter, equivalent to about eight dollars.
On February 6, the company Transportación Habana suspended all bus routes due to fuel shortages, leaving thousands of residents without public transportation.
The energy crisis intensified following the suspension of supplies from Pemex on January 9, the reduction of Venezuelan shipments, and the executive order from President Donald Trump on January 29, which threatens tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba.
The collapse of tourism completes the picture of neglect depicted in the video.
Cuba ended 2025 with only 1.81 million international tourists, a 17.8% decrease from the 2.2 million of 2024, and well below the government's target of 2.6 million.
According to EFE, in January 2026, only 184,833 international tourists arrived, marking a 9% decrease from January 2025, the lowest figure in 13 years excluding the pandemic, while global tourism reached a record of 1.52 billion arrivals.
The national hotel occupancy rate fell to 18.9% in 2025, the worst historical figure recorded, and more than two dozen state-run hotels closed during the peak season.
Classic car drivers —a tourist symbol of the malecón— have reduced their sightseeing prices from 50 to between 20 and 25 dollars due to a lack of customers, and the restaurants in the area remain empty.
Cuba went from receiving 4.7 million visitors in 2018 to just 1.8 million in 2025, the lowest level since 2002 not counting the pandemic.
The economist Pedro Monreal described the situation of Cuban tourism as "terrible" and warned that it is unable to recover.
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