A video posted this Tuesday on TikTok showcases the interior of the Valentín Perla Blanca hotel in Cayo Santa María, completely empty and closed, with its large pools untouched but without a single guest in sight.
The author of the video, who infiltrated the facility guarded by a single security guard residing on-site, toured the lobby, the three swimming pools, and the bungalow areas of the resort, described as having Spanish architecture and approximately 1,500 rooms.
"The Valentín Perla Blanca is a shame, a hotel that has one thousand five hundred rooms, like many hotels in Cayo Santa María that are closed," notes the author of the tour, in a testimony that reflects the collapse of the Cuban tourism sector, which in recent months has been leaving around 7,000 tourism workers unemployed.
The massive closure of hotel facilities in Cuba is partly due to the total shortage of aviation fuel that the Cuban government itself has admitted, which has halted flights and left many destinations on the island without tourists.
Chains like Meliá, NH, and Iberostar have also closed facilities in various locations across the country, in a process that has impacted both beach resorts and urban hotels.
The situation is particularly striking considering that Cuba invested 24.2 billion dollars in the hotel industry between 2021 and 2023, a substantial investment that failed to reverse the sustained decline of the sector. According to recent data, the hotel occupancy rate did not exceed 21.5% in 2025, a figure that highlights the severity of the crisis.
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