The hotel chain ATG became the fifth international operator to announce its departure from Cuba within a single week, formally notifying the immediate termination of all its management and marketing contracts with Grupo de Turismo Gaviota S.A., the tourism subsidiary of the military conglomerate GAESA.
The decision was made public through an official statement posted on Facebook by Selectum Family Resort Varadero and in an internal letter addressed to sales agents and tour operators, which was exclusively revealed by Reportur.
"Through this letter, the ATG chain, in its capacity as Manager, formally notifies the immediate termination of all Management and Marketing Contracts for the hotel owned by Grupo de Turismo Gaviota, S.A., managed by our entity under the brand and name Selectum Family Resort Varadero," states the text signed by the General Management of ATG Hoteles Caribe.
“Consequently, starting from June 4, 2026, the Hotel Room Reservation contracts signed by the ATG chain for upcoming seasons will be concluded and will cease to be effective,” the statement adds.
Despite the formal tone of the breakup, ATG wanted to document its balance on the island.
“Although it has been a short cycle, it has proven to be an extremely productive and successful stage, achieving an exceptional positioning for Selectum Family Resort Varadero thanks to the support and trust placed in our team,” the text states.
Who is ATG and what did they operate in Cuba?
ATG Hotels is a hotel group based in Turkey, owned by the tour operator Anex Tour, with a presence in over 72 countries.
In Cuba, the chain has been managing the Selectum Family Resort Varadero and the Selectum Family Resort Santa María in Cayo Santa María, Villa Clara, since 2023.
In August 2024, he had also secured the contract for the Hotel Corona, a five-star project with 147 rooms located in Havana, right across from the Museum of the Revolution.
The trigger: The Trump Administration's sanctions against GAESA
The reason for the break is the sanctions introduced by the Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, 2026, which set June 5 as the deadline for foreign companies to sever their ties with GAESA, under penalty of being excluded from the U.S. financial system.
ATG joins an unprecedented wave of departures: the Canadian Blue Diamond Resorts has exited 62 hotels and over 12,900 rooms since May 30; Iberostar stopped operating 12 of its 18 hotels since June 1; Meliá ceased operations in 15 of its 34 hotels on June 3; and the Asian Archipelago International withdrew its six hotels in Cuba.
The Spanish hotel sector has lost in just one year 32 of the 70 hotels it managed on the island, a 45% of the total.
The collapse of tourism, beyond the sanctions
The hotel exodus occurs amidst a structural collapse of Cuban tourism that predates the sanctions.
Cuba received only 328,608 visitors between January and April 2026, representing a decline of 55.8% compared to the same period in 2025.
The Cuban economist Elías Amor has been emphatic: “No one leaves where they make money,” he noted, pointing out that employment levels do not exceed 10%, which implies operational losses.
According to the analysis on the exodus of hotels, Amor warns that Cuba could end 2026 with fewer than one million international visitors if the trend continues, which would represent the worst tourism record since the nineties.
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