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Three travel agencies signed a multi-destination tourism agreement between Cuba and Mexico last Saturday in Mexico City, in an attempt by the Cuban regime to attract visitors amid the worst tourism collapse in its recent history.
The agreement was signed by Turismo Popular, Taíno Tours, and Prelasa Tours during a ceremony held at the Benny Moré Cultural Center in the Mexican capital, reported Prensa Latina.
The agreement, through which the authorities aim to boost the deteriorating Cuban tourism sector, seeks to extend the "Mundo Maya" circuit to the island, which includes archaeological and heritage destinations in southeastern Mexico.
The proposal will combine these tours with stays in Havana, Varadero, and other Cuban sites, using direct flights between Cancun and the Cuban capital.
The first joint package will be launched in August, coinciding with the Varadero Josone Festival, which will take place from the 25th to the 31st of that month in its fifth edition.
The tourism advisor at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico, Aleinor Zerquera, explained the scope of the agreement: “We are going to link the Maya world with our Varadero beach, but we will also do this with the capital, Havana, incorporating nature products.”
However, Zerquera did not hide the political dimension of the agreement: "Tourism is important for Cuba as a source of income, therefore, all the tourism operations that we manage to increase, all the people who visit the island of Cuba are helping to break the blockade," he stated, using the term that the island's government employs to refer to the U.S. embargo and once again demonstrating that Mexico continues to finance the regime in Havana.
The agreement is part of the Cuba-Mexico Tourism Cooperation Action Program 2025-2028, signed in July 2025 by Mexican Tourism Secretary Josefina Rodríguez and Cuban Minister Juan Carlos García, and represents its first concrete commercial implementation.
Mexico, under the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum, maintains a close diplomatic relationship with the regime in Havana.
Under pressure from the Trump administration—which penalized the shipment of fuel to Cuba through an executive order—Mexico suspended oil supplies in 2026 that had reached 17.25 million barrels in 2025.
Faced with this impossibility, the Sheinbaum government has redirected its support towards tourism cooperation as a new means of support for the regime.
The agreement comes at a critical moment for the Cuban economy, particularly for the travel and hotel sector.
Tourism in Cuba collapsed by 58.4% in the first five months of 2026, with only 359,491 international visitors.
In all of 2025, the island received 1.81 million tourists, its lowest figure since 2002 and 62% less than the record of 4.7 million reached in 2018.
In addition to its impact on the regime's finances, the collapse of the sector has direct consequences for the population: more than 300,000 tourism workers are unemployed or underemployed, and foreign currency earnings could drop from 1.8 billion dollars to just between 400 and 600 million in 2026.
Projections for this year indicate between 700,000 and one million total visitors, a figure that, if confirmed, would represent the lowest level in decades for a sector that contributes between 10% and 15% of Cuba's GDP.
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