Meliá Hotels International ended its uninterrupted 36-year presence in Cuba on Friday by ceasing operations of the 34 hotels it managed on the Island, as confirmed by the company itself to Reuters.
The Spanish chain cited operational, legal, and economic-financial difficulties as key reasons for leaving a market in which it had been a pioneer since May 1990.
The management of those establishments—all owned by the Cuban state—was carried out through the Portuguese subsidiary of the company, Ilha Bela Gestão e Turismo, which formally notified the Spanish National Securities Market Commission of the cessation.
In its statement, Meliá warned that the circumstances in Cuba make it "de facto and de jure" impossible to achieve a "minimum operational stability."
The exit process began on June 3, when the chain announced the cessation in 15 of its hotels linked to the military conglomerate GAESA, following Executive Order 14404 signed by President Donald Trump on May 1, which designated that group as a sanctioned entity and set June 5 as the deadline for foreign companies to sever ties with it.
The final blow came on July 13, when the Trump administration expanded sanctions against the Ministry of Tourism of Cuba and nine additional state entities, marking the first time in history that an entire ministry of the Cuban regime was blacklisted by the Department of the Treasury.
That measure eliminated any legal grounds for the remaining Meliá hotels to continue operating.
The executive director of the chain, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, clearly summarized the situation on July 14: “I don’t know; the truth is we don’t know what is going to happen. We are following the instructions of the U.S. State Department.”
Meliá's departure is not an isolated event: it marks the end of three decades of dominance by major Spanish hotel chains in Cuban tourism.
Iberostar, which opened its first hotel on the island in 1993, confirmed the total cessation of its operations on July 21, after having stopped managing 12 of its 18 hotels since June 1.
Barceló terminated its contracts in Varadero early, which were in effect until 2027. The Canadian company Blue Diamond Resorts exited on May 31, affecting 62 hotels and over 12,900 rooms. Minor Hotels (NH) and Archipelago International also left the island in the preceding months.
Among all the Spanish chains that are leaving, the total losses are estimated to be between 80 and 100 million euros, on an accumulated investment of 465 million from 1993 to 2024.
The Cuban regime has threatened legal action for breach of contract, but Meliá is relying on the EU Blocking Statute, which prohibits European companies from complying with US extraterritorial sanctions.
The hotel exodus coincides with the worst moment for Cuban tourism in over two decades.
The Island welcomed only 1.81 million visitors in 2025, compared to 4.7 million in 2018, with hotel occupancy plummeting to 18.9%.
In the first five months of 2026, the decline accelerated: only 359,491 tourists arrived, a decrease of 58.4% compared to the same period in 2025, with May recording just 30,883 visitors.
The chains that have left the Island controlled more than 30,000 of the 86,559 available rooms in Cuba, accounting for 35% of the total. The void they leave could be filled by American chains such as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and Wyndham, should a political change occur in the country.
Meliá will assess the full financial impact of its withdrawal when it publishes its accounts for the first half of the year on July 30.
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