Tourism to Havana plummets 18%

Havana., Tourism in Cuba suffered a sharp drop in 2025, closing the year with 1.8 million visitors, well below the government’s goal of 2.6 million, according to official figures published over the weekend.

In addition, the data provided by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) on the arrival of foreigners for recreational purposes shows a drop of 18.18 percent compared to 2024, when the country received 2.2 million visitors.

Historical visitors to Cuba reduced their trips in 2025: those from Canada (-12.4 percent), Cubans residing abroad, mostly living in the United States (-22.6 percent), those from Russia (-29 percent) and those from Germany (-50.5 percent).

“We knew it would happen,” commented Cuban economist Pedro Monreal in his X account. “It was (2025) a terrible year for international tourism in Cuba,” he lamented.

The sector had been an important source of income on the island, which in recent years has faced one of its worst economic crises. For nearly two decades, a steady flow of travelers sparked a boom in tourism, earning Cuba up to $3 billion a year.

Only for the Covid-19 pandemic and severe blackouts to cause its decline, along with increased US sanctions.

Thus, tourism income in Cuba plummets, at a time when the island desperately needs these resources. The number of visitors has decreased almost 70 percent since 2018.

The plunge in tourist numbers is especially serious because U.S. sanctions deprived Cuba of nearly $8 billion in revenue from March 2024 to February 2025, a nearly 50 percent larger loss compared to the previous period, according to government statistics.

In addition, the United States stopped the shipment of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after kidnapping President Nicolás Maduro, the island’s main political and economic ally, in a military operation ordered by Washington on January 3.

Several countries have issued warnings for travelers bound for Cuba, mainly due to the economic and health crisis. Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom urged their citizens to take extreme precautions if they plan to travel to the island country.

Cuba, under the US blockade since 1962, is going through a severe economic crisis marked by shortages and prolonged blackouts.