Among the seven properties offered for lease are a villa on Cayo Carenas and several buildings in Punta Gorda.
14ymedio, Havana, October 18, 2026 – Following the withdrawal of several international hotel chains and with Cuban tourism in free fall, the Government is now looking for someone willing to provide the money to rescue facilities it has been unable to operate. The Cienfuegos Tourism Real Estate Company is offering seven properties to private entrepreneurs and foreign investors, including a villa on Cayo Carenas, an expansion of the Blue Palace, and several buildings in the city’s most coveted areas.
According to the official newspaper 5 de Septiembre, Tourism authorities have decided to expand their leasing options to include new economic actors. Their main clients were the state-owned chains Gran Caribe, Islazul, and the non-hotel company Palmares, but they now intend to bring in micro, small, and medium-sized private enterprises (mipymes), domestic legal entities, Cubans residing abroad, and foreign investors as well.
Pedro Luis Lemus Sorrondeguí, the company’s director, presented the initiative as an opportunity to recover facilities that remain closed or whose projects never came to fruition. “It is a magnificent opportunity to bring these facilities back to life or make them operational, fulfill the dreams we have had for years in our projects, and achieve better economic results,” he said.
The available properties include the Campomanes guesthouse, located at the corner of Campomanes Street and Paseo del Prado, and the planned Mochilero guesthouse on Avenida 50
The available properties include the Campomanes guesthouse, located at the corner of Campomanes Street and Paseo del Prado, and the planned Mochilero guesthouse on Avenida 50. The offer also includes Palmares’s former warehouses and the Amanecer-La Punta complex, comprising the La Punta guesthouse and the Amanecer building, which previously operated as the Educator’s House.
Most of the properties are concentrated along corridors of considerable tourist value, such as the Prado, the Malecón, and the Punta Gorda peninsula. However, the official information does not detail their structural condition or clearly distinguish between deteriorated buildings, closed facilities, and projects that were never carried out.
One of the most striking cases is Cayo Carenas, a small inhabited island in Cienfuegos Bay. While the Ministry of Tourism is considering its commercial development, residents have depended for years on precarious electrical installations and makeshift solutions for obtaining drinking water.
The French association Cuba Coopération France described a community of 22 homes in 2023 that relied on a deteriorating generator providing electricity for barely a few hours a day. The organization, together with the EDF electricity group’s foundation, promoted a project to modernize the supply system through photovoltaic energy and a new distribution network.
But financial difficulties also affected that initiative. In July 2025, the French organizers acknowledged that three companies had withdrawn their funding commitments, leaving a shortfall of 15,000 euros. The lack of resources forced them to reconsider the stages of the project’s implementation.
The authorities have not publicly identified the signatories of the letters or clarified whether any of those commitments are related to the seven properties offered by the real estate company
The search for capital comes just days after the La Perla del Sur Business Forum, held on October 9 and 10 at the Palace of Valle. During the event, 52 tourism investment proposals were presented and 28 letters of intent were signed, according to figures released by Prensa Latina.
The event brought together more than 240 participants, both in person and virtually, including representatives of five embassies, 35 Cuban and foreign companies, and 22 private ventures. However, the authorities have not publicly identified the signatories of the letters or clarified whether any of those commitments are related to the seven properties offered by the real estate company.
Cienfuegos’s portfolio of investment opportunities is also considerably broader. Yanet González Laso, the provincial official responsible for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, explained that the aim is also to restore the former Perla Hotel, located at Prado and Castillo, as well as three mountain hotels, a villa, and three restaurants that are not currently being marketed because of a lack of financing.
The official noted that some services at the future facilities could be charged in foreign currency to recoup investments, while others would be offered in the national currency. This possibility is part of the economy’s partial dollarization process, which has expanded the presence of foreign-currency prices across various sectors.
For now, the State is not announcing the sale of these properties, but rather the possibility of leasing them and allowing third parties to operate them. Nevertheless, the initiative leaves numerous questions unanswered. It remains to be seen how much future tenants will have to invest and what the State will receive in return for placing some of Cienfuegos’s most attractive tourist locations in their hands.
Translated by Regina Anavy
______________________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.