The budget for hotel construction is a subject of controversy in Cuba due to the serious crisis on the island
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 7 December 2024 — Between January and September Cuba invested 4.6 times more in business services, real estate and rental activities – which includes the construction of hotels – than in the total for Agriculture, Education and Health, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) published this Friday and reviewed by EFE.
If investments are divided by segments, the Business Services, Real Estate and Rental Activities section accounted for 26.6% of the total investment executed from January to September, which reached 64,973.3 million pesos (2.707 billion dollars, at the official exchange rate for the State).
The budget allocated to hotel construction is a subject of controversy in Cuba due to the serious crisis that the island is experiencing and the difficulties that the tourism sector is facing in recovering the pre-pandemic visitor levels.
As of October, Cuba had received 1.8 million international travelers, 6.5% less than in the same period in 2023. In 2018 and 2019, the annual figure ranged between 4.2 and 4.6 million foreign tourists.
As of September, the Island allocated a total of 17.311.4 billion pesos to the section of Business Services, Real Estate and Rental Activities
Independent economists, most of whom live abroad, have criticized the high level of state investment in the hotel sector to the detriment of other strategic areas, such as agriculture, where production is at a minimum.
The Cuban government, however, continues to bet on tourism as the driving force of the country’s economy. In previous years, it had been one of the main sources of income and foreign currency, along with professional services and remittances.
In 2023, Cuba’s gross domestic product (GDP) registered a fall of 1.9%, according to official data, and the Cuban government has already announced that the national economy will also fail to grow this year.
In absolute terms, the island allocated a total of 17.311 billion pesos (about 721.3 million dollars) to the business services, real estate and rental activities section as of September.
This figure contrasts with the 1.829 billion pesos (76 million dollars) in Agriculture; the 1.205 billion pesos (50.2 million dollars) in Public Health and the 671.3 million (27.9 million dollars) in Education. Relative to these areas, the expenditures on tourism were 9, 14 and 26 times higher, respectively.
In the first half of the year, Cuba increased investment in hotels and restaurants by 112% annually – more than doubling the previous figure – while it decreased investments by more than 20% in education, construction and public administration, according to Onei.
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