It is the same number that Varadero alone used to host just three months before the pandemic.
14ymedio, Madrid, 21 July 2025 — In the boom years, Cuba’s official press used to celebrate the arrival of the first million tourists to Varadero after the first three months of the high season. Today, the “most beautiful beach in the world” is a desert, and data for the first half of 2025 reveal that only 981,856 visitors were registered nationwide, 25% fewer than the number who arrived in the same period last year (1,309,655).
Last month, a total of 119,513 international visitors were recorded, a lower number than in May and similar—even slightly lower—to the number recorded in June 2022, when global tourism was still recovering from measures related to the coronavirus pandemic.
By nationality, all countries have decreased except Colombia, which in any case is not one of the countries that sends the most tourists to the island (it fell from 16,234 in 2024 to 16,622 in 2025, in the first six months of the year). Canada continues to lead, however (with 428,125 travelers, almost 26% fewer than in 2024), followed by Cubans residing abroad (120,423, 77.6% of those who visited the island the previous year) and the United States (67,044, almost 20% fewer).
European tourists continue to decline
Mexicans and Argentines remain at similar numbers to those of 2024 (26,702 and 23,862, respectively, 12.4% and 7.1% less), but Europeans continue to fall: Germany (23,301 travelers, 35.9% less), France (22,048, 26.4% less) and Spain (20,822, 26.2% less).
This Onei report reinforces the presentation made by Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García Granda to Parliament last Tuesday. In it, he no longer mentioned COVID-19, as had been the case until now, as an explanation for the sector’s debacle. On the contrary, García Granda linked the decline in visitors to the “shortage of supplies in the sector,” which he said began in 2023 and “worsened” during 2024.
“This has been the worst moment since the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001, not counting the pandemic,” the Minister of Tourism asserted, in yet another meeting held prior to the fifth regular session of the National Assembly, which painted the darkest picture for the country.
There is an “inability” in production right now to meet tourism demand
The Minister of the Food Industry, Alberto López, went further: there is simply an “inability” in production right now to meet tourist demand. Hotel chains like Meliá know this well, having had its own importer, Mesol, since last year to guarantee food for guests. The Spanish hotel is one of the few partially saved from the collapse of the sector on the island. In the first quarter of the year, it recorded occupancy of 40%, compared to the miserable national average of 24.1% .
Other issues in the sector mentioned at the meeting included the fuel shortage and the state of the airports. Regarding the latter, they explained that an official report revealed “deficiencies that affect the quality of a fundamental service for mobility and tourism development.”
The report, which included an inspection of 19 of the island’s 22 civil airports and interviews with more than 400 people, found that despite “improvements in preventive maintenance” at international terminals like Havana, at the domestic terminals in Granma, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas, “the deterioration of runways has forced the partial closure or limitation of operations to small aircraft.”
“No tourists, no electricity. The Cuban economy remains far from showing any signs of recovery.”
Failures in basic services such as the water supply, poor hygiene in bathrooms, connectivity issues, poor cleaning even in VIP lounges, as well as delays in immigration and customs processes were among the problems rarely displayed by the authorities themselves before the Assembly.
The commission’s presentation coincided with the publication, also on Tuesday, of economist Pavel Vidal’s monthly report , which specifically highlighted the tourism disaster. “No tourists, no electricity. The Cuban economy remains far from showing any signs of recovery. The tourism industry in Cuba is experiencing its worst figures in its history since records began. This impacts the country’s shortage of foreign currency, while the Cuban government maintains a stance that evades any effort at profound transformation,” the specialist summarized in his report.
On the streets of Havana, the figures on paper are palpable in the flesh: fewer and fewer foreigners are seen. And it’s not unusual to see the dwindling number of travelers followed by a cohort of beggars.
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