Authorities invite the Chinese to “discover the smile, gratitude, and spirituality of a noble, heroic, resilient, and optimistic people.”
14ymedio, Madrid, 30 March 2025 — Not in vain has the official Cuban press widely covered the arrival, this Friday in Varadero, of the first flight of the season loaded with 285 Rosneft employees from Russia. Bringing workers of the state-owned companies to Cuba is vital, at a time when the arrival of Russian tourists – in 2024, down by 50 percent from the previous year – is catastrophic.
Russian employees, reports Cubadebate, based on statements from Havanatur, “will start a two-week program designed to improve the quality of life and promoting corporate tourism.” In coming months, they expect two other similar flights, “each with more than 370 passengers,” and by the end of the year, another four, “with an increase in the number of travelers compared to previous years.”
Faced with the sector’s debacle, the Government is trying strategies of all kinds, including going to China. This Sunday, several authorities are in Shanghai, where the Tourism Plus Fair began. There, they expressed their willingness to work together to increase the flow of Chinese tourists, who, today, are not on the list of main international travelers to the Island.
For his part, the Cuban ambassador to China, Alberto Blanco, invited future visitors to China to “discover the smile, gratitude and spirituality of a noble, heroic, resistant and optimistic people.” He highlighted three elements as “unique” that favor tourism cooperation between both countries: “the complementarity between two socialist nations without conflicts of interest, the stability and security that characterize Cuba, and the special affection and historical admiration of the Antillean people for the Asian country.”
China will, in fact, be the guest of honor at the Cuba International Tourism Fair, which will celebrate its 43rd edition between April 30 and May 3. “This collaboration would allow us to adapt our facilities and services to the preferences of Chinese tourists,” Blanco explained at the press conference held in Shanghai, alluding to “efforts to adjust the gastronomic and cultural offer to the demands of this market.”
The head of the Cuban diplomatic delegation also announced the possibility of Chinese companies managing hotels on the island, “following successful models from other Asian nations.” The Indian chain MGM Muthu manages a dozen hotels in Cuba and the Indonesian Archipelago International operates five facilities under the Aston and Grand Aston brands.
As the official press recalls, in 2025 Cuba and China commemorate 65 years of diplomatic relations. The collaboration between the two countries in tourism matters has so far materialized in several measures, such as the establishment, in May last year, of a direct flight with Air China and the visa exemption for Chinese citizens with ordinary passports.
Faced with the search for international travelers in distant fishing grounds, other usual markets show their decline
Faced with the search for international travelers in distant fishing grounds, other usual markets show their decline. This is evidenced, for example, by Cuba’s non-participation this year in the Tourism Fair in Barcelona (B-Travel), where the Embassy used to have a representation space.
Several Cuban activists went to the fair to denounce the reality of the Island, according to CiberCuba. One of them, Avana de la Torre, declared that if the official participation of the Island in B-Travel was suspended it is “because Cuba is a big lie, and we free Cubans show what Cuba is like from the inside.”
The monthly report on the arrival of travelers from the National Office of Statistics and Information, published on March 21, confirmed the debacle announced by the preliminary figures of the Ministry of Tourism published by the economist Pedro Monreal days earlier. Weighed down by the huge decline of Russians and Canadians, Cuba received 30% fewer tourists in January and February than in the same period of the previous year.
As of February, the arrival of 178,263 foreign visitors was recorded, 17,741 fewer than in January – when 196,004 arrived – and 153,649 fewer than in the first two months of 2024. The data make the Cuban government’s goal, already lowered compared to other years, of 2.6 million tourists in 2025 increasingly impossible.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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