The tourist occupancy rate in the first six months of the year was only 21.5%.
14ymedio, Havana, 25 August 2025 — Cuba is in no way included in the flourishing figures on global tourism revenue reported by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which forecasts new records for this year, even surpassing the levels of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. On the contrary, the most recent data published by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), corresponding to the first six months of 2025, continue to show, for Cuba, the sector’s debacle.
The declines are “notable,” as Cuban economist Pedro Monreal has pointed out, in four “crucial indicators,” especially the “extremely low occupancy rate,” at just 21.5% (compared to 28.4% for the same period last year). “Billions of dollars poorly invested,” the U.S.-based specialist added, referring to one of the sectors that, in fact, receives the most money from the public coffers on the island (almost 20% in the first few months of this year, surpassed only, and for the first time, by investment in energy).
Along with this, there is the sharp decline in international travelers. Through July, only 1,123,987 international visitors arrived, representing a 23.2% drop compared to 2024. The island has received 338,922 fewer tourists than last year, with a general decline from all the countries that traditionally contribute to the sector.
Between January and June of this year tourists did not reach one million (981,856), 25% less than in the same period in 2024.
According to the Office of National Statistics (Onei) semiannual report, between January and June of this year, revenues fell below one million pesos (981,856), a 25% decrease compared to the same period in 2024 (1,309,655). Consequently, revenues plummeted by 20.6% (from almost 71 million pesos to just over 56 million). Applying the rate of 24 pesos per dollar, this represents a drop from 2,950,741,875 pesos to 2,343,539,083 dollars.
Onei does not provide net income after deducting operating costs, which are very high in the tourism sector. In Cuba’s case, operating costs are estimated to represent 70% of gross income, which would result in a net income of $703 million, in the best-case scenario.
The fact that revenues have decreased slightly less than tourist arrivals and overnight stays, on the other hand, would indicate that tourists are staying less time on the island, but spending slightly more. In 2025, each tourist spent an average of $2,387 in Cuba, up from $2,253 the previous year.
In contrast, the global outlook is very different. Last May, the WTTC predicted that global international visitor spending will break all records this year , reaching $2.1 trillion, $164 billion more than the pre-pandemic peak of 2019.
Tourism’s total economic contribution is projected to reach $11.7 trillion this year, representing 10.3% of global GDP, while jobs in the sector are expected to increase by 14 million (to a total of 371 million worldwide), “more than the entire population of the United States,” the organization noted.
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