Cuba saw a double -digit decline in the number of Canadians who visited the island station last winter and asked questions about what was behind the slide.
Data from the national statistical agency in Cuba show that the number of travelers’ trips in January, February and March was at least 30 percent below the numbers of last year.
However, the downward layer goes beyond visitors from Canada, and Cuba also reports a decreasing number of tourist visits from Russia, Spain and Italy.
The director of the Cuban Tourism Board in Toronto was outside the country this week and not for a comment. The country’s national tourism minister recently indicated the “complex” challenges that are faced with Cuba.
Several domestic airlines and travel operators confirm that they travel to the Caribbean country in the years before the pandemic before pandemic.
“The registered decline of Canadian trips to Cuba is the case with the feedback that we hear from both customers and our travel experts,” said Amra Durakovic, head of communication for Air Center Canada, to CBC News by e -mail.
Kuba observers say that the accumulative economic and social challenges of the country – at a complete exhibition for tourists who turn away from resorts, and also in media reports – contribute to the decline in tourism.
“The reality is that the country since the early nineties, when the Canadians started visiting the island in large numbers,” said Ricardo Torres Pérez, a Cuban economist that precisely observed the tourism statistics published by the state.
Problems to see
An outstanding and recurring problem for Cuba was his unreliable power grid and the effect that has on the country and the life of its people.
Cuba has been gathering widespread power outages for months, even last autumn, when the island was hit by successive hurricanes. There was also a big failure in December and another in March.
Andrés Pertierra, an analyst in Cuba who previously lived and studied in Havana, was in Cuba last year for two of these most important failures.
He remembers the pictures that were shown in the news of darkened streets and compared the pictures of the lights that work in hotels.
“How do you provide a picture of a carefree lifestyle, a quick, entertaining journey if you have that?” Asked Pertierra.
According to Durakovic from Flight Center, travelers eighth of the very public problems that Cuba had, including regular power failures and limited availability of some important goods and services that he understandably can play a role in travel decisions “.
Since July 2023, Ottawa has warned the Canadians to “use a high level of caution” when they travel to Cuba. The complete travel advice refers to the lack of food, medicine and fuel as well as continuing challenges with the power grid.
The current one17:49Cubas repeated power failures reflect deeper problems
Ruaridh Nicoll, Kuba correspondent at The Guardian, hosted host Susan Ormiston, as the multiple power supply of the island indicates the overall decline in the government’s decline – only a few true allies have been financially strapped and is to become a failed state.
Torres Pérez said these problems were associated with the continuing economic crisis of Cuba.
“The crisis has affected the quality of the services, the condition of the infrastructure and led to frequent power outages,” he said, noticing that there are also problems to keep the cities clean because “solid waste on the street”.
Both Torres Pérez and Pertierra also say that Cuba sees more problems with crime in the middle of these fights than before.
“While one could argue that the island is relatively safe compared to other Latin American countries, the crime increases – including the incidents of pickpocketing,” said Torres Pérez.
“I love the place”
But the temptation of Cuba’s sunny weather and sandy beaches is strong, and for some Canadians it is a place where they continue to be visited.
Michel Dubois in Quebec last visited Kuba in December and says he will return there twice this year.
“I love the place, it is,” said Dubois, a retired television cameraman and editor who worked for both CBC and radio canada during his career. “I love people.”
Dubois says he found friends after taking repeated trips to Cuba and helps them to provide them with needs such as flashlights when he visits.
Sharon Pedley from Brampton, Ontario, intends to do the same when she returns to Cuba later this year.
You and her husband pack an additional suitcase full of necessities, as is over-the-counter medication for Cuban friends, whom you hit you through your previous visits.
“You will find many tourists I know that they will do the same,” said Pedley.
The support that Pedley, Dubois and other like -minded tourists offer in this way can benefit individual Cubans, but these visitors also offer the country a critical source of foreign currency.
Pertierra, the Cuba analyst, finds that tourism that subsides “means less foreign currency”, which is crucial for the country to import the necessary goods and supplies.
A turn to China?
Last week Reuters reported that Cuba sees China as a possible source of new tourists.
In March, the official newspaper Cuban Granma praised the growing number of Chinese tourists who travel to Cuba in recent years – from more than 8,000 visitors in 2022 to 26,760 in 2024.
However, these numbers are far lower than the more than 500,000 Canadians who traveled to Cuba in the first three months of 2025 – and that is at a level of 30 percent over the past year.
Canadian travel providers indicate ongoing interests from consumers, although the Cuban statistics suggest.
“Although there is a slight softening of the bookings in the bookings at the beginning of 2025 compared to the previous year, we also see signs of stabilization last month,” said Marie-Christine Pouliot, manager for public relations at Air Transat.
Air Canada announced CBC News that “Cuba played very steadily for us”.
According to Torres Pérez, Canada has been a single tourism market for a long time. When asked how it could be potentially to advance these figures, he suggested that they make efforts to improve the quality of service and ensure that the hospitality sector has the supplies that they need for the visitors.
