By C. ben-David
With friends like Fidel Castro and his political successors, ordinary Canadians and Cubans need no enemies.
For decades, Cuba’s tourism sector has enjoyed a reputation as an “economic locomotive” — a term used by local authorities who saw it as the lifeblood of the Caribbean island country’s economy.
This was not always the case.
Before the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Cuba’s tourism industry was largely privatised, much of it owned and exploited by the American mafia as a gangster’s paradise. Once the Castro-led revolution overthrew the Batista regime, the sector was put on hold largely because of its previous mafia ties.
But when the Soviet Union imploded in the 1980s, the Cuban government decided that sun, surf, and sand made good economic sense and that the tourist industry should be revived despite its previous gangster ties.
By the 2000s, Castro’s regime moved to increase centralisation of the Cuban economy, a restructuring that included putting its tourism industry under the mandate of GAESA, a military-run conglomerate that generates more than a third of Cuba’s GDP.
Meanwhile, after former U.S. President Barack Obama somewhat normalised relations with the Castro government in 2015, an uptick in U.S. visitors led to a tourism boom.
At its pre-COVID pandemic peak, the sector accounted for 10% of the country’s overall GDP: it had its best year for overnight stays in 2017, generating $3.3 billion U.S. for the country’s economy.
Around that time, there were roughly 100,000 to 120,000 direct jobs in Cuban tourism, and close to 500,000 workers were directly and indirectly linked to tourism.
But the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations slowed when the first Trump administration imposed restrictions on travel to Cuba in 2019, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic ground global tourism to a halt. A few years later, the war in Ukraine slowed tourism from Russia.
Now, Cuba’s chance of surviving without a functioning tourism industry is “very unlikely,” largely because the sector, through the cash spent at its hotels, resorts and restaurants, is a major source of liquidity for a country already in financial dire straits.
The country’s economy is about 15% smaller now than it was during the tourism sector’s 2018 peak, according to Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist and research fellow at American University in Washington, D.C.
“It’s a disaster,” Torres told CBC News, noting that Cubans have become increasingly frustrated with what they view as the government’s mismanagement of the tourism industry.
The Cuban government invested heavily in the industry during Joe Biden’s administration, hoping that if the former U.S. president approached Cuba with the same warmth that Obama had, it would lead to a post-COVID recovery in tourism. That never happened.
Rather than invest in the country’s infrastructure, Torres says the government poured billions into the dying industry.
“I think that’s what Cubans resent,” he said. “They had enough [time] to change course, and they didn’t. And now we are paying the price — because tourism is not working, but neither is any other part of the economy.”
During protests that have flared up across the country since 2021, some of Havana’s most luxurious hotels have become gleaming symbols of inequality, as Cuba’s electrical grid has continuously flatlined and humanitarian conditions have deteriorated.
The country’s other strategic sectors, meanwhile, have been pushed to “the point of checkmate”, wrote Miami-based market expert Emilio Morales in a 2024 report. Those sectors include electrical energy generation, transportation, health, agriculture, and drinking water supply. In the same report, Morales estimated that 10,000 tourism workers have left the country.
“Any Cuban person who is short of medicine, who is cooking with wood or coal, must be very frustrated at seeing these empty hotels, at seeing the possibility of tourism decreasing and therefore the economic situation getting more dire,” said another commentor.
“The level of sub-social frustration — it is there in Cuba and will continue to grow.”
But the industry has been in decline since its 2018 peak, and the U.S. government’s squeeze on Cuba’s oil supply has pushed the nation’s most crucial industry closer to its breaking point.
The Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that supply fuel to Cuba — part of an effort to strangle the communist-run country after the fall of its close ally and main energy supplier, Venezuela, in January. As a result, Canadian, Russian and European airlines have suspended flights and resorts have shuttered, staunching the flow of international visitors.
Without them, Cuba might not be able to survive. In 2024, the country had 2.2 million visitors, down more than 50% from the 4.7 million tourists it welcomed in 2018.
Some experts say Cuba now faces its worst economic crisis since the aftermath of the 1962 Missile Crisis, and the collapse of its tourism industry could be the economy’s death knell.
The most recent sign of this collapse is the Feb. 18 announcement by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs advising Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to Cuba due to worsening shortages of fuel, electricity, and basic necessities.
These shortages can affect resort services and lead to public disorder and power outages, it said.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, diplomats updated a federal travel advisory, warning that conditions were so poor that drivers were fighting in gas station lineups.
“All Canadian airlines have suspended service to Cuba until further notice,” said the travel advisory. “Commercial flights remain available through international airlines. However, they may become limited on short notice.”
These cancellations are a critically important issue because Canada is by far the largest source of tourists to Cuba, consistently ranking as the top market with over 750,000 visitors in 2025, representing a massive share of total international arrivals.
“Traveling across the island is extremely challenging,” said Travel Advice. “Public transportation services including taxis, are often disrupted, leaving tourists with few options to travel. Some travellers have been temporarily stranded with a rental car. There are often long lineups at gas stations that have led to altercations.”
“Cuba faces chronic and severe shortages of basic necessities including food, bottled water, public water supply, medication, fuel and hard currency,” said Travel Advice. “Resorts can be affected by shortages.”
Canadian diplomats, as late as 2021, praised the ruling Communist Party for embracing “social rights”, mindlessly ignoring the absence of basic human rights such as peaceful political protests, free and fair elections between competing political parties, freedom of speech, and the formation of independent labour unions.
These are highly cherished human rights in both Canada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
These constraints on basic human rights did nothing to prevent Canada from stating that it “recognises Cuba’s strong commitment to economic and social rights, particularly in the areas of education and health,” according to a March 19, 2021, briefing note titled “Canada-Cuba Relations.”
The note followed a 2016 visit by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who praised Fidel Castro as “a legendary revolutionary and orator” with “significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation,” parroting the views of his late father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, a former Canadian Prime Minister who harboured an intense affection for the country’s long-serving dictator.
“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognised his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for ‘el Comandante,’” said Justin Trudeau. “I know my father was very proud to call him a friend.”
With friends like Fidel Castro and his political successors, ordinary Canadians and Cubans need no enemies.
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
Excellent. I believe the author has provided some balance. While Cuba has developed and done good things in education and public health, its people suffer a lack of freedom. We need to evaluate the pros and cons on any debate over Cuba. I personally tend to usually come down on the side of freedom. Doesn’t mean I am right. But its my opini9n.
The writer does his homework then transcribes it with characteristic dexterity. My paramount concern is freedom of people. Period. That makes me question how much talk of “financial dire straits” there would be if the Cuban people were a free people.
Very good writing, except you could have explore the idea of human and social rights. communist regimes are one-man show. simply because the leader thinks i know it all. this the way life should be for my people, that stems from a position of weakness. It is a strange way of not looking at the importance of new idea’s. Diversification of any country’s economy is best in the long term. Tourism can and will dry up when the Americans, Canadians are warned not to come to your shores, its starvation. The Cubans have found that out, the rest of the Caribbean can’t even get their act together.
Stephen Joachim you showered praises bon C.Ben-David of Layou for his article on Cuna , what you ignore is the bright side of the Cuban Revolution. What can I expect Stephen? There is a Vincentian old adage that goes like this, No better the beef no better the barrel “. Meaning that they are one and the same and ifbthe Barrel is compromised, so does the beef.
I have read many articles by the self appointed genius of Layou, St Vincent and many of these are myopic in its vision, to the extent that reading them is likely to give “scarce eye” , if there is such a term as Vincentians would say. I do myself a favor by ignoring the writer as most Vincentians do.
It is no surprise that the likes of Stephen Joachim et al will shower praises on C.Ben-David David, given that they are birds of the same feather. Stephen Joachim came under some severe tongue lashing recently from fair minded Vincentians after the new broke that he was appointed chairperson of the NIS.
Stephen most Vincentians take your opinion with a”grain of salt” as they say. Who cares what Stephen thinks? ,it is neither here nor there whatsoever he thinks. Its a vacuum, and devoid of relevance and importance.
Stephen is a opportunist
But you seem to care. Otherwise you wouldn’t have bothered writing this comment.
Communism is nothing but Satanism in political dress. Both Marx and Lenin were rapid atheists who were not afraid to publish their etreme hatred for the idea of God. Richard Wumbrand of Romania has written an excellent book(MARX AND SATAN) exposing the widespead devotion to satanism of all the founders of Communism and Socialism. The oppression inflicted on the citizens of Cuba by its government are not a surprise for Satan would do likewwise. It is shameful to hear the warped and twisted leaders of countries that supposedly are Christain defend the Cuban regime. No wonder the Bible says in James 3:1,”..be not many masters, knowing that we shall receivethe greater condemnation.”