Cuba pins hopes on China to help save sputtering tourism industry

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By Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) -Cuba is pinning its hopes on attracting more visitors from Communist ally China as part of a last-ditch bid to revive a sputtering tourism industry devastated by renewed U.S. sanctions under the Trump administration and a crisis-wracked economy.

Visitors from abroad, a critical source of foreign currency on the island, plunged by nearly a third in the first quarter of 2025, according to recent data from Cuba’s statistics agency, ONEI, an ominous sign that has left top officials on the archipelago scrambling for alternatives.

Cuba had forecast 2.6 million visitors in 2025, an 18% increase over the previous year, but seems unlikely to hit that target as the peak northern winter fades into a sultry Caribbean summer.

“It’s no secret that, recently, our country, and especially the tourism sector, is facing a complex scenario,” said Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia in a speech on Wednesday inaugurating the island’s annual tourism fair – this year dedicated to China.

Garcia praised China in his talk, saying their close ties of cooperation and friendship had “stood the test of time.”

The Asian giant could prove fertile ground for Cuba, despite the vast physical distance between the two countries.

Air China last May opened its first direct flight between the two countries, which, while an intimidating 24-hour voyage, has helped boost visitor numbers. The Chinese are also exempt from obtaining a visa to visit the Caribbean island nation.

Visitors from China in 2024 jumped 50%, bucking the downward trend.

But Russia, Canada, Spain, and Italy – for which Cuba has been a popular destination until recently – saw visitor numbers drop in early 2025, according to ONEI statistics.

U.S. visitors, including Cuban-Americans, also dropped off sharply in the first quarter.

“It is unfair that U.S. citizens are prohibited, by law, from traveling freely as tourists to Cuba,” said Cuba Prime Minister Manuel Marrero in a presentation to attendees at the fair.

Cuba has long appealed to tourists attracted by the mystique of a Communist-run island which, at least to visitors, appears frozen in time thanks to a plethora of 1950s autos and towns mostly free of the kind of commercial development seen elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Marrero said Cuba was seeking more diverse forms of tourism, to encourage foreign investment and partnerships and implement economic reforms to help revive the island’s appeal.

(Reporting by Nelson Acosta; Editing by Sandra Maler)