Once a "Dream Resort Destination"... Beaches Empty as Tourist Numbers Halve in One Year

U.S. Oil Blockade and Sanctions Hit Cuban Tourism Hard

Sharp Decline in Visitors Including Canada, the Largest Tourism Market

With the intensification of U.S. sanctions and chronic power shortages, Cuba's tourism industry is rapidly shrinking. It has been confirmed that the number of foreign tourists visiting Cuba this year has dropped to about half of previous levels.

According to Infobae, a Spanish-language media outlet, citing data from the Cuban National Office of Statistics and Information on the 23rd (local time), a total of 328,608 foreign tourists visited Cuba between January and April this year. This represents a 55.8% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Since the beginning of this year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Cuba has been confirmed to have dropped to about half. Getty Images

In particular, the number of visitors in March and April was only 35,561 and 30,551, respectively. The monthly number of tourists is far below the daily average of about 53,000 foreign visitors to Korea in the first quarter of this year.

By country, the number of visitors from Canada plummeted by 63.8% year-on-year to 125,444. The number of Russian tourists also fell by 56.7% to just 21,050. In countries that had recently shown an upward trend, such as Argentina and China, the decline exceeded 20%. The number of Cuban expatriates returning from abroad also decreased by 41.2%.

Street in Havana, the capital of Cuba. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Locally, there is analysis that the tightening of U.S. sanctions has accelerated the downturn in Cuba's tourism industry. U.S. President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Cuba since returning to power. Since January, the United States has moved to block Cuba's oil supply chain, and recently, former President of the Council of State Raúl Castro, considered a powerful figure in Cuba, was indicted in connection with the 1996 civilian aircraft shootdown incident.

In addition, a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group has been deployed to the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Cuba. Cuba is geographically close to the United States, being only 145 kilometers away and reachable in just over an hour by plane.

Taxi drivers are waiting for passengers at Havana Airport in Cuba. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Furthermore, the United States has added 'GAESA', the military-industrial complex at the core of the Cuban economy, to its sanctions list, and imposed additional sanctions on senior officials in the energy, defense, and financial sectors. The Cuban government has denounced these measures as an "economic war."

As a result, Cuba has been suffering from large-scale blackouts and fuel shortages for several months. The operation of hospitals and schools is being disrupted, and shortages of food and medicine are worsening. In Havana, the capital, anti-government protests continue.

CNN reported that the Trump Administration is using the Cuba issue as a diplomatic card to score political achievements. The analysis suggests that the U.S. is seeking political wins by pressuring the Cuban regime, given the lack of clear results on issues such as the war in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.