Nearly three-quarters of Cuba’s hotels have closed and the island’s tourism sector has been brought to what officials describe as “almost total paralysis” by United States sanctions and fuel shortages, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said on July 29, according to Hürriyet Daily News.
Marrero, detailing the scale of the crisis publicly for the first time, said 73% of hotels on the island have shut down, with seven international hotel chains, responsible for around half of all hotel rooms in Cuba, having exited the country altogether. He said around 25,000 tourism workers have been left “in a vulnerable situation” as a result of the closures.
Tourism had been Cuba’s second-largest source of foreign currency earnings, employing more than 300,000 people before the sector’s decline accelerated this year. Streets in Old Havana that once drew crowds of visitors seeking sun and nightlife have grown noticeably quieter.
The downturn followed Havana’s announcement in February of an aviation fuel shortage, which prompted Canadian, Russian and European airlines to suspend flights to the island. Pressure intensified further after Washington imposed sanctions in May on GAESA, the military-run conglomerate that controls large parts of Cuba’s tourism infrastructure, leading several international hotel operators to end management agreements in order to avoid US penalties.
Spanish hotel groups Meliá and Iberostar had continued operating properties in partnership with Cuba’s Tourism Ministry, but Washington widened its sanctions in July, adding further pressure on companies still active on the island.
Official figures showed tourist arrivals fell 58% between January and June this year compared with the same period in 2025, underlining the scale of the disruption facing one of the Caribbean’s largest tourism economies.