Cuba saw a two -digit drop in the number of Canadians who visited the nation of the island last winter, asking questions about what is behind the slide.
The data of the National Statistical Agency of Cuba reveal that the number of Canadians traveling there were at least 30 percent below the numbers last year in January, February and March.
However, the descending change goes beyond the visitors of Canada, with Cuba also informing a decreasing number of tourist visits of Russia, Spain and Italy, among other countries.
The director of the Cuban Tourism Board in Toronto was out of the country this week and was not available to comment. But the country’s National Tourism Minister has recently hinted at the “complex” challenges facing Cuba.
Several national airlines and travel operators confirm that they are seeing less trips to the Caribbean country that attracted more than one million Canadian visitors annually in the years before the pandemic.
“The reported decrease in Canadian trips to Cuba aligns with the comments we listen to both customers and our travel experts,” said Amra Durakovic, head of communications from Flight Center Canada, to CBC News by email.
Cuba observers say that the cumulative economic and social challenges of the country, on exhibition for tourists who venture away from the resorts, and also in the media reports, may be contributing to the decrease in tourism.
“The reality is that the country has changed significantly for the worst since the early 1990s, when the Canadians began visiting the island in large quantities,” said Ricardo Torres Pérez, a Cuban economist who pays close attention to tourist statistics published by the State.
Exhibition problems
A prominent and recurring problem for Cuba has been its unreliable electricity grid and the effect it has on the country and the life of its people.
For months, Cuba has seen repeated generalized power failures, even sometimes consecutive past fall, when the island was beaten by successive hurricanes. There was also an important interruption in December, and another in March.
Andrés Pertierra, a Cuba analyst who previously lived and studied in Havana, was in Cuba for two of those main interruptions last year.
Remember the images shown in the news of the dark streets, juxtapose against images of the lights that work in the hotels.
“How does an image of a carefree lifestyle provide, a fast and fun trip, when you have that?” Pertierra asked.
Durakovic of Flight Center says that travelers are paying attention to the public problems that Cuba has been having, including periodic power cuts and limited availability of some essential goods and services, which he says that “he can understandably play a role in travel decisions.”
Since July 2023, Ottawa warned Canadians who “exercise a high degree of caution” if they travel to Cuba. Complete travel advice points to food scarcity, medicine and fuel, as well as continuous challenges with the electricity grid.
The current17:49Repeated power cuts from Cuba reflect deeper problems
Ruaridh Nicoll, Cuba correspondent with The Guardian, tells the guest presenter Susan Ormiston how the multiple energy closures of the island point to the general decrease in government services: it has few true allies, it is financially tied and is at risk of becoming a failed state.
Torres Pérez said that these problems are linked to the continuous economic crisis of Cuba.
“The crisis has affected the quality of the services, the state of the infrastructure and has led to frequent blackouts,” he said, and said that there are also problems around maintaining clean cities with “solid waste that accumulates in the streets.”
Both Torres Pérez and Pertierra also say that in the midst of these struggles, Cuba is seeing more problems with the crime of what he used to do.
“While it could be argued that the island is still relatively safe compared to other Latin American countries, the crime is increasing, including porterist incidents,” said Torres Pérez.
‘I love the place’
But the attractiveness of the sunny climate and the sand beaches of Cuba is strong, and for some Canadians, it is a place they will continue to visit.
Quebec resident, Michel Dubois, visited Cuba for the last time in December and says he will return there twice this year.
“I love the place, that is,” said Dubois, a cameraman and retired television editor, who worked for CBC and Radio-channel during his career. “I love people.”
Dubois says he has made friends after making repeated trips to Cuba, and helps to supply them with needs, such as flashlights, when he visits.
Sharon Pedley, from Brampton, Ontario, intends to do the same, when he returns to Cuba at the end of this year.
She and her husband will pack an additional suitcase full of needs, such as free sale medications, to bring Cuban friends they have met through their previous visits.
“You will find many of the tourists I know, they will do the same,” said Pedley.
The support that Pedley, Dubois and other related ideas tourists provide in this way can benefit individual Cubans, but these visitors also provide the country with a critical source of foreign currency.
Pertierra, the Cuba analyst, points out that as tourism decreases, “that will mean less foreign currency”, which is essential for the country to have to import the necessary goods and supplies.
A China turn?
Last week, Reuters reported that Cuba is looking in China as a possible source of new tourists.
In March, the official newspaper of Granma Cuban praised the growing number of Chinese tourists who were heading to Cuba in recent years, from more than 8,000 visitors in 2022, to 26,760 in 2024.
But those numbers are much lower than the more than 500,000 Canadians who traveled to Cuba in the first three months of 2025, and that is a level 30 percent below last year.
Canadian travel suppliers point out the continuous interest of consumers, despite what Cuban statistics suggest.
“Although there has been a slight softening in reserves for the first part of 2025 compared to the previous year, we are also seeing signs of stabilization in the last month,” said Marie-Christine Pouliot, Air Transat Public Relations Manager, by email.
Meanwhile, Air Canada told CBC News that “Cuba has been working very constantly for us.”
Torres Pérez says that Canada has long been the largest tourism market in Cuba. When asked how he could act to increase these numbers, he suggested that efforts could be made to improve the quality of the service and ensure that the hospitality sector has the supplies that you need to attend to visitors.
