Tourism in Cuba plummets as tensions with US increase and Venezuela oil shipments drop

Описание: (27 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba - 26 January 2026
1. Mirror view from classic American car of tourists walking
2. Tourists getting off yellow bus, taking photos
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Reymundo Aldama, taxi driver:
++ PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 1,2-4 ++
“There are days when we don't have any customers. That's a loss, because when you leave your house to get here and then back home, you spend money on everything. You spend on fuel back and forth, eat lunch have a snack. Most of the time, we have losses, not profits. We're struggling.”
4. Tourists walking around
5. Parked cars
6. Various of musical group playing music in a hotel entrance at lunchtime; empty tables
++ SOUND SPREADS TO SHOTS 4-5, 7-8 ++
7. Capitol building, street, people
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Niuvis Bueno, kiosk owner:
“The situation now, well... I haven't experienced anything as difficult as the current situation. But I always have hope that we can get through this. I don't know.”
9. People sitting on the Malecón, cars circulating, city
++NIGHT SHOTS++
10. Soldiers dressed in XVIII century uniforms reenact cannon shot to announce the closure of the city walls
11. Various of people watching the cannon shot ceremony
STORYLINE:
Tourism in Cuba is plummeting at a time when the island desperately needs that revenue. For almost two decades, a steady trickle of visitors led to a boom in tourism, only for the pandemic and severe blackouts to hit, coupled with a radical increase in U.S. sanctions.

Now, Cubans whose livelihood depends on tourism are among those suffering the most as the island braces for what experts say could be a catastrophic economic crisis following a disruption in oil shipments from Venezuela.

On a sunny afternoon in Havana, a handful of tourists tumble out of a small yellow bus and rush toward a row of shiny classic cars, cameras in hand.

Reymundo Aldama, who has been driving a bubblegum pink 1957 convertible Ford Fairlane for the past several years said he used to charge $50 for a drive around the capital. Now, given the lack of demand, he has lowered his price to $25 and even $20.

“There are days when we don't have any customers. Most of the time, we have losses, not profits. We're struggling," Aldama said.

For decades, tourism generated up to $3 billion a year for Cuba.

Hotels and restaurants that used to be packed are mostly empty empty as musicians entertain a small group of tourists.

Some 2.3 million tourists visited Cuba from January to November 2025, significantly lower than the 4.8 million in 2018 and the 4.2 million in 2019, before the pandemic hit.

Growing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, cuts in water and power supply and large piles of garbage in popular tourist areas have spooked visitors.

The dramatic drop in tourists hits especially hard because U.S. sanctions stripped Cuba of nearly $8 billion in revenue from March 2024 to February 2025, a loss that is nearly 50% higher compared with the previous period.

At a popular tourist location across the Havana Bay, Niuvis Bueno owns a small stand to sell coconut and drinks.

Bueno tries to stay hopeful but said that, lately she can hardly make ends meet.

“I haven't personally experienced anything as difficult as the current situation, but I always have hope that we can get through this. I don't know," she explained.

With or without tourists, the day ends with the ceremony of firing a cannon to announce the closing of the city gates. A tradition dating back to the Spanish colonial era and performed every night since.




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