Think of it as Yoga for the brain, we are going to stretch a bit.
How Tourism Works in Cuba
The Reality Behind Your All-Inclusive Cuban Vacation
Let me ask you an uncomfortable question—one that may upset tourists, travel agencies, hotel companies, and everyone who prefers the postcard version of Cuba.
While you are lying on a lounge chair in Varadero, sipping a mojito beside the pool, did you know that the Cuban serving your drink may have returned home the night before to a house without electricity?
While you walk through an all-inclusive buffet filled with chicken, rice, bread, fruit, seafood, desserts, and imported drinks, Cuban families living only a few kilometers away may be rationing food, searching for medicine, and waiting hours for transportation.
Your hotel may have diesel for its generator.
The surrounding community may be in darkness.
Your swimming pool may be full.
The neighborhood outside the resort may have gone days without running water.
That is the reality behind the all-inclusive vacation in Cuba—and it is not something normally printed in a travel brochure.
Cuba’s Tourism Collapse
Cuba received approximately 4.7 million international visitors in 2018. By the end of 2025, the total had reportedly fallen to around 1.8 million.
That represents a decline of roughly 62% in seven years.
Hotel occupancy also collapsed. Cuban government statistics placed occupancy at only 21.5% during the first half of 2025. Later reporting indicated that average occupancy for the entire year may have fallen below 20%. In practical terms, approximately four out of every five hotel rooms were empty.
And the decline continued.
During the first five months of 2026, Cuba reportedly received only about 359,000 international visitors—a drop of approximately 42% compared with the same period in 2025.
Cuban tourism is not simply experiencing a slow season.
It is experiencing a structural collapse.
When Airlines Began Flying Empty Planes to Cuba
In February 2026, Cuba warned international airlines that aviation fuel might no longer be reliably available at Cuban airports.
Air Canada, WestJet, and Air Transat suspended Cuba operations or began winding them down. Airlines organized special flights to remove passengers already on the island. Russia also announced the repatriation of thousands of tourists after Russian carriers suspended service.
Some aircraft were effectively flying into Cuba without normal passenger loads so they could bring stranded travelers home.
That is not ordinary tourism.
That is an evacuation operation.
Reuters reported that Cuba expected commercial aviation fuel supplies to become unreliable beginning February 10, 2026. Air Transat suspended Cuba flights until the end of April, while Canadian airlines organized repatriation flights. Russian authorities also arranged to remove approximately 4,000 Russian tourists.
Canada currently advises travelers to avoid non-essential travel to Cuba because of worsening shortages of fuel, electricity, food, water, medicine, and other necessities. The Canadian advisory specifically warns that these shortages can affect resorts and ground transportation.
That warning is not coming from an anti-Castro organization in Miami.
It is coming from the Government of Canada—the country that has historically supplied Cuba with more tourists than any other nation.
Who Owns the Hotel?
Now we arrive at the part that many travel agencies do not explain.
When you purchase an all-inclusive Cuba package, you are not necessarily paying an independent Cuban hotel owner.
Most large Cuban hotels are owned by state enterprises. Many of the island’s most important resort properties are connected to Gaviota, the tourism conglomerate controlled by GAESA—Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A.
GAESA is operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Foreign companies such as Meliá, Iberostar, Blue Diamond, Barceló, Accor, Kempinski, and others frequently manage, market, or brand Cuban hotels, but the underlying property may remain owned by a Cuban state company.
The foreign company may operate the hotel.
It does not necessarily own the hotel.
Available industry figures indicate that Gaviota controls approximately 48% to 55% of Cuba’s total hotel-room inventory, rather than the frequently repeated claim that it owns 90% of all Cuban hotels. Its influence is particularly strong among newer four- and five-star properties.
That distinction matters.
The smiling logo on the hotel entrance may belong to a Spanish or Canadian hospitality company.
The land, building, transportation system, retail shops, marina, tour operation, or financial infrastructure behind it may belong to the Cuban state or its military-controlled conglomerate.
The All-Inclusive System Is Designed to Contain Your Money
Consider the typical Cuba vacation package:
You purchase the package through a foreign tour operator.
You fly on a charter or package airline.
A government-connected bus collects you at the airport.
You are transported to a state-owned resort.
You eat inside the resort.
You drink inside the resort.
You purchase excursions through the resort.
You exchange money through the official financial system.
You buy souvenirs inside the hotel complex.
You may spend the entire week without conducting a meaningful transaction with an independent Cuban.
That is the brilliance of the all-inclusive model—from the government’s perspective.
The tourist is economically contained.
The independent taxi driver does not receive the airport transfer.
The owner of a private restaurant does not serve the meals.
The neighborhood shop does not sell the drinks.
The independent guesthouse does not rent the room.
The musician, craftsman, farmer, and street vendor receive only whatever small amount escapes from the resort system.
Your package may provide employment to Cuban workers, but it does not mean the workers receive anything close to what you paid.
The Cuban Worker Serving You
A hotel employee may handle thousands of dollars in foreign-currency tourism revenue while receiving wages whose purchasing power is devastated by inflation.
Workers depend heavily on tips, gifts, food, clothing, toiletries, and medicine provided by tourists.
This creates one of the strangest economic relationships in the Caribbean:
The Cuban worker may be surrounded by food but unable to afford food.
They may work in an air-conditioned hotel but live through blackouts at home.
They may fill a tourist’s glass with clean water while their own neighborhood waits for a water truck.
They may clean a room containing soap, shampoo, towels, toilet paper, and bottled water—items that can be difficult or expensive for their own family to obtain.
The resort is not a representation of Cuban life.
It is an artificial island constructed inside Cuba.
Why Build More Hotels When Existing Hotels Are Empty?
Cuba continued expanding hotel capacity even while occupancy was collapsing.
The country entered the pandemic with tens of thousands of hotel rooms and continued prioritizing major tourism projects while housing, agriculture, transportation, electrical generation, and water infrastructure deteriorated.
This raises an obvious question:
Why keep constructing luxury hotels when four out of every five existing rooms may be empty?
Because hotels are not merely places for tourists to sleep.
They are mechanisms for capturing foreign currency.
Tourism brings Canadian dollars, euros, pounds, and other hard currencies into a country whose national currency has lost much of its purchasing power.
Luxury hotel projects also reinforce the control of the state conglomerates that own the properties, transportation companies, construction firms, retail networks, banks, and import operations surrounding the tourism industry.
This is not simply a tourism policy.
It is a financial structure.
What Foreign Hotel Companies Actually Do
Foreign hotel companies operating in Cuba usually work through management agreements with Cuban state owners.
They may provide:
International branding
Reservation systems
Marketing
Management expertise
Employee training
Access to foreign tour operators
Quality-control systems
But ownership frequently remains with the Cuban state enterprise.
For example, a resort carrying the Iberostar or Meliá name may still be owned by Gaviota or another Cuban state hotel group. One 2025 agreement involving an Iberostar property specifically stated that ownership would remain with Gaviota even as the foreign company received greater operational autonomy.
Foreign branding therefore does not automatically mean private foreign ownership.
It may mean that a foreign company manages a hotel owned by Cuba’s military-controlled tourism system.
The Canadian Connection
Canada has traditionally been Cuba’s largest tourism market.
For decades, Canadian tour operators have sold Cuba as an inexpensive all-inclusive destination with warm beaches, short flights, and relatively affordable package prices.
Canadian companies and agencies that have sold or specialized in Cuban travel include the following.
Hola Sun Holidays — “The Cuba Specialist”
Hola Sun is one of Canada’s best-known Cuba-focused tour operators.
Hola Sun describes itself as a Cuba specialist and markets packages, hotels, excursions, and destination services throughout the island.
Air Transat and Transat Vacations
Air Transat has historically offered flights and vacation packages to destinations including Varadero, Holguín, Cayo Coco, Santa Clara, and Havana.
General contact:1-877-872-6728 Vacation-package contact:1-866-322-6649 Outside the toll-free area:514-906-5111
Travelers should confirm whether Cuba service is operating because routes and packages have been disrupted by fuel shortages and changing travel conditions.
tripcentral.ca
tripcentral.ca compares Cuba packages offered by Canadian airlines and tour operators and has agents who advertise firsthand experience traveling to Cuba.
Toll-free:1-800-665-4981
Sunwing Vacations
Sunwing has long been one of the largest Canadian sellers of all-inclusive Caribbean packages, including Cuba.
Flights connected to Sunwing vacation packages have operated through WestJet since May 29, 2025. Travelers must verify current Cuba availability before booking.
Cuba Specialists Outside Canada
Cuba Travel Services — United States
Cuba Travel Services assists American travelers with Cuba visas, accommodations, tours, transfers, and itineraries intended to comply with U.S. travel regulations.
Telephone:1-800-963-2822
American citizens should understand that ordinary tourism to Cuba remains restricted under U.S. law. Travelers must qualify under an authorized travel category and comply with applicable Treasury Department rules.
insightCuba — United States
insightCuba organizes structured Cuba travel programs, including trips designed for U.S. travelers.
Telephone:1-800-450-2822
Love Cuba — United Kingdom
Love Cuba markets itself as a specialist in customized Cuban holidays and maintains personnel in both the United Kingdom and Cuba.
Telephone:0207 071 3636
Beyond the Ordinary — United Kingdom
This company offers private and tailor-made Cuba itineraries.
Telephone:01580 764796
Rickshaw Travel Cuba — United Kingdom
Rickshaw Travel offers customized and prearranged Cuba itineraries.
Telephone:01273 322 398
Telephone numbers, flight schedules, and Cuba programs can change. Travelers should verify all information directly with the company before making payments.
What the Travel Agency Should Tell You
Before accepting your money, a responsible travel agency should answer several questions clearly:
Who owns the hotel?
Is it connected to Gaviota or another Cuban state company?
Who operates the airport transfer?
Are aviation fuel supplies reliable?
What happens if the airline suspends service?
Does the resort have a working generator?
Are food, water, medicine, and transportation shortages affecting the destination?
Will your credit card work in Cuba?
Does your travel insurance cover evacuation, political disruption, or fuel-related cancellation?
Can the company guarantee transportation back to the airport?
How much of your package price reaches independent Cuban businesses?
These are not political questions.
They are basic consumer questions.
Is It Ethical to Vacation in Cuba?
That decision belongs to the traveler, but it should be an informed decision.
Travel to Cuba can benefit ordinary Cubans when visitors stay in privately operated guesthouses, eat in independent restaurants, hire independent guides and drivers, purchase directly from artists, and bring lawful humanitarian assistance.
However, the conventional all-inclusive model can concentrate most of the tourist’s spending inside government-controlled businesses.
There is an enormous difference between visiting Cuba to engage with its people and remaining for seven days inside a military-linked resort complex.
One can place money directly into the hands of Cuban families.
The other can place most of it into the state tourism apparatus.
Simply saying, “Tourism helps Cubans,” is therefore incomplete.
The real question is:
Which Cubans receive the money?
How to Support Ordinary Cubans More Directly
A traveler who chooses to visit Cuba can reduce dependence on the state tourism system by:
Staying in a privately operated casa particular
Eating at independent paladares
Hiring independent drivers and guides
Buying art and crafts directly from their creators
Tipping workers directly
Bringing permitted medicine, hygiene products, clothing, and supplies
Avoiding businesses identified as controlled by the Cuban military
Spending time outside the resort zone
Speaking honestly with Cubans about daily life
Even these choices do not completely remove the government from the transaction. Airports, immigration, telecommunications, currency exchange, fuel, and major transportation systems remain heavily controlled by the state.
But they can direct a larger portion of spending toward real people rather than keeping every dollar inside the resort compound.
The Vacation and the Country Are Not the Same Place
Tourists often return from Cuba and say:
“The food was plentiful.”
“The electricity worked.”
“The beach was beautiful.”
“The Cuban people seemed happy.”
But they did not necessarily experience Cuba.
They experienced a protected tourism zone.
The government understands that foreign visitors must be insulated from the full consequences of the national crisis. The resort therefore receives fuel, food, water, transportation, and maintenance that may not be available to the surrounding population.
This creates two Cubas.
One Cuba is shown to the tourist.
The other Cuba is lived by the Cuban.
One has air conditioning.
The other has blackouts.
One has a buffet.
The other has rationing.
One has a swimming pool.
The other waits for water.
Final Thought
Going to Cuba is not automatically immoral, and every traveler is responsible for reaching their own conclusion.
But ignorance is no longer an excuse.
You should know who owns the hotel.
You should know where the money goes.
You should know why the resort has electricity while nearby families do not.
You should understand that the foreign hotel name on the building may conceal a Cuban state or military-controlled owner.
And you should know that the smiling worker carrying your mojito may return that evening to a home without power, medicine, adequate food, or running water.
Cuba’s all-inclusive tourism industry was not designed primarily to connect you with the Cuban people.
It was designed to capture your foreign currency before it ever reached them.
The travel brochure shows you the beach.
It does not show you who owns it.
It shows you the buffet.
It does not show you the ration book.
It shows you the swimming pool.
It does not show you the empty water tap two kilometers away.
That is how tourism works in Cuba.
Original text written by Marcos Perez of SOS CUBA https://www.facebook.com/groups/1537833293153724/user/100000264024647
