Blackouts and declining hotel quality are taking a toll on the island’s leading tourism market.
By 14ymedio
HAVANA TIMES – “Low prices, magnificent beaches, a popular destination, and ignorance: these are the reasons that push Canadians to keep going to Cuba,” says Manon Girardin, deputy director of the Canadian travel agency Voyages CAA-Québec. Her company is one of those that refuse to buy into the message of safe and paradise-like tourism that the regime and its advertisers promote.
“The risk of client dissatisfaction is high, especially for those who are unaware – or prefer to ignore – the problems the country faces. Therefore, we give some warnings when proposing this destination. If you want to go, you need to know what you’re getting into to accept whatever comes and not be disappointed,” she says in a note from the Travel section of the local newspaper Le Nouvelliste, where the question is raised: Who still wants to travel to Cuba?
As the September tourism data is about to be released, it is already known that travelers from Canada dropped in August, with a total of 665,871, 1.5% less than the same month of the previous year. Canadians remain the top source of international travelers to Cuba, but it appears the growth has long since peaked, and now countries like Russia, Mexico, and Argentina have positive prospects.
As of September 1st, 1,608,078 tourists had arrived on the island this year, 58,920 fewer than during the same period in 2023, and expectations couldn’t be worse, especially for a regime that has invested everything in this industry. September and October, traditionally bad months for tourism, are expected to show poor data. The recent nationwide blackout and the passing of hurricane Oscar raise fear that November and December, Cuba’s high tourism season, will be catastrophic.
“In general, the price is much cheaper than in other nearby destinations. A colleague is going to the Dominican Republic, and the cost of her all-inclusive trip is now over 3,000 dollars (about 2,166 US dollars) for one week in February. Cuba would never be that expensive,” says Girardin, who warns potential travelers that cheap can end up being costly and recalls one of her agency’s recent trips to Cayo Largo.
“Passengers couldn’t shower for several days because the hotel had no water,” she notes. In this case, the Canadian company Sunwing took measures to avoid shortages by transporting local food and beverages to meet passengers’ needs. Only in this way could that group have, for example, foreign alcoholic drinks, although not everyone was as lucky.
On Tuesday, the Canadian government updated its travel alert status for Cuba. Like most states, Ottawa issues recommendations and warnings about every country worldwide, which future travelers can consult to know whether to take normal precautions, take extra precautions, or avoid a dangerous destination entirely. Until October 2023, Cuba had been marked green – except in cases of specific weather events – but it turned yellow at that time and has not improved since. The reason: shortages of some basic necessities, including food, medicines, and gasoline.
The island is spared from the regional alerts, where it remains green – normal precautions – for Havana, Jardines del Rey, and the resorts of Varadero, Cayo Largo, Jibacoa, Marea del Portillo, Playa Ancón, and Playa Santa Lucia. However, the update yesterday introduced an orange level for the provinces of Guantánamo and Holguín, where non-essential travel is advised against due to the aftermath of Hurricane Oscar.
This isn’t the only blow to the high season in its priority market. On Tuesday, François Laramée, a Quebecois travel agent who was in Varadero during the blackout, gave an interview to the LCN network, where he couldn’t have been more blunt: “It was time to come back because it was pathetic,” he said from Quebec, where he managed to return on Monday night.
Laramée, who had previously considered Cuba a “second home,” explained that when he left, his hotel still had no electricity. “Even staying in a five-star hotel, it was catastrophic.”
After experiencing it firsthand, Laramée took the trouble to advise the 40 people who called his agency on Tuesday morning interested in traveling to Cuba not to go for at least a month. “I tell them to wait until next month, while they recover,” he advised. “Even the staff, who are usually friendly and caring, were very tired. It really wasn’t fun at all.”
Laramée recommends sun and beach-loving Canadians to choose the Dominican Republic or Mexico instead.
This year, an incident that made international news may have contributed to the Canadian market’s paralysis in Cuba more than the government warnings. Faraj Allah Jarjour, a tourist from Montreal who died in Varadero last March, was buried in Russia after being mistaken for a traveler from that country, Ilya Neroev, who also died on the island. The bodies of both men were confused by Cuban authorities until the Canadian family discovered the mistake after failing to recognize the body they received.
Additionally, Canadian Caroline Tétrault experienced a nightmare alongside her husband, Christian Maurais, when an appendicitis nearly turned into peritonitis while vacationing in Villa Clara. The Quebec couple recounted on television the precarious conditions of the hospital where she was treated, and despite the professionalism of the health staff, they came to a conclusion: “Unfortunately, for us, Cuba is over. I’m sure the world is full of beautiful places to see.”
Read more from Cuba here on Havana Times.
