MIAMI, United States – The state-run travel agency Cubatur has begun promoting the island as a destination for international weddings and quinceañera parties, in conjunction with the upcoming Expo Bodas 2024, which will be held for the first time in Cuba on November 15 and 16.
The event, to be held at the Habana Libre Hotel, has been presented as an opportunity to position Cuba in the global market for wedding ceremonies, with the aim of attracting the attention of tour operators, travel agencies, and potential clients from various parts of the world, according to a report by Travel Trade Caribbean.
According to the source, during a press conference held on Thursday, August 22, the organizers of Expo Bodas 2024 highlighted the participation of 37 exhibitors, including hotel chains, travel agencies, and catering services, all of whom aim to showcase their offerings.
In addition to serving as a showcase for services, the event aligns with the Cuban government’s strategy to mitigate the economic crisis the country is facing by offering wedding tourism as an alternative source of income amidst the scarcity and restrictions confronting Cuban citizens.
During the press conference, Juan Carlos Govea, the chief specialist in Market, Events, and Incentives at Cubatur, emphasized that Expo Bodas aims to present Cuba as an “elegant and unique” destination for weddings.
The focus on the international wedding market, as well as targeting countries like Canada, Germany, France, Mexico, and Brazil—which Govea noted are showing a “growing demand” for weddings in Cuba—illustrates a disconnect between the needs of the population and the regime’s priorities, as it once again invests in promoting events for foreigners rather than addressing the internal issues affecting the nation.
According to available information, Expo Bodas is expected to become an annual event, with the next edition scheduled for September 2025.
Cuba welcomed a total of 1,680,485 visitors during the first half of 2024, according to official figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI, by its Spanish acronym). While this number represents a 101.1% increase compared to the previous year, it reflects only a 0.9% increase compared to the same period in 2023. This figure shows that the Cuban tourism sector remains far from reaching the regime’s goal of attracting 3.2 million tourists in 2024.
Last June, Cuban authorities had announced the arrival of 1.8 million tourists in the first six months of 2024. However, economist Pedro Monreal disputed this figure, arguing that to reach that number, 625,112 visitors would have had to arrive in June, which was highly unlikely given that the maximum number of June visitors in recent years was 342,195 in 2018.
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