AREQUIPA, Peru – Despite the Cuban regime’s efforts to attract Russian visitors to the island, an unidentified tourist detailed the deficiencies of Cuba as a tourist destination after spending about 500,000 rubles (approximately US$6,000) for two weeks in a hotel in the Caribbean country.
The Russian media outlet Gorodoboy reported the testimony of the vacationer, who noted that in Cuba “not everything is as rosy as it appears in the pictures.”
In this regard, the woman considered that although the country is attractive to Russians, “even if you buy an expensive tour package, you can encounter a rude attitude and devastation.”
“The external appearance of the room matched expectations. However, upon closer inspection, mold was found in the bathroom, stains on the sofa and armchair, and a broken plywood bed base,” the Russian tourist commented.
Among her main complaints was the cleaning service of the hotel. According to her, the staff only made the bed with dirty sheets, and the towels were changed only once during the two weeks.
Additionally, the tourist added that for this, customers “had to leave a one-dollar tip.”
Although the specific hotel was not mentioned in the complaint, the Russian tourist also spoke of unsanitary conditions in other areas of the facility, such as the restaurants, where there were cockroaches, glasses with fingerprints, dirty cutlery, and stained plates.
“I saw it myself. The waitress simply pours water from a large tank into a dirty glass, shakes it, and rinses it. That’s all. No one even scrubs the dishes,” she argued.
Additionally, her dissatisfaction included the hotel’s service, describing the staff’s attitude as “unfriendly.”
“Almost none of the staff members bothered to smile or use a polite tone (…) At the end of the vacation, we had to face rudeness. We approached one of the maids because we forgot to collect some of our belongings after checkout. However, the employee refused to help (…) It was something like, ‘I don’t have to do anything for you, solve your own problems, it’s your fault,’” highlighted the tourist.
The Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) reported, citing the Cuban Ministry of Tourism, that the flow of tourists from Russia to Cuba in 2023 increased 3.4 times compared to the 184,800 Russians from the previous year, thus surpassing the pre-pandemic record.
The Cuban regime hopes to receive more than 200,000 Russian tourists this year and up to half a million in the future, according to the optimistic declaration of the Minister of Tourism in a press conference with the Russian agency TASS.
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