The war in Ukraine complicates the return of tourism to Cuba

Repeat with mention Infographic Photos by Yamil Lage and video by Yamil Lage and Aldalberto Roque ///Viñales, Cuba, 18 Mar 2022 (AFP) - Riding a horse in front of the mogotes of Viñales, Taliv Hasis, a Dutch pharmacist, says he has fulfilled his dream of visiting Cuba. Tourists were beginning to return to the island, but the war in Ukraine revived uncertainty for this industry that drives the Cuban economy.” The list of things to do in life says that you have to go to Cuba once,” says Hasis, 34, before going into the hospital with his girlfriend riding among the mogotes, the ochre-colored rocky elevations that characterize the western town of Viñales. “We loved Cuba since before and we love nature.” This town, 180 kilometers from Havana, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, used to be a busy place, especially visited by Europeans and Canadians until March 2020, when the pandemic broke out.Without those tourists, 80% of its inhabitants were left without work until the end of last year, when foreign visitors began to arrive in droplets.Restaurant owners opened their doors and people who have lodging houses began to prepare rooms for travelers.” This is going to be, for sure, little by little,” says Tomasa Coello, 74 years old and owns one of these tiled houses, typical of Viñales.” It seems to me that tourists will continue to visit Cuba (...) it is very important that they feel at home”, adds Esperanza. - Before, “you couldn't even walk” - Tourism is the second source of foreign exchange income for Cuba, only below what is generated by medical services abroad. In 2019, about 2.2 billion dollars entered the country, while in 2021 this amount fell to the equivalent of 559 million. Similarly, the inflow of foreign visitors rose from 4.3 million in 2019 to 356,453 in 2021. There are signs of improvement: the National Bureau of Statistics published on Friday that international visitors in the first two months of the year rose from 35,553 in 2021 to 185,749 in 2022. In the midst of the crisis, Cuban tour operators managed to attract Russian travelers, making them the lifesaver of the sector. In Viñales, on Varadero beaches or in Havana, the presence of Russians increased 197% between 2020 and 2021. By far they were the most assiduous to the island.However, this flow was drastically reduced at the outbreak of war. “There is no tourism, very little, compared to a long time ago. Here in the Old Square you couldn't even walk,” exclaimed Denis Rosset, a 38-year-old restaurant promoter, trying to catch a customer. At the beginning of March, some 6,000 Russians were evacuated from Cuba because of the international blockade of their country's planes, because of sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.” What there was most was Russian tourism, especially Ukrainian from those countries such as Poland, but now there are no Russians here, practically not very European,” Rosset laments.Fear that tourism will sink again plans again. For José Luis Perelló, specialist in tourism development, “the increase in Russian tourists to Cuba has been a temporary event” due to the absence of other nationalities during the pandemic. But remember that the island's natural market comes from Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and the United States. - A decade for recovery - “The great uncertainty is that the war between Russia and Ukraine is not a particular event between two countries. That affects the large European tourism market” which is more concerned about the war than in leisure travel, said the expert. Tourism has received “one of the strongest impacts after World War II” and will take a decade to recover, Perelló added. In addition to global challenges such as rising fuel prices, which will increase the cost of flights, the island suffers from the tightening of Washington sanctions, which provokes the ban on US cruises in Cuban ports, limits the purchase of supplies for the provision of services and gives little access to tour operators.Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García said week that Cuba maintains the goal of receiving 2.5 million travelers this year.The British cruise ship Marella Explores Dos, which became the first and only one to dock in Havana since the start of the pandemic, on March 4, returned this Friday with about 900 passengers on board for a two-day stay in the city. Marella Cruises Restricted, plans to return on April 1 and 15, told local media Carlos Alberto Rivera, director of Cubatur Occident.LP/CB/RSR —