Cuba suffers from lack of Russian tourists, “lifeguards” in pandemic

VARADERO, Cuba (AP) — Varadero's turquoise waters and white sand beaches, which until recently received a large number of Russian tourists, now look almost empty. The shops selling beach goods, rum and tobacco in the marina of the famous Cuban spa miss those visitors who largely saved this battered industry in times of pandemic and last year were the most numerous nationals on the island.

With the sun soaking high on a recent morning, you could hardly see a Hungarian couple and isolated groups of Cuban bathers residing abroad, while in the navy sales premises of the tourist pole, located 140 kilometers east of Havana, Russians were shining by their absence, who at the start of the war counted by the thousands and had to leave the country in a hurry.

“Look how everything is!” Tamara Alvarez, who runs a store in the area, told The Associated Press, pointing outward at empty tents and seats at that time where they used to be having a drink. “We had a lot of illusions, we were already seeing a change, but unexpectedly this falls to us,” he added, referring to the war in Ukraine.

Just as Cuba tries to recover its vital tourism industry a little more after two years of drastic falls, particularly in 2021, as a result of the absence of US visitors following the tightening of sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump and restrictions due to the coronavirus, the island now suffers another blow: the absence of Russian visitors who have given oxygen to the activity in the past two years.

Thousands of those visitors had to cut off their vacations in Varadero and other Caribbean resorts — such as the Dominican Republic — and returned on special flights days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to the closure of airspace to Russian commercial flights decreed by the European Union, Canada and the United States, between other financial sanctions as punishment for the attack. Some airlines closed their ticket sales to the island until the end of March.

A large sign placed on entering Varadero welcomes tourists in Russian and other languages, while the island chose Russia as the guest country at the international tourism fair of Cuba, scheduled to be held in May at the famous seaside resort. Tourism is the second largest contributor to the Cuban Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is the second largest source of foreign exchange after those generated by professional medical services abroad.

“Cuba's commitment to recovering tourism arrivals figures was to Russian tourism and at this time it is not possible to recover anything resulting not only from the conflict but also from the absolute suspension and sanctions imposed on airlines, flights, agencies, tour operators, therefore we also have to dispense with Russian tourism”, said José Luis Perelló Cabrera, doctor of Economics and specialist in tourism development in Cuba, in an interview with The Associated Press.

In 2021, Russia became the main source of visitors to the island, reaching 146,155, surpassing those arriving from Canada (68,944) and Cubans living abroad (52,804), according to the island's National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI). A year earlier, Russians continued to reach Canadians and Cubans, respectively, when the island country received 1,085,920, a sharp drop from 4.2 million in 2019 and 4.7 million in 2018.

Last year the decline in the industry was much more dismal amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. It was not until mid-November that the country of 11 million inhabitants reopened its borders and revived international tourism, although it ended the year with just 356,470 visitors, with Russians leading the way. In January and February, more than 35,000 Russians arrived in Cuba, ranking slightly third after Canadians and Cubans living abroad, according to ONEI.

Several thousand of them enjoyed Varadero and other Cuban and Dominican Republic beaches when the war broke out in Ukraine. The Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) said in a statement that between 6,000 and 8,000 Russian tourists were on the island when the conflict broke out. Several flights left at the beginning of March from Varadero to take those nationals back home.

ONEI has not released the numbers of visitors for the current month, but some operators and industry experts in Cuba estimate that the war in Ukraine led several thousand Russians to cancel their trips to the island in March, which in the same month of 2020 had received more than 15,000 of them and more than 7,000 in the same period in 2021, according to official statistics.

“Losing that market is a big blow in Cuba,” Russian-Cuban Natasha Strelkova, tour operator and guide in the Caribbean country, told the PA. “It's going to be a blow to the mid-level tourism economy. As soon as we analyze the laps that the Russian plane must make to come to Cuba, the tickets are going to be very expensive.”

In the midst of this situation, Cuban tourism authorities have made it clear in the official media that the island maintains its goal of reaching the figure of 2.5 million visitors that was imposed long before the war in Ukraine, while the socialist nation continues with a plan for industry drawn up in 2013, which includes construction of new hotels. At the beginning of last week it opened one of 600 rooms in the capital. It also expects an increase in the arrival of tourists from Canada.

Experts such as Perelló Cabrera, however, doubt that these figures can be achieved and that this has nothing to do with the growth or not in the income of Russian tourists. “It would have to grow by approximately 37.40% and the growth rate in the last 27 years of Cuba's (tourism) in normal times has been 4% and 3%,” said the analyst.

Ivis Fernández Peña, Tourism delegate in the province of Matanzas, expressed his optimism this season in Varadero on Monday, despite the absence of Russian tourists.

“There was uncertainty that the departure of Russia could weaken the results of the destination, but Germany and England entered, while operations with Poland and Belgium are going well and Canada is recovering,” he said during a meeting that took stock of the Ministry of Tourism, attended by President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Meanwhile, tourism has not stopped on the island. The same week that Russian visitors' first return flights took place in the midst of the war, the British cruise ship Marella Explorer 2 docked in Havana with almost 1,000 adult passengers, in the first of four berths on its journey through the Antilles. On Friday, March 18, he returned for the second time and spent 24 hours on a pier next to the tourist Old Havana.

Cuba traditionally attracts more for its beaches, and resorts like Varadero were looking forward to greater recovery after the country reopened its borders to international tourism in mid-November.

“Everything is very nice as you can see, but when we were recovering Russian tourism went because of the war in Ukraine. We are back in decline again,” said Yirianny Lara, head of stores at the Varadero marina. “We are ready for tourism to arrive in order to provide the best service.”