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Cuba’s tourism plummets 62% after US pressure and energy embargo
Official figures show 419,000 visitors arrived in Cuba this year as hotels, airlines and payment networks pulled back after stepped-up U.S. pressure.
- On Tuesday, the National Office of Statistics and Information reported that Cuba received 419,000 visitors so far in 2026, compared to 1.1 million during the same period in 2025, a 62% decline.
- Once attracting approximately 4.3 million tourists in 2019, Cuba's travel industry served as an economic engine for 30 years before President Donald Trump imposed a radical energy embargo in January.
- Between May and July, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions freezing accounts and barring tourism operators from the U.S. financial system, while hospitality chains Meli, Iberostar, and Royalton suspended all contracts.
- Visa and Mastercard payment gateways were withdrawn, while major airlines including World2Fly, Air France, Turkish Airlines, and Iberia halted flights after planes were barred from refueling on the island.
- A sector that generated $3 billion annually now faces potential structural collapse, with tourism positioning among Cuba's most severely impacted industries amid the combined effect of Trump's embargo and State Department sanctions.
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16 Articles
16 Articles
Associated Press News+5 Reposted by 5 other sources
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban tourism fell between January and July this year by 62% in relation to the same period of 2025, a sharp fall in the strategic sector on the island that is registered after the United States threatened international operators and imposed an energy fence, inform or
·New York, United States
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The situation coincides with the intensification of the blockade by the United States, the fuel and energy crisis.
·Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Total News Sources16
Leaning Left6Leaning Right3Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution43% Left
Bias Distribution
- 43% of the sources lean Left
43% Left
L 43%
C 36%
R 21%
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