Cuba seeks Russian and Chinese tourists to reactivate the sector

The Russian tourist Serguei Boyaryshnic walked in amazement with his family through the cobblestone streets of Old Havana between deteriorated pastel-colored buildings.

“We’ve heard a lot about Cuba,” he said. “Our countries have been friends for many years,” added the Moscow resident, who was visiting the Caribbean island for the first time.

Boyaryshnic, 36, was walking with a small group of tourists in Havana. “We love everything (and) if someone asks you whether to go or not: come to Cuba and check,” he added.

Cuba has recently begun offering new benefits to attract visitors like Boyaryshnic from allied countries such as Russia and China, in a bid to revive a still stagnant tourism sector struggling to recover in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has meant more flights, sometimes direct, from Russia and China, the elimination of visa requirements for Chinese travelers and Cuba’s recent decision to accept Russian Mir payment cards, making it one of the few countries that will join Moscow’s alternative to Visa and Mastercard.

The strategy has paid some dividends.

More than 66,000 Russians visited the island in the first three months of the year, according to state media reports, a still modest figure but double the same period in 2023, one of the few bright spots on the horizon.

The tough US sanctions Imposed by former President Donald Trump contributed to a sharp reduction in American visitors to the island, while arrivals from many European countries have also fallen, according to state data, a gap that Havana has struggled to offset.

However, the growing commitment to distant markets, such as a flight from Beijing with a stopover in Madrid, requires 24 hours or more of travel and is not enough to compensate for a recent drop in travelers from Europe, said Paolo Spadoni, a professor at the Augusta University in the United States and expert in Cuban tourism.

“It’s a long shot,” Spadoni said. Tourists from China and Russia may provide some relief in the short term, but are highly unlikely to make up for the lost contingent of European and American visitors.

That dilemma, Spadoni adds, means Cuba is unlikely to meet its goal of attracting 3.2 million visitors in 2024. He estimates the island will receive between 2.6 million and 2.7 million tourists this year.

One weekday morning in Old Havana, a UN heritage site and one of Latin America’s most famous tourist destinations, was eerily quiet.

The signs of an industry that has not yet recovered They were everywhere. Lobbies of hotels and restaurants that were once popular with foreigners are now almost empty.

And the nearby white sand beaches see few international visitors. At Havana airport, taxi drivers complain that they often wait all day for a single customer.

Migdalia González, a 55-year-old street vendor in Old Havana, said she had noticed more Russian and Chinese tourists than in previous years, but they were also not big fans of the empanadas she sells.

“The movement of tourists here right now is at rock bottom,” said González while displaying his merchandise in his hands.

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