While the crisis in the Cuban economy is only getting worse and authorities blame the US embargo for all the shortages the population is going through, ranging from shelter and transportation to food, medicine and services like electricity and drinking water, still unstoppable hotel construction for a flow of tourists that doesn’t seem to reach Havana.
in the these pictures You can see some of the hotels under construction in the capitaland the Grand Aston, already in operation in Havana.
As the crisis in the #Cuban economy deepens and authorities blame the US embargo…
Posted by DIARIO DE CUBA on Monday 22nd August 2022
Cuba received only 834,891 visitor internationally in the first seven months of 2022a figure higher than in previous years when Covid-19 flights were grounded, but much lower than that of countries like the Dominican Republic and Mexico, which have recovered much faster from the pandemic.
The tourism recovery has not met the expectations of the Cuban government. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crippled the flow of Russian tourists, who had positioned themselves as the largest influx to the island in the wake of the pandemic. Recently, the Cuban ambassador in Moscow said that work is underway to resume commercial flights between the two countries as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, new hotels appear every day under construction across the island. Due to the lack of visitors, many remain underexploited.
Accommodation occupancy rates in Cuba remained at around 50% between 2016 and 2020, according to official data compiled by economist Pedro Monreal.
The number of rooms, on the other hand, has increased by more than 25% since 2016. At the beginning of the year it was 62,000 rooms, the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) currently speaks of 78,862, 74% of which have four and five stars.