Absence of Russian tourists impacts Cuba tourism heavily

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Varadero, a town in Cuba is known for its turquoise and white sand beaches. Until recently, these exotic beaches welcomed a significant number of tourists from Russia, but now, it wears a look that’s quite empty. While the sun was rising, a small group of tourists could be seen sunbathing here on a recent morning. However the marina that usually draws tourists was not present from large crowds. Yirianny Lara, who owns a souvenir store, expressed grief on the drop of tourists.

“Everything is very nice as you can see, but the little Russian tourism that we had when we were recovering is gone, because the war in Ukraine came and we are back in decline.”

Just as Cuba tries to pull through its tourism sector after getting battered for two years with drastic falls, absence of visitors from the United States due to tight rules imposed by former President Donald Trump and the restrictions on coronavirus, now, the tourism suffers a new attack: the absence of Russian visitors. They gave oxygen to the touristic activity in the last two years. Thousands of travellers from Russia had to reschedule their holidays in Varadero and return on special flights days after the Russian invasion started in Ukraine. The European Union, Canada and the United States closed the airspace to Russian commercial flights, among other financial sanctions, as penalty for this assault.

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