Cuban tourism sector braces for further drop in US visitors
Ancon beach in Trinidad, Cuba
In the colonialCubancity of Trinidad, handicrafts shop owner Lourdes Milan says she has already slashed prices due to thedropinUSvisitorsfollowing Washington's tightening of sanctions and she's worried the situation will worsen this year.
Trinidad, a five-hour drive east of Havana, was one of the top destinations for the Americans that poured into Cuba after the Obama administration eased decades-old restrictions on travel to the island during a short-lived 2014-2016 detente.
But the number ofUSvisitorsdropped by 21.9 per cent last year after the Trump administration tightened those restrictions again and banned the recently re-instated cruises, according to data published this month inCubanstate magazine Excelencias.
TheUSvisitorsnumber will likelydropagain this year due to newUScurbs onUSflights to Cuba that have come into effect since December.
"We are reducing prices to the minimum because there is very littletourism," said Milan, who had not sold a single product by midday despite January being high season fortourismin Cuba.
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The total number ofvisitorsto the islanddropped by 9.6 per centlast year to 4.275 million, according to Excelencias.
Slight rises in arrivals ofCubans living abroad and Canadians were unable to compensate for the double-digit decline inUSvisitors- mostly via cruise ships - and a smallerdropin European tourists.
Paolo Spadoni, associate professor in the department of social sciences at Augusta University in the state of Georgia, said the full impact of theUSban on cruises would be felt even more this year, as it was implemented last June.
Moreover, the Trump administration barredUSairlines from flying to all destinations in Cuba besides Havana in December and announced this month it would curb public charter flights too.
"Now, all itineraries have to start in Havana, which means they cost more," Liliana Guerra, commercial vice director at Cienfuegos' Hotel Jagua, run by the Spanish hotel chain Melia, said in front of a swimming pool devoid of guests.
"We are seeing a decrease in the arrival ofCubans from abroad who used these airports nearby to visit their families and then would stay in our hotel as a kind of familytourism."
Thetourismministry's delegate in Cienfuegos, Jose Gonzalez, saidUSsanctions on oil shipments to Cuba were also having a knock-on effect. Some boat operators, for example, have had to shut sporadically due to lack of fuel.