For decades, Cuba's tourism sector has enjoyed a reputation as an "economic locomotive" — a term used by authorities who saw it as the lifeblood of the Caribbean island country's economy. How tourism reshaped the Cuban economyBefore the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Cuba's tourism industry was largely privatized, much of it owned and exploited by the American mafia as a gangster's paradise. Around that time there were roughly 100,000 to 120,000 direct jobs in Cuban tourism, and close to 500,000 workers were directly and indirectly linked to tourism, Spadoni noted. The country's tourism sector has been on the decline for several years, with the number of international visitors down more than 50 per cent between 2018 and 2024. Cuba's tourism industry has been challenged both by government mismanagement and by a series of external factors, including U.S. travel restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine.

Source: CBC News February 15, 2026 12:51 UTC