Cuba's tourism industry, as the driving force behind other sectors, has a fundamental impact on the implementation of the country's National Economic and Social Development Plan and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.
However, external factors such as the economic, commercial and financial blockade by the U.S. government have a negative impact on its growth and development.
Pilar Álvarez Azze, general director of Marketing of the Ministry of Tourism of Cuba (Mintur), said that, as a result, exchanges with entrepreneurs of that nationality interested in participating in the development of investment projects in the sector have ceased.
Regarding the impact of this policy on commercial, banking and financial operations, the official pointed out that Cuban companies and hotel groups cannot access investment funds and credit lines of U.S. origin or from other countries that are subject to the actions of U.S. laws and their extraterritorial application.
She said that the cumulative effect of unilateral sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department (OFAC), the inclusion of Cuba on the list of State sponsors of terrorism, and the updating on two occasions of the list of restricted Cuban entities, in which almost all the country's hotel facilities were included, has a direct impact on the development of the sector.
Álvarez Azze commented that there is an impediment in the access to different leading sites in the world in the distribution of tourism products, such as the main Global Distribution Systems (GDS) Galileo Worldspan and Sabre, in addition to the elimination of Cuban hotel facilities in platforms such as Trivago, Expedia and Booking.com.
On the other hand, she meant that cruise tourism has suffered a significant decrease, due to the number of cruise passengers who have not been able to reach Cuba because of the blockade, generating estimated losses that exceed 70 million dollars a year.
"In the historic center of Old Havana, the elimination of cruise ships has negatively affected local businesses that provided services to tourists, resulting in staff reductions and the closure of establishments," she emphasized.
The Mintur director explained that among the obstacles that hinder the growth of the tourism sector are the prohibitions on the use of the U.S. dollar as payment currency by U.S. citizens staying in Cuban state-owned hotels.
However, Álvarez Azze highlighted some alternatives used by the sector to move forward, even with these limitations "which, if they do not eliminate the affectation, at least minimize it".
