In Cuba, the recovery of tourism delayed by the war in Ukraine

"On the list of things to do in life, there is: go once to Cuba", assures Taliv, 34, who "loves the nature and the people" of the country, where he came with his girlfriend.

Viñales, 180 kilometers west of Havana, is a picturesque village, famous for its "mogotes", small ocher-colored mountains.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was full of tourists, mainly Europeans and Canadians, until March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the island.

80% of the inhabitants of the village then found themselves without work, while the country saw the number of foreign visitors drop from 4.3 million in 2019 to 356,000 in 2021.

The foreign exchange generated has shrunk, from $2.2 billion in 2019 (the country's second largest source of income, behind medical services abroad) to $559 million in 2021.

The "mogotes", small ocher-colored mountains, on February 19, 2022 in Viñales, in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba YAMIL LAGE AFP

The only survival plan found by the Cuban government during this period: Russian tourists, who suddenly flocked to the island, mainly in the "all-inclusive" hotels by the sea.

Cold shower

Russian tourism has thus increased by 197% between 2020 and 2021, surpassing all other nationalities of visitors to Cuba.

The Statistics Office said on Friday that the number of international visitors rose from 35,553 in 2021 to 185,749 people at the end of February.

Tourists at the terrace of a restaurant in Viñales, February 19, 2022 in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba YAMIL LAGE AFP

But the conflict in Ukraine came to a sudden halt: in early March, some 6,000 Russian tourists were urgently evacuated, while many countries had banned the overflight of their territory by Russian companies, which suspended the sale of tickets.

For Cuba, it's a cold shower.

Throughout the country, tourists are now rare.

"The change has been brutal (...) now there are no more Russians and very few Europeans", complains Denis Rosset, 38, in charge of fishing for customers for a restaurant on a Square of Old Havana.

Same observation in the provinces.

"The recovery is very slow and in reality Viñales is very far from the boom it knew before," said, discouraged, Beatriz Sanchez, 22-year-old employee in a craft shop.

"Of course it will come back little by little," wants to believe Tomasa Coello, 74, owner of one of the many houses renting rooms to tourists in the village.

Tourists arrive in Viñales on February 19, 2022 in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba YAMIL LAGE AFP

She wants to be optimistic: "I think that tourists will continue to come to Cuba, because it is a very quiet country, it is important that they can feel at home".

A decade to recover

The government also wants to believe it: this week it repeated its objective of receiving 2.5 million visitors in 2022.

Tourism expert José Luis Perello is more cautious.

"The great uncertainty is that the war between Russia and Ukraine is not an isolated fact between two countries. It affects the entire European tourist market".

A street in Viñales, February 19, 2022 in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba YAMIL LAGE AFP

And if "the increase in Russian tourists in Cuba was a temporary event", to compensate for the absence of other nationalities during the pandemic, the core target of the island is not there.

Over the past 30 years, the majority of visitors have come mainly from Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and the United States.

According to the expert, global tourism has received "one of the strongest impacts since the Second World War" and will take a decade to recover.

In addition to global challenges, such as rising fuel prices which will make flights more expensive, the island is suffering from the strengthening of American sanctions.

Cruises from the United States can no longer dock in Cuba, food shortages are increasingly present and tour operators sometimes hesitate before offering the destination to their customers, regrets this specialist.

A tourist photographs a tobacco farmer in his field in Viñales, February 19, 2022 in the province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba YAMIL LAGE AFP

But a glimmer of hope this Friday with the second stopover for two days of the British cruise ship Marella Explores Two, with nearly 900 passengers on board.

It is the first ship to return to Havana since the pandemic.

© 2022 AFP