Uptick in Canadian tourism bookings to Cuba this winter

Since its record high of 4.75 million tourists in 2018, the number of annual visitors to Cuba has tumbled. Last year just 2.2 million tourists visited the island. But at a meeting with tour operators in Toronto last week, Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García said winter bookings from Canada to Cuba were up 25% from 2024.

The record numbers from 2015 to 2018 were fundamentally caused by former President Barack Obama’s historic detente with Cuba. President Donald Trump banned cruise ships from docking in Cuba, as well as flights to every city except Havana during his first term. Several countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, currently warn their citizens of power outages and diseases on the island, while others tell their citizens they may lose their U.S. visa waiver privilege if they choose to travel to Cuba.