The Cuban Ministry of Tourism (Mintur) continues to bet heavily on the Russian market to lift the sector from the lethargy in which it has been mired since the pandemic.
Even though official figures indicate an improvement in 2024 compared to last year, with growth of 4.1% through April, even the optimistic official forecasts are far from the numbers of the pre-COVID-19 period.
At this point is where tourists from the Slavic country gain prominence, since their increase this year is, together with the traditional push from Canada, one of the drivers of the still discrete recovery.
Until the fourth month of the year, more than 88 thousand Russian visitors had arrived in Cuba, around double the number in the same period of 2023.
For this reason, Mintur does not miss opportunities to hunt for more tourists from Russia, as is happening these days at the Russian Travel Forum, which is taking place in Moscow until this Sunday.
A report of Latin Press (PL) points out that at this event the island’s tourism authorities present “the potential of their destinations and business opportunities.”
The vice minister of the sector, María del Carmen Orellana, also highlighted “being able to contact tour operators from the different regions of the Eurasian giant, which do not have full access to the tourism products of the largest of the Antilles.”
Russian tourists, the reason for the increase in visitors to Cuba
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“Growing prospects”
The official assured that there are “growing prospects” for Cuba in the Russian market, although she acknowledged a decrease in visitors in the summer season.
However, he said that flights from Russia to the tourist hubs of Varadero and Cayo Coco continue to show “high occupancy.”
“The prospects continue to grow, and the interest and desire of Russian visitors to come to Cuba remains, which is truly manifested here at this fair,” said Orellana.
The vice minister highlighted, as a “mechanism to facilitate the stay” of Russian tourists in Cuba, the operation “throughout the island” of 20 thousand electronic payment devices that allow the use of Russian MIR cards. .
The head of Mintur, Juan Carlos García, had expressed himself along this same line in March during a visit to Moscow. On that occasion, the minister assured that the island aspires to receive 200,000 Russian visiting tourists in 2024 and up to half a million “in the coming years.”
Russia is currently the third source market for visitors to Cuba, behind Canada and the Cuban community abroad. And also the one that grows the most from one year to the next.
The Cuban Government has set the sector’s goal of 3.2 million tourists this year to advance its gradual recovery to pre-pandemic levels.
Cuba received 2.4 million international visitors in 2023 and 1.6 million in 2022, according to official data. Both figures were very far from those of 2019 (4.2 million) and 2018 (4.6), the years before COVID-19, and contrast with the growth exhibited by other countries in the area.
