Cuba’s Tourism Industry Collapses as Jet Fuel Crisis Forces Flight Cancellations

Cuba's tourism sector is facing a devastating collapse after the island nation announced it was running out of jet fuel on February 8. Major airlines from Canada, Russia, and other countries have suspended flights, leading to the cancellation of over 1,700 flights through April and forcing hotels to close across the popular vacation destination.

VARADERO BEACH, Cuba – The pristine beaches of Cuba’s Varadero peninsula, featuring crystal-clear turquoise waters and pristine white sand, paint a picture of tropical perfection.

However, these once-bustling resort beaches have become increasingly deserted since Cuban officials declared on February 8 that the country was facing a critical jet fuel shortage.

Recovery appears unlikely in the near future.

A comprehensive Reuters investigation involving hotel operators, travel companies, airlines, and local tourism workers reveals that virtually every segment of the industry has been severely impacted by the fuel crisis. This development threatens to deliver a fatal blow to an already struggling sector that serves as a lifeline for Cuba’s battered economy.

Major Canadian carriers including Air Canada, WestJet, and Transat – representing the primary airlines from Canada, Cuba’s top visitor source – have announced flight suspensions to the island. According to analytics company Cirium, this will result in up to 1,709 canceled flights through April, potentially reducing visitor numbers by hundreds of thousands during the crucial winter tourism season.

Russian aviation authorities announced last week that they plan to evacuate their tourists from Cuba in the coming days before halting all flights until the fuel crisis subsides. Russia represents Cuba’s third-largest tourist market.

International hotel chain NH announced Friday that it had shuttered all its Cuban properties, while Spanish hospitality giant Melia, Cuba’s largest hotel operator, revealed the same day it had closed three of its 30 island locations and was consolidating guests into better-equipped facilities with higher capacity.

“There is just total uncertainty,” said Alejandro Morejon, a 53-year-old tourism guide who began work in Varadero shortly after Cuba re-opened to international tourism in the 1990s. “Everything is beginning to fall apart.”

The tourism crisis represents the first major casualty in a broader U.S. campaign designed to pressure Cuba’s leadership through economic strangulation by preventing oil deliveries to the Caribbean nation.

The Trump administration has designated Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to American national security, severing Venezuelan oil supplies to the island while threatening tariffs against any country that provides fuel to Cuba.

The tourism industry generated $1.3 billion in foreign currency for the communist government in 2024, the most recent year for which dollar figures were available, representing approximately 10% of total export revenues.

Paolo Spadoni, an Augusta University economist in Georgia who specializes in Cuban economic analysis, noted that tourism, along with medical professional exports and remittances, forms the backbone of the country’s critical hard currency income.

The Trump administration has targeted all three revenue streams with renewed sanctions that had already prevented the resort industry from achieving a complete post-pandemic recovery.

“The complete collapse of Cuba’s tourism sector would create an unsustainable situation for the Cuban economy and threaten its survival,” Spadoni said.

Cuba welcomed only 1.8 million tourists in 2025, declining from 2.2 million the previous year and marking the lowest visitor count in over twenty years.

Current tourists expressed difficulty relaxing, feeling anxious following Cuba’s recent announcement about the impending jet fuel depletion.

“We’re just winging it, trying not to stress, because we don’t want it to ruin our trip,” said Tyler LaMountaine, an Alberta-based oil and gas industry worker who had come to Cuba with his wife to escape Canada’s cold winter but worried they could end up stranded by the canceled flights. “But you get scared because everyone else is scared.”

Cuban government officials announced a contingency strategy in early February to safeguard essential services including emergency medical care and elementary education.

Leadership initially assured that tourism and international aviation would remain unaffected, but two days later, authorities informed aviation stakeholders that fuel supplies would soon be exhausted.

Carriers throughout Europe, South America, the United States, Russia, and Canada have subsequently reduced flights or modified routes to accommodate the fuel shortage.

APPROACHING CRISIS

Surface conditions in Varadero appear normal at the beach destination that once served as a winter retreat for the DuPont family before Cuba’s 1959 revolution and now attracts Europeans and Canadians during the northern hemisphere’s cold months.

As of late last week, souvenir stores and most dining establishments remained operational. Beach furniture and umbrellas still lined the shores, and sunburned visitors continued collecting shells and swimming in the remarkably clear waters.

However, Reuters verified that at least two peninsula hotels had ceased operations.

A security officer at the Domina Marina resort, an extensive complex featuring multiple towers overlooking an expansive marina constructed in the early 2010s, prevented a reporter from accessing the property and confirmed its closure. The hotel’s local telephone line was disconnected.

Local employees indicated that maintaining hotel and restaurant operations will become increasingly challenging as the U.S. fuel blockade enters its third complete week.

Jorge Fernandez, who provides peninsula tours for visitors in a pink 1950s convertible, reported late last week that his fuel supply would last only one additional day.

“After that, it’s back home to invent something else to do,” the 53-year-old said.

“Trump and (Cuban President) Miguel Diaz-Canel need to come to some agreement because the only ones that are suffering here are the people,” Fernandez said. “The country is shutting down.”