Cuba’s worsening fuel shortages — triggering rolling blackouts, hotel shutdowns, and disrupted flights — are driving tourists away and intensifying the island’s deep economic crisis.
With petrol scarce, power cuts stretching for hours, and transport services thinning out, visitors are cutting trips short amid growing uncertainty. Several countries have issued travel advisories after Washington tightened its long-standing embargo, squeezing Cuba’s vital oil supplies.
“I found only one taxi,” said French tourist Frederic Monnet, who abandoned a planned excursion in western Cuba to return to Havana. “There might be no taxis afterward.”
The petroleum crunch has led to long queues at filling stations and forced airlines to rethink operations, with some cancelling services and others adding refuelling stops. Around 30 hotels and resorts are being temporarily closed due to low occupancy and fuel rationing, according to a Tourism Ministry document.
Travellers are increasingly anxious about departures. “There was a danger that I might not be able to return, because the airport says it doesn’t have enough fuel for the planes,” said American tourist Liam Burnell.
For Cuba, the drop in arrivals is more than a tourism setback. The sector is one of the country’s primary sources of foreign currency, crucial for financing imports of food, fuel, and essentials. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans dependent on tourism are already feeling the strain.
“The situation is critical, critical, critical,” said Juan Arteaga, a driver of Havana’s iconic vintage cars. “When my gasoline runs out, I go home. What else can I do?”
Cuba’s fragile economy, long burdened by sanctions and recent shortages of food and medicine, now faces further pressure. Even as humanitarian aid shipments arrive, industry experts warn the outlook is bleak, with analysts predicting a potentially disastrous year for the tourism sector.
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