The figure represents 39.8 percent of those who arrived in the country in 2020 and is equivalent to 869,181 fewer tourists, despite the fact that the Cuban tourism showed a slight recovery since mid-November.

Russia was the main market, with 146,151 visitors, and the only market that equaled the previous year’s numbers and also grew.

Canada, the country from where the largest number of tourists came to Cuba, was relegated to second place, followed by the Cuban community abroad and Spain.

Cuba had forseen to receive around 2.2 million travelers in 2021, but the resurgence of Covid-19 that affected the Caribbean nation since the beginning of the year and grew exponentially until September had a hard impact on the recovery expected at that time.

By 2022, the tourism sector expects some 2.5 million visitors, services that should contribute close to 1.159 billion dollars to the national economy, Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil told the Cuban Parliament last December.

So far Varadero has reaffirmed its position as the country’s main tourist destination, with an average daily stay of 13,000 tourists, 77 percent of them foreigners and the rest nationals, according to Ivis Fernandez, delegate of the Ministry of Economy and Planning in the province of Matanzas.

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