Cuba tourism crisis deepens as hotels shut and payment cards disabled

A wave of hotel closures has hit Cuba, with nearly 100 properties operated by groups such as Blue Diamond Resorts, Melia, Iberostar and Archipelago International shutting down in the first week of June. The Spanish chain Meliá alone has closed more than a third of its hotels, and other foreign operators are scaling back activity amid the threat of U.S. sanctions – the American Treasury has warned that companies like ATG, which runs three hotels, could be targeted.

The tourism downturn is compounded by power outages lasting up to twenty hours a day, a suspension of Visa and Mastercard payment systems, and a severe fuel shortage after Venezuela halted oil deliveries following a U.S. strike on its leader. Tourist arrivals have plummeted, with only 30,500 visitors recorded in April compared with five times that number in the same month in 2025. The Cuban government says the crisis is being driven by the U.S. embargo and related economic pressures.

These developments threaten the island’s main source of foreign exchange and exacerbate the broader economic challenges facing Cuba.