The Government of Cuba expects to receive 3.5 million tourists in 2023, one million more than those planned for this year (in which he finally fell short of the target), a figure that is also still far from that registered in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.
This is what emerges from the 2023 Economic Plan of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) that this Monday is being studied for approval by the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) on the first day of its tenth session of the current legislature.
The Cuban government aspired to achieve 2.5 million international visitors this year, but later reduced that forecast to 1.7 million tourists, a reduction of almost a third.
The National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) indicated that between January and October there were more than 1.7 million tourists. Traditionally, the high season on the island is in the northern hemisphere winter.
The Cuban Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos GarcÃa Granda, assured last November at a sector fair in London that the country aspired to receive almost 3 million visitors in 2023.
By comparison, in the years between the start of the "thaw" (period of rapprochement between the US and Cuba between 2014 and 2017) and the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, Cuba came to receive more than 4 million international tourists.
The 2023 Economic Plan of the Cuban Government also contemplates an inflow of foreign currency from tourism of 1,672 million dollarswhich is $477 per visitor.
The forecast for 2022 was $1,159 million for the 2.5 million visitors, or $463 per visitor. No actual revenue figures have been released.
Tourism represents the second largest item of gross domestic product (GDP) and the second largest source of foreign currency in Cuba, behind the export of professional services, mainly from the health sector.
Cuba is suffering a serious economic crisis due to the combination of the effects of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions, and mistakes in economic policy.
This situation translates into a profound shortage of basic products (food, medicine, fuel), high inflation, partial dollarization of the economy, and frequent and prolonged blackouts.