U.S. sanctions sting Cuba's tourism sector

Record ID: 1453813

  • Title: U.S. sanctions sting Cuba's tourism sector
  • Date: 20th January 2020
  • Summary: CIENFUEGOS, CUBA (JANUARY 16, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, EMPTY POOL AND POOL DECK AT HOTEL VARIOUS, TOURISTS IN HOTEL LOBBY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MELIA HOTEL WORKER, LILIANA GUERRA, SAYING: "After the end of commercial flights and since last December when the charters to Cienfuegos were ended, we've seen a decrease in the arrival of Cubans coming from abroad that used these
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2020 19:06
  • Keywords: Cuba U.S. business charter communist decrease flights restrictions sanctions tourism tourists
  • Location: CIENFUEGOS & TRINIDAD, CUBA
  • City: CIENFUEGOS & TRINIDAD, CUBA
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001BWZAZBB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The beaches, hotels and pools that Cuba hopes to have thronged by foreign tourists appear far emptier than normal as the Caribbean nation's tourist sector has been hard hit by the Trump administration's tightening of U.S. restrictions on travel there.
    Data released last year by Cuba's statistics office showed a drop in tourists to the communist nation, falling by over 20% in June and July 2019.
    According to local tourism sector workers and officials on Cuba's southern coast, that drop has led to higher vacancies and lower prices in an area famed for its pristine beaches.
    The sustained decline reverses a boom in arrivals and therefore the broader tourism industry in recent years following the U.S.-Cuban détente under former U.S. President Barack Obama that President Donald Trump is now unravelling.
    The Trump administration has targeted two of the few bright spots in Cuba's otherwise beleaguered economy, tourism and foreign investment, as part of its campaign to pressure the Communist government to reform and drop support for embattled leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
    (Production: Mario Fuentes, Anett Rios, Patrick Alwine)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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