Fuel shortages in Cuba are forcing hotels to close without notice and flights scheduled for the coming weeks to the Caribbean island have been canceled.
“It’s not easy right now in Cuba and customers are calling us to express their concern. Some cancel at the last moment so as not to be caught without a return flight,” explains Matthieu Wallace, director of the Matthieu Cuba Resort agency in Trois-Rivières.
Cuban authorities temporarily closed certain hotels on Friday due to low occupancy rates until the end of April. At least eight hotels in Cayo Santa Maria, Cayo Coco, Varadero and Holguin are affected by this measure.
Canadian consular services also updated their travel warning earlier this week. Due to “worsening shortages of electricity, fuel and basic necessities,” flights to Cuba may be disrupted “at very short notice.”
Matthieu Wallace, president of Matthieu Cuba Resort. Courtesy photo
Matthieu Cuba Resort
Mr. Wallace points out that customers have informed him that Air Canada flights to Holguin scheduled for April have been canceled. Christophe Hennebelle, spokesperson for the airline, confirms that it had to “adjust its program to Cuba according to market conditions”.
From the end of February, certain flights will be affected, he specifies.
Relocated customers
William Plante, a Quebec tourist who arrived at the Valentin Perla Blanca hotel in Santa Maria on the night of February 4 to 5, had the unpleasant surprise of being asked to repack his bags, because he was moved to the Playa Cayo hotel, 9 km to the west. His initial accommodation was closed in the afternoon.
“At first, I wondered if it wasn’t a joke,” confided the 26-year-old Quebecer.
Unfortunately, no. And there is no question of choosing your own hotel.
The situation seems to have taken even the staff of the establishment by surprise. According to Mr. Plante, the decision to close the hotel was taken at the last minute.
Due to these uncertainties, Michel Rumi, a Colombian of origin who has lived in Quebec for 30 years, canceled the trip he was supposed to make to Cuba with his two daughters on Sunday. He first saw the information circulating on social media and contacted his travel agency.
Michel Rumi, a Colombian of origin who has lived in Quebec for 30 years, canceled his trip to Cuba planned for February 8, 2026 due to hotel closures. Screenshot TVA News
Screenshot TVA News
“The agent gave me different options including relocation to a hotel nearby or canceling the whole thing with a refund,” he explained.
He chose to cancel and turned to the Dominican Republic. He goes there on Tuesday for a week. This all stressed him out a bit, but he is happy with his decision.
Recurring reality
For Moscow Côté, president of the Association of Travel Agents of Quebec, we must put the problems reported on social networks into perspective.
“Yes, Cuban hotels are closing, but it is to increase the occupancy rate and reduce operating costs,” he explains to Journal.
The Cuban government announced Friday a package of emergency measures in the areas of education, labor and transportation to address the energy crisis the country is experiencing under pressure from the United States.
These pressures “push us to apply a set of decisions, first of all to ensure the life of our country, basic services, without giving up development,” declared Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, on state television.
“The fuel will be intended for the protection of essential services for the population and essential economic activities,” he summarized.
Among the measures announced are the reduction of the working week in state enterprises to four days, from Monday to Thursday, restrictions on the sale of fuel, a reduction in bus and train services between provinces, as well as the closure of certain tourist establishments.
These measures should make it possible to save fuel to promote “the production of food and the production of electricity” and allow “the safeguarding of fundamental activities which generate foreign currency”, specified Mr. Pérez-Oliva Fraga.
While the island of 9.6 million inhabitants, under American economic embargo since 1962, has been locked in a severe economic crisis for six years, Washington has increased pressure in recent weeks on the communist government in Havana.
After drying up deliveries from Venezuela following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in early January, Donald Trump signed an executive order last week indicating that the United States could impose customs duties on countries selling oil to Havana.
He also assured that Mexico, which has supplied Cuba with oil since 2023, would stop doing so.
– with AFP
