New luxury hotel towers over Havana as Cuba's economic troubles mount and tourism plummets

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(25 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba - 13 January 2025
1.⁠ ⁠Iberoestar Selection Havana tower
2.⁠ ⁠Tower sign
3. Hotel restaurant interior
4. Hotel terrace, Havana city skyline
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dayesi Quezada, student:
“Even if they build the hotel, nothing will change because there is no tourism here. Buildings in Havana are falling down. It's not being easy around here. It is nonsense what they're doing."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba - 14 January 2025
6. Tracking shot of American classic cars parked
7. Tourists taking pictures in classic American cars

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba - 13 January 2025
8. Iberostar Selection hotel's terrace, tourists and Havana
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Susel Borges, craftswoman:
++STARTS IN SHOT 8++
“With such a large expenditure, hospitals could have been repaired, or schools that are in disarray."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba - 14 January 2025
10. View of hotels under construction
STORYLINE:
Soaring above all other buildings in Havana, a new 42-storey hotel in Cuba’s capital is set to open in the city.

The development is proving controversial as it is set against an ongoing economic crisis and the lowest number of tourists visiting the Caribbean island in decades.

The new high-end hotel, officially named Iberostar Selection Havana, boasts over 500 rooms and has become the tallest building in the city.

The project has been at the center of criticism and debate among Cubans, who question why the state invested millions of dollars in this initiative during a severe economic crisis when there is so little tourism.

This Iberoestar Selection is just one—albeit the most notable—of a plan to build a dozen new luxury hotels, primarily in Havana.

With such a large expenditure, hospitals could have been repaired, or schools that are in disarray," reflects Susel Borges, a 26-year-old artisan, “It's a luxury.”

Dayensi Quezada, a 19-year-old student, compares the high cost of building hotels to the old buildings that Cubans are forced to live in.

“Even if they build the hotel, nothing will change because there is no tourism here. Buildings in Havana are falling down," she says.

The current economic crisis in Cuba began in 2020 under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, which paralyzed the economy.

It became more pronounced as a result of a series of internal financial reforms and a radical tightening of U.S. sanctions against the island imposed since the first term of President Donald Trump.

The outcome was a situation of shortages in food, medicine, fuel, and power outages, along with a massive migration of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, leading to recruitment problems in the tourism sector.

Hotels, restaurants, and shops in Havana and even in the popular seaside town of Varadero are almost empty.

Cuba still offers visitors a unique experience that extends beyond the transparent blue Caribbean Sea and white sandy beaches.

It remains a destination where foreign tourists can explore a blend of its rich history, free from the trappings of chain coffee shops and fast food restaurants found everywhere else in the world.

The U.S. generally prohibits Americans from traveling to Cuba for tourism, although it gives some permits.

For decades, tourism was referred to as the locomotive of Cuba's economy, generating approximately $3 billion in revenue and providing significant benefits to society, but now the situation appears less straightforward.



AP Video by Ariel Fernandez and Milexsy Duran

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