Hit by blackouts, Cuba’s tourism industry now braces for Trump

With winter nights drawing in across North America, Canadian “snowbirds” – citizens who flee their freezing temperatures for sunnier climes every year – are planning their annual trips to Florida or the Caribbean.
Traditionally, Cuba has been hugely popular among Canadians, drawn to the pristine white sands of beach resorts like Varadero.
They fill the void left by Americans wary of the travel restrictions imposed on them under the continuing US economic embargo of the largest island in the Caribbean.
Figures show that almost one million Canadian tourists visited Cuba last year, the top country of origin for visitors by some margin.
As such, a recent decision by the Canadian tour operator, Sunwing Vacations Group – one of Cuba’s leading travel partners – to remove 26 hotels from its Cuba portfolio is a blow to the island’s struggling tourism industry.
Sunwing took the decision after Cuba endured a four-day nationwide blackout at the end of October, caused by failures with the country’s aging energy infrastructure.

This was followed by another national power cut last month, when Hurricane Rafael barrelled its way across the island, worsening an already-acute electricity crisis.
A third countrywide blackout then happened on Wednesday, 4 Dec, after Cuba’s largest power plant broke down.
“Cuba has had some volatility in the last few weeks and that may shake consumer confidence,” Sunwing’s chief marketing officer, Samantha Taylor told the Pax News travel website last month.
“There are incredible places to go in Cuba,” she stressed, keen to emphasise that the company isn’t pulling out of Cuba altogether. “But we also recognise that if clients are a little uncomfortable, we need to give them options.”
Specifically, that involved drawing up a list of what they called “hidden gems” – alternative holiday destinations in the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and Colombia.