The federal government upgraded its Cuba travel advice on Tuesday, warning Canadians planning a winter escape on the popular Caribbean island that worsening shortages of everything from fuel to food could affect resorts.
“Exercise a high degree of caution in Cuba due to worsening shortages of electricity, fuel and basic necessities including food, water and medicine, which can also affect resorts,” the warning said.
“The situation is unpredictable and could deteriorate, disrupting flight availability on short notice.”
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For decades, tourism generated up to $3 billion US a year for Cuba. And Canadians have historically been the nation’s most frequent visitors, drawn by the warm weather and dazzling beaches, plus the shorter flight and lower price tag compared to other Caribbean vacations.
“It’s like Canada’s Hawaii,” someone commented on a Government of Canada Facebook post about Cuba travel advisories in January.
But there are signs that may be changing, with new travel data from Cuba’s national statistical agency released on Monday showing a 12 per cent drop in Canadian visitors through December 2025 compared to a year earlier.
WATCH | Havana plunged into darkness:
Havana plunged into darkness after electrical grid failure
Cuba’s electrical grid suffered a partial collapse early Wednesday, leaving the capital Havana and much of western Cuba in the dark. Amid an energy crisis, many parts of the country have been experiencing daily blackouts that last 20 hours or more. ‘The power situation is complicated, it’s bad right now,’ one resident said.
The agency also reported a 17 per cent drop in visitors overall in December, or some 392,450 fewer international travellers compared to the previous year.
As the new travel warning explains, Cuba schedules long, daily power cuts to reduce pressure on its electrical network and also experiences unexpected power outages that can last more than 24 hours.
Most large resorts and hotels use generators, the warning adds, but “fuel shortages may impact generator use and the availability of various services, activities and utilities such as food service, light, running water and hot water.”
In addition, Cuba faces “chronic and severe shortages of basic necessities,” it adds, including food, bottled water, tap water, fuel, medicine and currency. Fuel shortages make travel on the island extremely challenging, it says, noting that public transportation, including taxis, are often disrupted.
“There are often long lineups at gas stations that have led to altercations.”
‘More hesitation’
Cuba is hit every day with widespread outages, blamed on fuel shortages and crumbling infrastructure, that have deepened an economic crisis exacerbated by the fall in tourism, stepped-up U.S. sanctions and a failed internal financial reform to unify the currency.
As The Associated Press explains, some Cubans worry that growing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, cuts in water and power supply and large piles of garbage in popular tourist areas have spooked travellers.
PHOTOS | Cuba amid shortages and blackouts:
CBC News has reached out to several Canadian airlines and travel operators that fly to Cuba. Air Canada said it would continue its normal schedule to Cuba, but is closely monitoring the situation.
WestJet also said it was closely monitoring the situation, and will follow the Canadian government’s direction.
Flight Centre said it’s not seeing a “one-size-fits-all reaction.”
“We’re still seeing Canadians book travel to Cuba, particularly repeat visitors who are familiar with the destination,” Anita Emilio, executive vice-president for Flight Centre Canada, told CBC News in an email.
#Turismo | ✈️ Hasta el mes de diciembre se recibieron en #Cuba🇨🇺 2 604 092 viajeros, que representa el 86,6 % respecto a igual período del 2024, lo que equivale a 404 621 viajeros menos.
🧵1/3👇 pic.twitter.com/DCDY5uoaWQ
—CubaONEI
“At the same time, there’s more hesitation than in the past, with some travellers asking more questions, delaying decisions, or reconsidering plans in light of ongoing shortages and infrastructure challenges highlighted in the government’s travel advisory.”
Overall, some 1.6 million tourists visited Cuba from January to November 2025, significantly lower than the 4.8 million in 2018 and the 4.2 million in 2019, before the pandemic hit, according to The Associated Press.
Resorts operating ‘normally’
The Cuba Tourist Board in Toronto released a statement Tuesday noting that the Canadian market remains Cuba’s primary source of tourism, assuring travellers that all resort operations are functioning “normally and securely for the 2025/2026 winter season.”
Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism “took proactive measures throughout the fall to ensure a seamless winter peak,” the board said, noting that supplies of fuel, food and essential goods had been secured in advance.
The board cited travel statistics that include January 2026, and says Canadian arrivals in Cuba actually went up 15 per cent over 2024 for the Nov. 1 to Jan. 31 period.
People with suitcases walk along a highway in search of a bus or taxi in Catalina de Guines, Cuba, on May 19, 2023. Cuba has been restricting fuel sales amid a gas shortage. (Ramon Espinosa/The Associated Press)
Online, reviews from travellers are mixed, with some fans on social media calling it safe, beautiful and peaceful, and saying they will return. But others caution against visiting the island.
A commenter on the Cuba Vacations and Resorts Reviews Facebook page wrote on Tuesday that he’d just returned Saturday from “the worst trip ever.”
“I was reassured that there was plenty of fuel for all tourism activities. That is a [bald-faced] lie,” he wrote, explaining that the purpose of his trip was to go diving. He could only go out once because the dive boat didn’t have fuel.
‘Hard to understand … why anyone would book’
Martin Firestone, president of Toronto-based insurance company Travel Secure, told CBC the new warning is concerning because it’s only one below Level 3, which means avoiding all non-essential travel.
“At the end of the day, they are telling you it’s not safe to go there,” he said.
He said the issues plaguing Cuba’s energy and fuel supply might scare some travellers, especially since it could affect resorts, and cautioned people to think about Cuba beyond just the beach.
He cited examples like perhaps not being able to charge your phone, find gas for a rental car or even get proper medical attention.
“What if, god forbid, you had to have surgery in a hospital and the lights went out?” he said.
“It’s hard to understand, even though it’s inexpensive and attractive, why anybody would book at this point.”
A man rides past an abandoned car in Havana on February 4, 2026. Cuba, in the grips of an economic crisis, has long relied on oil supplies from Venezuela, whose leader was ousted in a deadly U.S. military operation last January 3. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)
But Tamanisha John, an assistant politics professor at York University who studies Caribbean development, told CBC that while the energy crisis is real, it’s impacting locals more than tourists.
“It is no secret that tourists, not just in Cuba, but throughout the Caribbean, are prioritized moreso than locals when states are confronted with crisis,” she said in an email statement.
John said Canada’s travel advisory concerns her for another reason, “given that tourists do not feel the worst impacts of the energy crisis in Cuba and that Cuba is the Caribbean country with one of the lowest crime rates.”
She points to direct U.S. threats to Cuba over the past few weeks, in the wake of the former’s attack on Venezuela. The Trump administration has warned outright that toppling Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro would help advance another decades-long goal: dealing a blow to the Cuban government.
“It is no secret that Canada frequently supports U.S. invasions and interventions in the Caribbean region, so this advisory worries me,” John said.
“It could be indicative of impending action by the U.S. to yet again violate the sovereignty of a country located in the Caribbean.”
An old car drives along Havana’s Malecon at dawn on Jan. 26. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)
