Cuba's tourism minister insists sector 'alive and kicking' amid crisis
33 minutes ago Share Save Will Grant Mexico, Central America and Cuba correspondent Share Save
AFP via Getty Images Tourism is a vital component of the Cuban economy
When US President Barack Obama stepped off Air Force One onto Cuban soil in 2016, he was one of around four million visitors to the island that year. A record high at the time, Cuba's visitor numbers continued to grow until a high-water mark of almost five million people two years later. Since then, however, the fall in Cuban tourism has been precipitous. Battered by the twin effects of the coronavirus pandemic and harsher travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, last year was one of Cuba's poorest for the industry this century. With the island's traditional industries – namely sugar, tobacco and nickel – in the doldrums, touri
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