Canada and Cuba have long shared a special kind of tourism relationship. For generations, Canadian travelers have flocked to the Caribbean island for winter sunshine, affordable all inclusive resorts, and a sense of easygoing familiarity. That picture has grown more complicated. In early 2026, the Government of Canada updated its travel advisory for Cuba, sharpening its language around shortages, blackouts, and strained basic services. For an island already struggling with a deep economic and tourism crisis, the change raises pressing questions about what “trouble in paradise” really looks like, and what it means for the future of Canadian travel to Cuba.
What the Canada Cuba Travel Advisory Actually Says
Canada’s official travel advice for Cuba now urges citizens to exercise a “high degree of caution.” The wording, updated in mid January 2026, does not tell Canadians to stay away, but it does highlight that conditions on the ground have deteriorated in ways that can directly affect visitors. Ottawa points to chronic and severe shortages of essential goods such as food, bottled water, medication, fuel, and even foreign currency, stressing that these problems can extend into areas that tourists typically expect to be insulated from local hardship, including large hotels and beach resorts.
The advisory also details a pattern of extensive power cuts. Cuba has resorted to scheduled daily blackouts to protect its fragile grid, while unplanned nationwide outages can last more than 24 hours. For travelers, this is not a minor inconvenience. Canada warns that backup generators at resorts and larger hotels are not guaranteed to work as intended, particularly when fuel is scarce. That can mean interruptions to air conditioning, refrigeration, elevators, running water, and even basic lighting.
Beyond the utilities and supply chain, the advisory notes that fuel shortages can make getting around the island difficult. Public transport, including taxis, is frequently disrupted. Long lines at gas stations, sometimes tense enough to lead to altercations, are now a part of daily life. While crime is not the central focus of the Canadian warning, Ottawa suggests that economic hardship and scarcity can heighten risks such as petty theft and scams, particularly in urban areas or where tourists congregate.
It is important to understand that this is not a blanket “do not travel” order. Instead, Canada is signaling that the Cuba many visitors remember from a decade ago no longer exists in quite the same way. The travel advisory is attempting to recalibrate expectations, moving the conversation from cheap rum and smooth all inclusives toward a more nuanced, sometimes harsher reality.
An Island in Deepening Economic and Tourism Crisis
The sharpened Canadian advisory comes amid a severe and prolonged downturn in Cuba’s tourism industry. The island once welcomed close to 4.8 million visitors in 2018 and 4.2 million in 2019, before the pandemic abruptly cut off global travel. By late 2025, official figures suggested that total arrivals since the start of the year were closer to 1.8 to 2 million, far below pre pandemic levels and well short of the government’s own recovery targets.
Tourism is a cornerstone of the Cuban economy, feeding foreign exchange earnings, supporting state revenues, and sustaining a wide range of small private businesses, from casas particulares and family restaurants to taxi drivers and local guides. Reports from economists and independent observers describe a tourism sector stuck in a downward spiral: fewer flights, aging infrastructure, widespread blackouts, and intensifying regional competition from nearby Caribbean destinations that offer more reliable services and looser political baggage.
The macroeconomic stresses behind the advisory are stark. The island faces acute shortages of fuel, which power both the electric grid and the transport system, as well as chronic scarcities of imported food, medicine, and spare parts. These shortages have been worsened by a collapse in subsidized oil shipments from traditional allies and by continued United States sanctions that restrict access to international finance and cruise traffic. Visitor experiences are now intersecting with these broader structural failures in a way that even the best run resort can no longer fully hide.
For would be travelers trying to interpret Canada’s message, the key context is this persistent, systemic crisis. The advisory is not a reaction to a sudden natural disaster or a one off political shock. It is, instead, a reflection of an accumulated, multi year erosion in the reliability of services that underpin modern tourism, from aviation connectivity to food supply chains and hospital capacity.
Canada’s Unique Role in Cuban Tourism
Among all countries that send visitors to Cuba, Canada occupies a special place. For years, Canadians have been the island’s single largest source of tourists, outnumbering travelers from Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Even through periods of political tension and shifting U.S. policy, Canadian tourists continued to pack flights to Varadero, Cayo Coco, Holguín, and other resort hubs.
That dominance has persisted, but at a lower volume. Official Cuban statistics for 2024 indicated that roughly 860,000 Canadian visitors traveled to the island that year, far more than any other single country but still below pre pandemic highs. In 2025, the trend turned sharply negative. Various data sets and analyses suggest that Canadian arrivals fell by roughly 20 to 30 percent in the first part of the year compared with 2024, with some estimates placing the decline above one third during the crucial winter season.
Behind those numbers are shifting traveler perceptions. Canadian travel agencies and industry executives have reported growing dissatisfaction among clients returning from Cuba. Persistent complaints include frequent power outages even in resort areas, inconsistent water pressure and hot water, deteriorating hotel maintenance, and food offerings that feel far below past standards in both variety and quality. At the same time, other sun destinations like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica have aggressively rebuilt their tourism sectors, offering competitive prices with fewer visible disruptions.
For many Canadians, especially those traveling with families or on once a year packages, tolerance for uncertainty is limited. The Canada Cuba travel advisory lands in a market where Canadians are already reconsidering their options. The official warning does not trigger this reassessment on its own, but it reinforces an emerging narrative that Cuba is no longer the default, risk free winter escape it once seemed to be.
How the Advisory Is Reshaping Traveler Behavior
Travel advisories do not operate in a vacuum. They influence insurance coverage, corporate duty of care policies, and the risk calculations of tour operators and airlines. A shift to “exercise a high degree of caution” does not usually result in mass cancellations on its own, but it can tilt the balance for travelers already on the fence, especially when combined with persistent negative word of mouth.
One immediate effect is likely to be heightened scrutiny of Cuba packages at the booking stage. Canadian travelers increasingly ask detailed questions about backup power, water supply, air conditioning, medical access, and on site food availability. Agents, in turn, are more likely to steer price sensitive customers to competing destinations where infrastructure is more stable and the official travel advisories are less severe. For premium travelers, concerns about comfort and reliability can be decisive, pushing them toward other Caribbean islands or to long haul winter escapes in Europe or Latin America.
Travel insurance is another pressure point. While Cuba remains insurable, some policies treat higher level advisories as a reason to limit certain coverages or increase premiums. Corporate travelers, educational groups, and organized tours must also consider institutional guidelines that reference government advisories. For school boards, universities, and some professional associations, a “high degree of caution” label is enough to trigger reviews or outright bans on organized trips.
At the same time, a core group of Canadian Cuba loyalists is likely to keep going, advisory or not. Many repeat visitors report that they are aware of the shortages and blackouts, but travel primarily to visit friends, support local families, or enjoy aspects of Cuban culture and nature that remain compelling despite the hardships. For these travelers, the advisory becomes a practical checklist rather than a deterrent: bring extra medication, pack snacks, be prepared for outages, and travel with realistic expectations.
The View from Havana and the Cuban Resort Strip
On the Cuban side, official tourism bodies are trying to project calm and reassurance. Representatives of the Cuba Tourist Board in Canada have emphasized that resort operations for the 2025 and 2026 winter seasons are functioning “normally and securely,” highlighting what they describe as proactive measures taken to secure fuel, food, and essential goods ahead of peak travel periods. They stress that large resorts are prioritizing tourists and that key service areas are protected as much as possible from the worst of the shortages.
Yet accounts from independent observers, local residents, and returning travelers paint a more uneven picture. While some high end resorts appear to maintain an acceptable level of comfort, others are grappling with aging infrastructure, intermittent generator failure, and stretched staff. In major cities like Havana, tourists regularly encounter overflowing garbage, sporadic water supply, and unlit streets during nighttime blackouts. Even iconic seafront promenades and historic districts that once buzzed with life have reportedly grown noticeably quieter as visitor numbers fall.
Local economies that depend on tourism are feeling the strain. Many small entrepreneurs who thrived during the post thaw tourism boom of the late 2010s now face far fewer customers and rising costs. Taxi drivers wait longer at airport ranks, private guesthouse owners struggle to fill rooms, and artisans selling crafts in popular squares report fewer sales. The Canada Cuba advisory, by underscoring the severity of shortages and blackouts, risks reinforcing international perceptions of a destination in decline, even as Cubans work hard to keep their businesses alive.
At street level, Cubans are acutely aware of the importance of Canadian visitors. Discussions in local media and among tourism workers often highlight Canada’s role as a lifeline market and express concern that any further drop in Canadian arrivals could deepen the country’s economic woes. The challenge for Cuban officials is to reassure foreign partners while confronting a crisis that is largely structural and not easily reversible in the near term.
Safety, Comfort, and Ethics: What Canadian Travelers Need to Weigh
For Canadians contemplating a trip to Cuba under the updated advisory, the central question is not whether the country is broadly unsafe in a conventional sense, but how to balance comfort, convenience, and ethical considerations in a setting marked by scarcity. Violent crime levels targeting tourists remain comparatively low by regional standards, and most visitors still complete their trips without serious incidents. The bigger risks are linked to disrupted services, limited access to medical supplies, and the possibility of being caught in long blackouts or transport breakdowns.
This means travelers with medical conditions that require reliable refrigeration of medicine, consistent access to pharmacies, or stable power may face particular vulnerabilities. Families with young children, elderly travelers, or those seeking a stress free resort holiday may find that the risk of discomfort has climbed beyond what they are willing to accept, especially when alternatives exist within a similar price range.
At the same time, some Canadians frame travel to Cuba as an act of solidarity. They argue that staying away punishes ordinary Cubans who depend on tourism revenue more than it pressures the state. These travelers often choose locally run accommodations and restaurants where permitted, bring hard currency or supplies to share, and consciously adjust their expectations. Others counter that the economic structures of the tourism sector still funnel much of the revenue through state linked conglomerates, and that travelers must make personal judgments about how comfortable they feel engaging with that system.
The advisory does not dictate those choices, but it amplifies the need for informed decision making. Prospective visitors would be wise to speak directly with travel agents who have recent, first hand feedback from clients, to follow updated government advice close to their departure date, and to assess their own risk tolerance honestly. What feels like an acceptable compromise for a seasoned backpacker may feel very different for a family on a once in a decade vacation.
What It Means for the Future of Tourism Between Canada and Cuba
In the short term, the strengthened Canada Cuba travel advisory is likely to accelerate trends already underway. Canadian visitor numbers have been sliding, and many travelers have discovered or rediscovered other islands and coastal destinations that offer similar sunshine without the same level of uncertainty. Unless Cuba can quickly stabilize its power grid, secure more reliable fuel supplies, and improve access to basic goods, the advisory will continue to reflect on the island’s brand as a holiday destination.
For tour operators and airlines, the picture is more complex. Cuba remains geographically close, culturally distinctive, and, at least on paper, competitively priced. Niche markets may persist or even grow, such as cultural tours, specialized sports or music trips, and travel by Canadians with family ties to the island. However, mass market, price driven package tourism may continue to drift toward competitors if complaints about quality and reliability remain high.
Longer term, the trajectory of Canada Cuba tourism will depend on factors far beyond the scope of any advisory. These include the evolution of Cuba’s economic reforms, the availability of external financing and fuel, regional political dynamics, and the broader health of Canada’s outbound travel market. What the advisory does do is crystallize, in one official document, a set of realities that have been building for years. It signals to Canadians that a favorite winter escape now comes with caveats that are impossible to ignore.
For travelers, the message is not to write Cuba off entirely, but to approach it with clearer eyes and better preparation. For Cuba’s tourism industry and policymakers, the advisory is both a warning and a call to action. Unless the structural roots of the crisis are addressed, no amount of public relations will fully restore the confidence of Canadian travelers. In that sense, the trouble in paradise revealed by the advisory is as much an economic and political story as it is a travel one, and its impact will be felt well beyond the beaches of Varadero.