Cuba plans to welcome 200,000 Russian tourists in 2024

Almost 113,000 Russian tourists visited Cuba in the first half of the year, the country hopes that the figure will increase to 200,000 by the end of 2024, Cristina Leon Iznaga, a tourism counselor at the Cuban Embassy to Russia, told Interfax on Friday.

"In January-June, Cuba was visited by 112,700 Russian tourists, up 67% on the same period last year. I suppose that, despite fewer flights, we'll have attracted 200,000 Russian tourists by the end of 2024," Iznaga said.

Russians are the third largest group of visitors, after Canadians and the Cubans who fly in from abroad, she said. The United States and Germany are the others in the top five.

In 2023, Cuba welcomed 184,800 Russian tourists, a record number which broke the pre-pandemic record of 178,000 in 2019, the Cuban Ministry of Tourism said.