Cuba to open hotel sector to management by Cubans at home and abroad after chains leave island

HAVANA (AP) 鈥� Cuba鈥檚 government said it is open to offering the management of its hotels to Cuban investors, both residents and those living abroad, following decisions by Spanish hotel chain Melia and other companies to withdraw or limit their operations on the island.

Meli谩 announced May 26 that it will cease operations at 15 of the 34 hotels it manages in Cuba after the U.S. announced new sanctions while upholding an that has deepened an economic crisis on the island. Cuba鈥檚 government has blamed the for prolonged blackouts, water shortages, supply problems, deficiencies in the healthcare system and disruptions in all aspects of daily life.

The company’s decision follows similar moves by hotel chains including Canadian-owned Royalton and Spain鈥檚 Iberostar to limit or suspend operations in Cuba, dealing blows to the that has plummeted since its 2018 peak.

President Miguel D铆az-Canel announced the new management policy in an interview with a Spanish journalist that was broadcast Friday on the official presidential channel.

鈥淭here will be hotels that we will have to operate more with Cuban management than with shared management with foreign entities,鈥� D铆az-Canel said. 鈥淲e are proposing different business models. We are open to Cubans who want to invest and manage hotels,鈥�

鈥淲e have also offered these business opportunities to Cubans residing abroad,鈥� he added.

Melia鈥檚 decision came weeks after signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island. Most of the sanctions targeted , a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, with the assertion it was a threat to U.S. national security.

The order also freezes the assets of other foreign companies, seizes accounts in the United States and prohibits travel by shareholders, investors and employees, virtually eliminating activity in the U.S. financial system.

GAESA, a Cuban conglomerate created in the 1990s, owns a wide range of businesses from car rentals and retail stores to transportation companies. The company is Meli谩鈥檚 partner in hotel management through one of its subsidiaries, Gaviota.

Meli谩 is one of Cuba鈥檚 most important partners in the tourism sector, operating some 14,000 rooms until its partial withdrawal.

Tourism in Cuba, which reached a peak of 4.3 million visitors in 2019, saw a significant drop in the number of tourists arriving in the first quarter of this year, 48% lower than in the same period in 2025.

Only 298,000 tourists arrived in Cuba during January, February and March compared to 573,300 international visitors during the same period last year, according to government data.

In the interview, D铆az-Canel said it was 鈥渃ynical鈥� for Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to promote a narrative that Cuba鈥檚 government is ineffectual while intensifying an already harsh embargo.

The U.S. moves could be aimed at strangling Cuba to 鈥減rovoke a social explosion that would give (Trump) a pretext for humanitarian aid to intervene in the country,鈥� D铆az-Canel said.

Or they could be intended to 鈥減ursue a coercive dialogue with Cuba, employing maximum pressure to economically occupy the country.鈥� Or they could be a prelude to a military intervention, he said.

While U.S. and Cuban officials , tensions have risen. In late May, former President in a U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles in Cuban waters.