Cuba to relax COVID-19 restriction on tourists from November 15

Cuba is preparing to begin its tourism season in November, making efforts to contain the sharpest spike in everyday covid-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic early last year.

"In the next few days, we will have to work hard to meet all the conditions" for tourists, Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia stated on Friday.

"Cuba has always been, and always will be, a safe destination," Garcia said.

Between January and August, Cuba received only 164,763 international visitors due to the pandemic and travel restrictions.

But the government recently announced that pandemic border control measures for incoming travellers would be relaxed from 15 November.

Cuba does not require any more PCR tests upon arrival, and the Covid-19 vaccination certificates issued abroad are approved by the customs authorities.

Currently, hotels in Havana and the coastal cities of Varadero and Cayo Coco are receiving international tourists.

Sanitary protocols are being stepped up to minimize the risk of the virus, according to Maria del Pilar Macias, an official from the Cuban Ministry of Tourism.

"The new measures focus on monitoring symptomatic patients and temperature controls on arrival," she said.

"Mask mandates and physically distancing guidelines remain at the hotel facilities."

Cuba anticipates immunizing more than 90 percent of its residents by November.

Approximately 45,000 tourism industry employees on the island have already been completely vaccinated with Cuban-developed three-dose vaccines.

The island reassumed scheduled commercial flights in November 2020, when Havana Jose Marti International Airport restarted services after being closed for more than seven months due to the pandemic.

Tourism accounts for more than 10% of the country's hard currency income, and the peak season runs from mid-November to April.