{"id":7076657,"date":"2026-11-07T17:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T17:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accountants4yourbusiness.co.uk\/?p=7076657"},"modified":"2026-11-07T17:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T17:25:35","slug":"canadians-choosing-pricier-destinations-over-cuba-amid-crisis-travel-agents-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants4yourbusiness.co.uk\/?p=7076657","title":{"rendered":"Canadians choosing pricier destinations over Cuba amid crisis: travel agents – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As the winter holiday season approaches, one of the most popular sunny destinations for Canadian travellers remains out of reach.<\/p>\n

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The United States\u2019 oil blockade against Cuba triggered severe fuel shortages in the country and prompted Canadian airlines to indefinitely suspend flights to the island destination earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Travel agents say Canadians looking to escape the cold weather this year will have to pay more than what they\u2019re used to for affordable all-inclusive packages in Cuba.<\/p>\n

Ashley Harold, a travel agent at Flight Centre Canada, said Mexico, Dominican Republic and several other Caribbean countries and territories such as Aruba, Barbados and Jamaica seem to be getting most of the diversions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t one new Cuba, if you will. Canadians, they\u2019re really spreading their winter travel across a much wider mix of destinations and trip types,\u201d she said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re also seeing some travellers consider Caribbean cruises or tours to still-warm places like Costa Rica or Peru.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domestic tourism is also gaining traction as some Canadians are choosing to visit \u201cfantastic\u201d winter destinations, from Alberta to the West Coast, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFolks, now more than ever, are wanting to explore their own backyard and keep their dollar within Canada,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Even though advance bookings have become a new normal after COVID-19, the lack of Cuban vacations has led Canadians to make reservations in other destinations much earlier for best pricing and choice, Harold said.<\/p>\n

Cuba welcomed more than a million Canadians annually before the pandemic but that number has been steadily declining in recent years, with visits dropping to around 700,000 in 2025, according to Statistics Canada. The agency recorded 127,000 Canadian visits to Cuba in the first quarter of this year.<\/p>\n

Those numbers dropped significantly after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed the oil blockade on Cuba early this year, and the Canadian government subsequently issued a travel advisory due to the shortage of medicine, food and fuel in the country. It still advises Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel to Cuba.<\/p>\n

After airlines suspended flights and major hotel chains pulled out of Cuba, the country\u2019s tourism industry and the local economy that heavily depended on it were further devastated. The country of around 11 million people is facing a humanitarian crisis caused by the latest sanctions and the decades-long U.S. trade embargo.<\/p>\n

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Cuba\u2019s tourism market was dominated by Canadians who relished its affordable winter vacation options. Now, they need to spend hundreds of dollars more to explore other destinations or cut down the number of trips they are making each year, travel agents say.<\/p>\n

John Wood, president of Durham Travel east of Toronto, said Cuba visitors are \u201cvalue conscious\u201d and want to travel as often as they can within their budgets.<\/p>\n

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