From November 15th, Cuba will gradually reopen its borders to tourists and without requiring PCR tests upon arrival. Despite an increase in Covid-19 cases, Cuba plans to go ahead with the reopening of the country’s borders starting in mid-November. Authorities have expressed confidence that 90 percent of its population will be vaccinated by the beginning of the high season for tourism.
For many months, the number of flights arriving in Cuba has been very limited, with only a few Russian and Canadian tourist charters arriving regularly at some of the country’s designated resorts. Authorities require travelers to arrive with a negative PCR test, then perform a new one at the airport upon arrival and be quarantined until the results of a second test five days later.
Given the progress of the vaccination process in Cuba, its proven effectiveness and the prospect that more than 90% of the population will be fully vaccinated in November, we are preparing the conditions to gradually open the country’s borders from November 15
Cuban Ministry of Tourism
At the complete reopening of the borders, hygienic and sanitary protocols on arrival of travelers will be relaxed, with monitoring of symptomatic patients and temperature taking.
In addition, diagnostic tests will be carried out randomly, PCR will not be required on arrival and the vaccination certificate of travelers will be recognized. Currently, all travelers are tested for Covid and must comply with a mandatory quarantine in government hotels. Authorities plan to also allow domestic tourism.
Tourism, one of the Cuban government’s main sources of foreign exchange, has collapsed with the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the island to partially close its borders since late March 2020.
Between January and July, the country received more than 270,000 foreign tourists, barely a quarter (21.8%) of arrivals in the same period of 2020. Deprived of foreign currency from tourism, the authorities have drastically reduced the country’s imports, aggravating shortages of food and medicine for Cubans.
