Cuban tourism industry flounders as sunseekers look elsewhere

Tourists from Spain have their pictures taken at the Revolution square in Havana, Cuba, November 23, 2021. Picture taken on November 23, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba is struggling to reawaken its tourism industry after months of pandemic-induced slumber as travelers stay away, threatening to derail the government's plan to haul the economy out of a deepening crisis.

The communist-run island, long a popular Caribbean destination, has been betting on tourism to power 4% economic growth this year after the coronavirus pandemic slashed output, resulting in food and medicine shortages and power outages, and contributing to the largest anti-government protests since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.