The “zone of turbulence” in which world tourism collapsed two years ago due to the coronavirus will not end as quickly as the pandemic began. Despite the fact that restrictions on coronavirus are being removed one after another around the world, international tourism is facing new and new problems that negatively affect people’s decisions to travel. The war in Ukraine scares tourists from touring Europe, especially the East; global sanctions against Russia have slashed the incomes of citizens around the world, which also threatens a serious decline in tourism, and in all countries. The confrontation between China and the United States over Taiwan is not far off – then it is obvious that tourism in PVA will completely fall. Against this background, tourists are nervous about any emergency, especially resonant: these are what happened the other day in the Caribbean – an explosion at a hotel in Cuba, as well as another shooting on a beach in Mexico.
The explosion in Cuba particularly struck the imagination of many: it happened at the famous Saratoga Hotel in the heart of Havana, the capital of Cuba. At least 22 people died and another 74 were hospitalized for treatment. Almost the entire facade of the hotel, built by the way in 1880, in the heart of the Cuban capital, destroyed, broken glass in houses nearby.
According to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the explosion at the Saratoga Hotel was not caused by a bomb. The probable reason is a gas leak, which is also not a good signal for tourism. Let’s explain – the hotel, which was last renovated in 2005, was closed for good times – and before the emergency and never opened to tourists. There were only workers in the building who were preparing the hotel for the opening. “The 96-room hotel was due to open in a few days, with workers making final preparations,” said Roberto Enrique Calzadilla, a spokesman for the military company that runs most of the country’s hotels. He said that on Friday, when the accident occurred, the building began to supply natural gas again, and the explosion probably occurred when the liquefied gas was pumped from the tank. That is, perhaps this catastrophe is an example of the fact that such a large-scale enterprise as a hotel can not be so simply “shut down” and then restart.
Not everything is quiet on the Caribbean beaches and with crime. The criminal world in “troubled times” has its exacerbations – and tourists easily “fall under the distribution.” This time in the famous Mexican resort of Cancun, visitors to local bars were shot at – one person died and at least six were injured. One of the suspects has been detained so far. According to the Quintana Roo prosecutor’s office, tourists turned out to be “extreme” in criminal fights: extortionists operating in the city tried to intimidate the owners of entertainment establishments.