HAVANA – Trumpeter Carlos Sanchez serenaded tourists in Old Havana for 30 years and earned good tips – until the coronavirus pandemic and Cuba closed their borders on April 1st a year ago.

The global vaccination campaign is raising hopes for a rebirth of tourism this summer, but Cubans like Sanchez are not holding their breath as the Caribbean island experienced its worst outbreak to date, imposing strict travel and lockdown restrictions.

Instead, they practice the Cuban philosophy of the “resolver” – despite all obstacles to finding a way – which is mainly used in relation to the burden of US sanctions and a state economy, but now also with the pandemic.

“I went with a Plan B, I took my tools and now I’m here on the street fixing the fans,” said Sanchez, 57.

Cuba closed its borders a year ago to stop the spread of the coronavirus. A reopening in November sparked a spike in infections, prompting authorities to reduce flights and tighten restrictions.

While visitors are still allowed, they must present negative results from a coronavirus test upon arrival, retest at the airport, and then quarantine for several days.

If they can move around freely, they must wear face-covering in public spaces and face curfews and lockdown restrictions, all but essential shops in much of the island.

And should tourists become infected, they will not be able to self-isolate at home and will have to go to a government hospital – something that Cuba says has contributed to its low mortality rate and has helped to reduce the infection caused some dismay among visitors.

As a result, Cuba’s colonial city centers and idyllic beaches are still largely empty after a year in which the number of visitors dropped from more than 4 million arrivals in 2019 to just under 1 million.

The decline in tourism is a severe blow to the country’s weak economy, which shrank 11% last year and is suffering from bottlenecks even on basic goods, as tourism accounted for about a tenth of its gross domestic product in 2019.

“Without tourism, we are nothing,” said a dejected Orlando Perez, 44, who served drinks to sun-seekers on the beaches east of Havana but had to take a low-paying night job as a security guard at a hotel, suspected of having COVID-19.

Around 8,200 employees in the state tourism sector have contributed to Cuba’s fight against the coronavirus and have worked in hospitals and isolation centers, as Prime Minister Manuel Marrero quoted this week as saying.

Francisco Camps, Cuba’s deputy general manager for Spanish Meliá Hotels International SA, said his bet for a rebirth of tourism in Cuba was on one of the country’s five experimental vaccines under development that proved effective and allowed him to live in to achieve herd immunity this year.

“When I think about when we could start an operation that would more or less return to normal, starting with the last trimester of the year, which coincides with the winter (high season) season,” he said.

consequences NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR