Tourism Boom is Leaving Cubans Struggling to Afford Food

Ever since Barack Obama and Raul Castro formally announced a move to normalize the relationship between the US and Cuba in 2014, the island nation has been experiencing dramatic changes—not all of them good.

American tourists have been popping up in Cuba at an alarming rate. They're coming to soak up the tropical weather, vibrant culture, and burgeoning food scene—and it seems they're getting too much of a good thing. Amid news that Cuba's tourism infrastructure is already overwhelmed, the New York Times reported that food prices have been ballooning drastically on account of the flood of foreign cash.

Reuters reported that Cuba had more than 3.5 million visitors in 2015, up 17.4 percent from the year before; American visits there were up 77 percent in 2015—and that doesn't include "hundreds of thousands" of visiting Cuban-Americans.

There has always existed a line between what those staying in hotels and what those who are native to the country have access to in terms of food. But now, even staples such as peppers and onions are out of reach for some residents.

Beef, that most cherished American commodity, is rare in Cuba, and tourist appetites certainly can't be helping. MUNCHIES' own Adam Gollner had this to report on the beef shortage when he visited the country in 2014: "Every person I've spoken to in Havana assures me that it is a greater crime here to slaughter a cow than it is to slaughter a person. All cows, they add, are property of the state. When caught cooking illicit beef, Cubans have even been known to commit suicide rather than face incarceration."

Additionally, tourists have been drinking Cuba dry for months. The island's main beer brewer Bucanero is struggling to meet demands, and back in April, the nation's brewers even depended on a "3 million case beer bailout" from Presidente, a brewer in the Dominican Republic.

How the country deals with the developing food crisis, and its own surging popularity as a tourist destination, is still to be seen. Though, those issues must inevitably be handled together. Certainly it is a dangerous tightrope walk where the happiness and health of Cuban citizens must be balanced against a deluge of American travelers eager to spend cold, hard cash.