Captivating Cuba ceases trading as Atol holder after more than 25 years

The UK’s Cuba specialists were hit late last year by Tui’s decision to axe its Manchester-Varadero route for this summer, then the UK’s only direct Cuba service.

Captivating Cuba director Matthew O’Sullivan confirmed then the business was rebooking impacted customers onto alternative routes and insisted there were sufficient alternative routes.

"We’ve worked solely with Cuba for more than 25 years as a dedicated specialist and have seen many UK airlines and travel companies come and go," said O’Sullivan in December.

"But travel demand for the island always remains high and enthusiasm from our customers hasn’t wavered. It’s business as usual."

The failure comes just a month after it was announced the UK would regain non-stop Cuba flight options this year with the launch of two charter services – Gatwick-Cayo Coco and Manchester-Holguin. Both had been due to get under way this month.

However, TTG understands both are subject to further delay and review. The proposed operator Iron Travel has been contacted for further comment.

At the time, O’Sullivan said the new routes would help convert "continued demand" for Cuba and would bolster the operator’s "growing portfolio of routes".

The Captivating Cuba website remained live on Monday morning (13 May) and was not signposting to the CAA.

There has been no reference to the failure on its social channels, with its last Facebook post dating to January.

Captivating Cuba, which has offices in the UK and Havana, as well as staff based in France, Spain and throughout Cuba, was licensed for 750 Atol-protected seats in the period to the end of September 2024.

The "About" page on its website reads: "Captivating Cuba is a totally independent and fully Atol bonded boutique specialist tour operator, with more than 30 years’ experience providing high-quality tailor-made travel to Cuba and beyond.

"We are experienced and large enough to have our own Havana office and staff throughout Cuba, but we are small enough to know our customers and travel agents individually by name and spend time on each booking fine tuning the details and adding our special touches.

"We are very lucky to receive our business mainly through word-of-mouth recommendations and repeat business from the fantastic independent travel agents who work with us."