Travel Industry Network on Cuba

Potential flights from Ft. Lauderdale on Jet Blue and Spirit

2009-10-28T09:25:00.000-04:00

Cuba travel clears one hurdle in Broward

The Broward County Commission took the first steps to becoming a gateway to Cuba.

BY AMY SHERMAN

asherman@MiamiHerald.com

Residents and travelers with relatives in Cuba might be able to hop a plane or boat out of Broward bound for Cuba.

Broward County commissioners on Tuesday approved seeking permission from the federal government to allow flights to and from Cuba at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
County officials will also ask the U.S. Department of Treasury to designate Port Everglades as another point of entry.

Commissioners approved the item without discussion.

But the chances of the county getting approval -- and when the trips would start -- are unknown.
``We want to put ourselves to be in a position to be considered,'' Broward airport director Kent George said.

Earlier this year, the U.S. government eased travel restrictions to Cuba to allow those who have relatives there to visit more often. More than 100,000 people of Cuban descent live in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

But the federal government still has to create a national policy that will determine whether several airports and ports are granted access at once or gradually, George said.

Spirit Airlines and JetBlue have expressed an interest in starting such flights out of the Fort Lauderdale airport. George estimates the airlines would start offering service a couple of times a week.

Currently three airports have permission to fly to Cuba: Miami, New York-Kennedy and Los Angeles.
Several airports nationwide, including Key West and Tampa, have expressed interest in offering service to Cuba.

If Fort Lauderdale wants to be successful, ``I think they better get to Washington,'' said Vivian Mannerud, owner of Airline Brokers Company, which charters flights from Miami to Cuba. ``There are other airports in the U.S. that have been lobbying very heavily to get approved and they have been at it for seven or eight months.''

George said he had no immediate plans to send lobbyists to Washington, D.C. though he said that is a possibility.

Adding flights to Cuba would not increase costs for the airport.

Said George: ``We have the gates, customs and security.''

British Cruise Line to Add Cuba

2009-10-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

Thomson Cruises Will Sail to Cuba in 2010-2011

October 7, 2009

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3468

(4:30 p.m. EDT) -- British line Thomson Cruises is shaking things up in winter 2010-2011 with a series of new 14-night Caribbean itineraries -- including Thomson's first-ever calls in Havana, Cuba. The cruises will be operated by the new 1,506-passenger, 54,000-tonne Thomson Dream, which will join the fleet in April 2010.

Havana is an exciting choice because not many cruise lines visit the Cuban city, due to U.S. restrictions on travel there. Even U.K.-based Fred. Olsen has only four cruises calling in Havana in 2010; German line Hapag-Lloyd offers just a couple of calls in Cuba, as well. However, when Thomson Dream sails its new two-week cruises from December 2010 to March 2011, it will not only offer a full season of Cuban visits but also will feature two or three days in Havana on each itinerary.

There are three different types of itineraries from which to choose -- Caribbean Experience, Cuban Adventure and Classic Caribbean. What's unusual is that the ship will actually sail a repeating, 21-night route that will be divided into 14-night segments. That means passengers will debark, and new passengers will board halfway through your cruise. Also, because each 14-night segment is a one-way sailing, Thomson will not offer a fly-cruise option. (There is no option to sail three weeks roundtrip from any of the departure points, as many ports of call are repeated from segment to segment.)

Here are the highlights of each:

Caribbean Experience: This cruise sails from Barbados to Havana, visiting multiple Caribbean islands and Central American ports, including Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel. The itinerary features an overnight in Cuba. Departure dates are 23 December 2010; 13 January, 3 and 24 February 2011.

Cuban Adventure: This cruise sails from Montego Bay to Barbados, visiting Central America and Southern and Eastern Caribbean ports. The itinerary features three days and two nights in Cuba, mid-cruise. Departure dates are 30 December 2010; 20 January, 10 February and 3 March 2011.

Classic Caribbean: This cruise sails from Havana to Montego Bay, concentrating on Caribbean islands. The itinerary begins with an overnight in Cuba. Departure dates are 6 and 27 January and 17 February 2011.

In addition to Havana, these Caribbean itineraries include two more new-for-Thomson ports: Santa Marta, Columbia (on Classic Caribbean and Caribbean Experience), and Roatan, Honduras (on Caribbean Experience and Cuban Adventure).

Thomson Dream's Caribbean itineraries will go on sale on 5 November 2009.

--by Erica Silverstein, Senior Editor

Program for Destination Seminar at Las Vegas Trade Show

2009-09-19T17:48:00.000-04:00

"Cuba Breakthrough:
Opportunities for the US Travel Industry"

• Welcome by moderator

Robert E. Whitley, CTC, President, United States Tour Operators Association

• Slide presentation of Cuba as a destination (15 min)

Christopher P. Baker, travel writer and photographer since 1983, considered the world's foremost authority on travel and tourism to Cuba, about which he has written six books, including the Moon Cuba, Moon Havana, and National Geographic Traveler Cuba guidebooks, plus Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba. He has written for publications as diverse as National Geographic Traveler, Newsweek, and Robb Report. He has addressed Cuba at the National Press Club, World Affairs Council, "Live from National Geographic," etc., and appears regularly on ABC, CBS, Fox News, NPR, and similar radio and TV outlets. He was named Lowell Thomas Award Travel Journalist of the Year in 2008 and is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.
cpbaker@earthlink.net www.christopherbaker.com http://moon.com/blogs/cuba-costa-rica

• The Cuba experience of a US tour operator (10 min)

Andrea Holbrook, President of Holbrook Travel, has been working in Cuba since 2000 as a licensed Travel Service Provider (TSP). Her company is a tour operation specializing in educational and natural history travel since 1974. Holbrook Travel uses its unique expertise in customizing programs to create magical learning experiences; connecting knowledge-seeking travelers to diverse environments and cultures around the world. Company founder and ecotourism pioneer, Giovanna Holbrook, is also responsible for establishing the Selva Verde Lodge and Rainforest Reserve, which protects 500 acres of primary forest in northeastern Costa Rica. Andrea chairs the Travel Industry Network on Cuba. www.holbrooktravel.com www.selvaverde.com

• Operational in Cuba, a personal insight on commercial tourism today (10 min)

Marti Aragones, Sales and Marketing Director, Canada – US Market, Sol Melia Cuba Hotels, the largest foreign manager of hotels and resorts on the island. He has been with Sol Melia for 12 years, 5 of them working directly at the destination in Cuba, the rest working in Canada and as Sales and Marketing Director. Before that Aragones owned a travel agency in Spain for 3 years. www.solmeliacuba.com

• Cuba’s potential for American tour operators (15 min)

Lisa Simon, CTP, President, National Tour Association (NTA) since 2004. She began her tenure with NTA in 1985 and served as its senior vice president from 1998 to 2004. Simon has managed NTA’s education, certification and marketing activities, as well as served as the director of the National Tourism Foundation and vice president of Marketing. With more than 20 years’ experience in association marketing and management, her facilitation skills and analytical abilities have proven effective in leadership development, strategic planning, organizational structure and managing change. She is a member of the American Society of Association Executives, and serves on the boards of the US Travel Association and Tourism Cares www.nta.org

Robert E. Whitley, CTC, President, United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA)
since 1978. Before joining USTOA, Whitley held positions as director of the Florida Department of Tourism, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Tourism and director of the Virginia Beach Convention and Tourist Bureau. Mr. Whitley is the recipient of numerous marketing awards for travel promotion, and has served on the Board of Directors of many travel industry associations. For seven consecutive years he was recognized by a leading trade magazine as one of the travel industry’s 25 most influential executives, and was named in 1996, 1997 and 1999 as Person of the Year for Travel Industry Associations by Travel Agent Magazine. He was also given the 2005 Travel Weekly Award for Lifetime Achievement. www.ustoa.org

• Gov. Bill Richardson in Cuba: Travel Challenges and Opportunities (10 min)

Tony Martinez, Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on U.S. Relations with Cuba and Latin America; Attorney, Government Relations, and Strategic Business Consultant. He has worked on United States-Cuba relations and policy issues for the last ten years. He advises food, medical, agriculture, telecommunications, and travel companies on legally permissible trade and travel to Cuba and has led several business and Congressional delegations to the island. An expert on U.S. Congressional politics, Tony has been involved with these issues since he was 16 years old. He has worked closely with Gov. Richardson over the last 17 years during his tenures as U.S. Representative, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, and U.S. Energy Secretary. He recently accompanied him on his trip to Cuba in August, 2009. tonym@uscuba.biz Twitter: usambcuba www.uscuba.blogspot.com

• Washington update, the Administration and Congress (5 min)

John McAuliff, Coordinator, Travel Industry Network on Cuba; Executive Director, Fund for Reconciliation and Development. He organized licensed educational travel to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1985 and to Cuba from 1997. A leader of efforts by US non-governmental organizations to normalize travel, trade and diplomatic relations with Indochina and Cuba. Active in US civil rights and anti-war movements and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru.
director@ffrd.org www.ffrd.org www.thehavananote.com

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Visit our Cuba Now booth # 1237. Andrea, Marti and Tony will be there on Sunday and Monday. Sign the Open Cuba petition on-line. The first 400 new signers (and bringers of signers) will receive a button and USTOA T-shirt. Business card draw for CDs noon Tuesday.

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Yes, we all can make a difference:

• Share the petition link with your friends and clients www.opencuba.org

• Urge the President to license unlimited travel for educational, cultural, religious, humanitarian and other non-tourist purposes http://www.whitehouse.gov/ope/contact/

• Ask if your Representative and Senators will cosponsor, or at least commit to vote for, legislation that legalizes all travel and tourism: HR 874, S 428 (text at www.thomas.gov)

• Join and support the educational work of the Travel Industry Network on Cuba http://www.nycharities.org/donate/c_donate.asp?CharityCode=1270

Travel Industry Network on Cuba, c/o Fund for Reconciliation and Development
145 Palisade Street, Suite 401, Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 914-231-6270 director@ffrd.org

Highest Ranked Hotels

2009-08-23T12:41:00.000-04:00

Cuba Hotel Awards - A Way Through Excellence

August 23, 2009

Looking for more than good-value hotels in Cuba? Discover a selection of Cuba hotels that have received several prizes and awards, granted by international tour operators and tourism specialists. These leading facilities could be a fine choice for your perfect Cuba holiday or vacation if you trust well-known experts’ criteria.

One of the most prestigious lists of the best hotels worldwide is The Gold List of Condé Nast Traveler. This annual list includes a selection of the hotels around the world that have the best service, rooms, food, ambiance and design, location and leisure facilities. The Saratoga hotel, an Old Havana hotel, received a high rating in the readers’ travel awards 2006 survey, since it was at 24 in the hot list 2006 of the 60 best new hotels in the world within the category “Best for Ambiance/Design”. You can find this distinguished facility in a prime location opposite the Capitol at Havana City. Art lovers will appreciate the Cuban art in all the public spaces of the property and the “mélange” of colonial and contemporary styles at bedrooms and lounges.

If you look further examples of hotel excellence then you should consider theWorld Travel Awards, voted by travel agents worldwide. They were established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate the achievements in all sectors of the global travel industry. These awards are regarded as the “Oscars” of the tourism industry by The Wall Street Journal. Cuba hotels winners at 2007 and 2008 were Hotel Nacional de Cuba as Cuba’s Leading Hotel and Sandals Royal Hicacos Resort & Spa was the Leading Resort. A classy Cuban hotel at the Cuban capitol city and a gorgeous beach resort in one of the best beaches of the island and of the Caribbean, these are the choices of tens of thousands of travel experts, such as travel agents and other travel professionals.

Also Thomas Cook, one of the most important tour operators in the world, recently accorded its Marque of Excellence Award to Paradisus Rio de Oro Resort & Spa, a hotel which received several important prizes in 2008. For those seeking blissful vacations, here you will find a piece of your own paradise. This elegant hotel, located right alongside Playa Esmeralda beach in the province of Holguin, has received for the fifth time the Marque of Excellence Award (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008) due to the quality ratings granted by clients. Since it is a 5-star Ultra All-Inclusive hotel that was conceived for adults over 18 years, it is more suitable for romantic getaways, weddings, honeymoons, events and vacations with group of friends.

Plus, Trip Advisor, the largest travel destinations and tips guide in the Web, granted this Cuba hotel two Travelers Choice 2008 Awards (The Best All-Inclusive in the World and the Most Romantic Hotel in Latin America and the Caribbean). These popular distinctions in the tourist industry represent the views of millions of travelers that have selected this hotel for its outstanding service.

Moreover, Paradisus Río de Oro hotel received the Gold Medal 2008 Award accorded by clients of First Choice, the leading British wholesale company. Also in 2006, the Paradisus Rio de Oro was awarded the Travelers’ Choice Prize in the category of Most Outstanding Hidden Jewels of the Caribbean. Want a better reason to go there in your next Cuba vacations?

If you prefer more responsible and ecologic hotels then you should try Brisas Guardalavaca. This Cuba hotel has won the important award “Green Planet Award” presented by the European Tour Operator Kuoni. This distinction is given to the hotels contracted by this tour operator with relevant results in terms of Environmental Care. This facility has also received the National Basic Environmental Award presented by the Ministry of Technology and Environment in Cuba. So if your catchphrase is “a better and a greener world is possible” then you should consider Brisas Guardalavaca in the top of your Cuba hotels choices.

Also for environment enthusiasts there is a fine resort at Varadero beach, the Iberostar Tainos hotel, which has won an Environmental Hotel Award in 2004/05. Singles, couples and families will appreciate the good four-star value of this recently built hotel, set on a beautiful stretch of beach surrounded by tropical gardens.

Other Cuba hotels have won international distinctions like Meliá Las Antillas, which was awarded the Primo Neckermann Reisen 2008 Award thanks to the rankings given by clients of the important German tour operator Neckermann, part of Thomas Cook group. This property ranked among the 100 best and most popular hotels in the world in 2008! So if you want to experience a truly unforgettable holiday you should look after this offer, an All-Inclusive Superior 4-star resort especially recommended for weddings, honeymoons, tourist groups and circuits.

Also the magnificent Paradisus Princesa del Mar hotel was granted the Marque of Excellence Award 2007 by leading tour operator Thomas Cook, in recognition of the hotel’s high service standards and quality of its accommodations. What’s important about this award is that clients are the ones who assess the hotels by responding to Thomas Cook’s satisfaction polls, which measure the service, facilities and quality of the accommodations. It is conceived for adults aged 18 and over and it is highly recommended for those who want to spend some time in romantic environments with extraordinary scenic views and total privacy.

(Personally, I would add the Melia Cohiba in Havana, especially for a working visit or conference. --John McAuliff)

http://www.articlesinaclick.com/travel-and-leisure/vacation-rentals/cuba-hotel-awards-a-way-through-excellence/

US Allowing More People to Travel

2009-08-17T11:15:00.000-04:00

By David Adams, Times Latin America Correspondent

St. Petersberg Times, tampabay.com

Published Thursday, August 13, 2009

Three times during the last eight years, John Tredway applied for a license to take American students to debate their counterparts in Cuba. Three times, he was denied.

Then the other day he got word that a new request to take students from New College in Sarasota had been approved by the Treasury Department.

"It really came out of the blue," said Tredway, 60, director of USA Youth Debates, which sends groups of students all over the world. "We had been reading in the press about Obama's new Cuba policy for Cuban-Americans visiting Cuba, but nothing indicated that the policy had changed with regard to other Americans."

After eight years of cultural freeze, it seems the ice is thawing between the United States and Cuba. In the coming months, a major Hispanic musician from Miami and a New York orchestra are planning to perform in Cuba, an apparent reversal of the Bush administration policy of isolating the island regime. A sudden surge of Cuban performers are coming here as well.

"The president (Obama) has himself stated that people-to-people contact is good for both countries," said Timothy Ashby, a Cuba specialist with the Miami law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. "It's pretty clear that's the policy."

The Obama administration has approved a Sept. 20 peace concert in Havana's Revolution Square by Colombian rocker Juanes, who lives in Key Biscayne and is one of Latin music's hottest artists. Cuban officials also say they are also looking forward to hosting the New York Philharmonic in late October. An orchestra spokesman confirmed that a trip to Cuba is being planned and that final arrangements are being worked out.

Juanes visited Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss plans for the concert.

"We have no official role in the concert, but the Department of State is in favor of these types of cultural exchanges since they increase understanding among nations," a State Department spokesman said. "We have respect for Juanes and we wish him lots of luck with the project."

Juanes, whose real name is Juan Esteban Aristizãbal, may need it. The concert is under attack from hard-line Cuban exiles in Miami who accuse Juanes of naively providing legitimacy to Cuba's communist regime.

"The concert promises to be nothing more than a shameless, thoughtless and heartless appearance by the 36-year-old singer and his fellow performers," according to Joe Cardona, a Cuban-American filmmaker in Miami. "It will be one more tacit legitimization of the hemisphere's most oppressive 50-year-old dictatorship," he wrote in an op-ed in the Miami Herald.

Exiles object to Juanes receiving a license to perform in Revolution Square, usually the scene of Communist Party rallies. But Juanes has defended the concert, pointing out that Pope John Paul II held an open-air Mass in the square in 1998.

"It's a neutral place," Juanes told Univision, the Spanish-language television network.

He noted that the square is built around a monument to Cuban independence leader Jose Marti, who is revered in both Havana and Miami. "No one is using me," he insisted.

The 1962 economic embargo against Cuba prevents Americans or U.S. residents from traveling to Cuba unless they obtain a license from the Treasury Department. Over the years a number of specific categories for licensed travel have been created, including journalists, professional researchers and Americans on approved commercial business for food, agricultural and medical sales.

Last year the Treasury Department approved 21 licenses for "public performances" in Cuba — mostly for athletic events — up from only seven in 2007. Already this year 20 licenses have been approved, according to Treasury Department spokeswoman Marti Adams.

Last month actors Robert Duvall, James Caan and Bill Murray visited Cuba for four days under an unspecified professional research license, which is generally easier to obtain than one for events that can generate revenue or publicity for the Cuban government.

More Cubans, from actors to academics, are being allowed into the United States as well. A group of 12 Cuban actors presented a Spanish-language version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the University of Alabama this month.

"This is beyond uncommon. No musician or performing group has been allowed in this country like this from Cuba since 2003," said Ned Sublette, a performer and composer from New York who has studied and written about Cuban music.

Other licenses are pending. The Sarasota Yacht Club last month applied for a license to organize a regatta to Cuba in May 2010, one of a number of boating events in Cuba next year that Florida sailors are hoping to attend if restrictions are eased.

The increased number of licenses does not represent a change in law, but rather a more permissive interpretation of existing regulations, said Philip Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., who favors lifting all travel restrictions.

"Now they are granting licenses the way they are supposed to, as the regulations were written," he said.

David Adams can be reached at dadams@sptimes.com. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/world/us-allowing-more-people-to-travel-to-cuba/1027528#comments

Key West to Cuba Race Planned

2009-08-17T11:04:00.000-04:00

Saturday, August 15, 2009

A sailboat race from Key West to Cuba (& back) is planned for November of next year.

Small & fast catamarans (18-24 feet) will begin racing at the White Street Pier, covering 95 miles to Marina Hemingway, Cuba. Racers will spend a couple days in Cuba on a mission of cultural exchange focused on sailing. The return trip to Key West is another 95 mile race.

Race organizers have set up a Google groups site at: http://groups.google.com/group/the-cuba-run . You can read more about it there.

I swear, if you listen hard enough, you can hear the Cuban travel embargo leaning over, creaking past the tipping point, ready to fall at any momemt. A political Leaning Tower of Piza if you will. (Yes, I'm aware the Piza Tower has been stabilized).

One has to wonder if the travel ban has in effect been left to expire.

If nothing else, the government no longer wants to defend it.

Take a look at this story about Mytchell Mora - an American who traveled illegally to Cuba and announced that fact upon his return at U.S. Customs. He's hoping to challenge the travel ban in court. Instead, Customs sent him home - without punishment, and with his Cuban souveneirs.

Meanwhile, OFAC, the branch of government in charge of enforcement of Cuba travel rules, is losing funding in a move to quietly deflate the policy.

http://keywestchronicle.blogspot.com/2009/08/key-west-to-cuba-race-planned.html

Orbitz Travel Petition Over 70,000

2009-08-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

Orbitz hits signature milestone in Cuba-travel drive
August 16, 7:14 PM · Dennis Schaal - Newark Travel Examiner

Orbitz, the travel website based in Chicago, recorded its 70,000th signer late last month to a petition calling on the Obama administration to overturn the roughly 50-year-old U.S. ban on travel by Americans to Cuba.

Securing that number of petition signers occurred less than three months after the campaign began.

Orbitz Worldwide spokesman Brian Hoyt said one aim of OpenCuba.org is to attract 100,000 signers.

Hoyt said Orbitz would then present the petitions to elected officials in Washington, D.C. in the fall.

In starting the petition drive, Orbitz took a calculated risk since Cuba travel is controversial and big companies often prefer to steer clear of hot-button issues that can provoke protests, includling boycotts.

But Orbitz's feeling is that regardless of Americans' stance on the Cuban regime -- and viewpoints vary -- it is wrong to restrict Americans' basic freedom to travel.

After all, there are no barriers on travel to China, also an authoritarian regime, for example.

In stepping out on its own on this issue, Orbitz has picked up some support in the travel industry. Supporters of the drive include Cuban-American organizations, as well as the National Tour Association, the U.S. Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and the Adventure Travel Trade Association.

The Cuban American Commission for Family Rights and the Cuban American Alliance are among the endorsers of the Orbitz effort.

But so far peers of Orbitz, including Travelocity, PriceIine and Expedia, and a broader swath of travel companies and associations haven't followed Orbitz's lead and stepped forward on this issue of such import to the rights of Americans and to the well-being of the travel industry.

It would be in these companies' own self-interest to get involved since Americans likely would flock to Cuba for vacation getaways and cruises once the U.S. government lifted the ban, authorized U.S. travel companies to book trips there, and the necessary infrastructure were in place.

The Obama administration already took steps earlier this year to make it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba.

Some Americans are seeking to test the legality of the ban even as it remains in force.

Erika Crenshaw returned to Los Angeles recently from a 10-day trip to Cuba with a message for authorities charged with enforcing a ban on travel to the communist-ruled island: Come and get me.

With its petition drive, and accompanying travel promotion, Orbitz hopes to prod Congress and the Obama administration to ease the restrictions for all Americans.

Copyright 2009 Examiner.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Author
Dennis Schaal is an Examiner from Newark. You can see Dennis's articles at: "http://www.Examiner.com/x-19105-Newark-Travel-Examiner"

Cuba Ready for US Tourists

2009-06-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

Cuba Can Service U.S. Tourists If Ban Lifted, Official Says

By Jens Erik Gould

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Cuba’s tourism industry will have enough capacity for the surge of American travelers expected should U.S. lawmakers lift restrictions on visits to the island, said Miguel Figueras, an adviser at Cuba’s tourism ministry.

Cuba agrees with an estimate by the American Society of Travel Agents that 835,000 U.S. tourists a year, excluding cruise ships or Cuban-American family visitors, would come after an end to the travel ban, Figueras said. Cuba aims to build 30 new hotels with 10,000 rooms and 10 golf courses by 2014 without counting on changes in U.S. policy, he said.

“The Americans are welcome here,” Figueras said in an interview yesterday in Havana’s historic Hotel Nacional. “You have to be prepared for that, but you can’t make your development plans depend on whether this happens.”

U.S. lawmakers may take up scrapping the ban on travel to the communist island, which has been under a U.S. trade embargo for almost five decades. President Barack Obama in April loosened travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans visiting family members and lifted caps on money Cuban-Americans may send relatives there. He maintained the embargo.

The proposal has support to pass because Obama and the U.S. business community favor it, said Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who co-sponsored the bill.

‘Brand New Environment’

“This issue is being discussed in an absolutely brand new environment, which is drawing support that it has lacked in the past,” DeLauro said in an interview.

An end to the travel ban might erode other aspects of the embargo such as the ban on bank relations, which keeps travelers from using U.S. credit or debit cards in Cuba, Figueras said.

The number of passengers flying to Cuba from the U.S. doubled in May to about 20,000 from a year earlier after Obama announced changes to the rules applied to Cuban-Americans, Figueras said.

Still, the global economic crisis is cutting total tourism revenue as visitors spend less money and fewer days on the island, he said.

Revenue dropped 14 percent in the first quarter from the same period in 2008, while the number of visitors rose 2 percent to 809,937, according to the National Statistics Office.

The tourism sector represents 7 percent of gross domestic product, Figueras said. Revenue increased 11 percent to 1.67 billion convertible pesos ($1.8 billion) last year from 2008.

U.S. Companies

“Every month an American company comes,” Figueras said, citing talks with U.S. companies about hotel and golf course projects that might be possible should the embargo end.

“The Americans are missing out,” said Juliette Sibson, a British tourist sipping frozen daiquiris at El Floridita, a bar in central Havana made famous by Ernest Hemingway. “Cuba is stunning. The history is amazing.”

Claudia, 22, a Cuban tour guide who declined to give her last name, said she hoped the U.S. will build on Obama’s recent changes for Cuban-Americans by allowing all Americans to visit.

“It would be good because it would bring more tourists,” she said in Havana’s Parque Central square. “I have family in Miami and they’re coming more.”

If U.S. travel restrictions were lifted, the number of American visitors would more than triple from 171,000 in 2005 to between 554,000 and 1.1 million, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Canadian Tourists

Last year, Canadians accounted for 818,246 of the 2.3 million tourists that visited the island, the Cuban statistics agency said.

The Dominican Republic, another Caribbean resort destination, housed 4.4 million tourists in about 60,000 hotel rooms in 2006, according to its tourism ministry Web site.

Many Americans who visit Cuba arrive on flights from Canada or Mexico and ask Cuban customs officials not to stamp their passports to avoid fines for violating the travel ban.

Cuba has about 48,000 hotel rooms, Figueras said. There are 15 hotels under joint venture contracts with foreign companies, and 49 hotels managed by international partners. The foreign companies include Sol Melia SA, the world’s largest resort operator, and Accor SA, Europe’s largest hotel company.

Eusebio Mujal-Leon, a professor of Cuban studies at Georgetown University, said the Cuban government might use visas to control the flow of U.S. tourists because it lacks sufficient hotel capacity to house them.

“They’re not going to have massive entry,” Mujal-Leon said. “They don’t have the infrastructure for it.”

Figueras said there were no plans to limit the number of Americans who can visit Cuba.

The number of American visitors in Cuba would increase slowly if the travel ban were lifted because it would take time for U.S. airlines to develop new routes and for travel agencies to develop tourist packages for the island, Figueras said.

“This isn’t an American tsunami that would happen overnight,” he said. “It takes time.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Havana at jgould9@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 24, 2009 14:45 EDT

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Personal comment: I love exponents of the free market who ignore its primary rationing mechanism, price! Americans will replace budget travelers from Canada and Europe who have no special interest in Cuba, and have to pay a larger amount for flights.

A Travel Editor's Perspective

2009-06-01T10:58:00.000-04:00

Cuba comeback? Americans soon may find it easy to visit a once-favorite playground

Sunday, May 31, 2009

By Catherine Watson, Universal Press Syndicate

Cuba’s Revolution turned 50 years old on New Year’s Eve, and Cubans celebrated. But the main reason wasn’t because dictator Fulgencio Batista fled from Fidel Castro’s advancing revolutionary army just after midnight on Jan. 1, 1959.

No, Cubans were just doing what they traditionally do on New Year’s Eve — eat a big dinner of slow-roasted pork with beans and rice, then sit around with friends to drink good Cuban rum, tell stories and dance.

And have the traditional midnight water fight. I didn’t expect that.

But after four trips to Cuba as a journalist, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Cuba is never what an outsider expects. It is the only country I can safely call “unique.” For good or ill, there is no place quite like it.

At a minute before midnight, I stood in the doorway of the house where I was staying and looked out into a dark, empty Havana street. Then cheering broke out, and everything exploded.

Up and down the street, people were suddenly flinging bucketfuls of water out of their windows and doors, laughing and yelling at each other. Little kids ran out into the fray, shrieking when they got soaked, and even my dignified, gray-haired host joined in, tossing out a couple of pans of water himself.

What is this, I asked, when I got over the shock. “Tradition,” he said.

When the sun came out next morning, Havana’s streets were already dry, and there was no sign that anything had happened. That made the water fight an apt metaphor for Cuba and — until this spring — for America’s relationship with it. Changes, but no change, even though change is looking more possible than it has in nearly five decades.

Earlier trips had taken me across the country from Santiago de Cuba in the east to the province of Pinar del Rio in the west, but while it was always interesting, Cuba made me sad because of its nice people and poor living conditions. I vowed not to go back “unless things changed.”

Last year, they started to. The ailing Castro stepped aside in favor of his brother Raul. America elected a new president.

I went back to check, and sure enough, there had been changes — just not ones I expected.

Cuba is the biggest of the Caribbean islands, and it is beautiful — a scimitar of tropical greenery, sugar-sand beaches and picturesque Spanish-colonial towns.

It was Spain’s richest colony and almost one of America’s. Thomas Jefferson contemplated annexing it. In the 20th century, it became an American playground, controlled by corrupt dictators and Yankee mobsters. That ended with Castro.

So did a lot of things. The revolution put communist principles into practice. Today, most of Cuba looks like the Third World — shabby and poor. But, Cubans don’t act poor. In many ways, they aren’t.

Castro made good on his biggest promises: health care and education. Both are universal and free.

Cuba’s child-mortality rate is lower than in the United States. And its literacy rate — 99.8 percent — is higher. This explains why, whenever I’ve gotten lost, every Cuban I asked — including field hands — could read a map and give me directions: not always the case in the States.

More shops had opened since my last visit, and there were more goods, and goods people might actually want, such as nice-looking shoes, small washing machines, stylish clothes. The prices were high, but the people looked better dressed, better off than they had.

There were still people in costumes, posing for snapshots and hoping for tips — young street performers on stilts, women in turbans and quaint ruffled skirts, and one ancient little guy who wandered Calle Obispo, Old Havana’s pedestrian street, wearing a Santa Claus suit. There were almost no beggars this time.

The Soviet Union had supported Cuba by buying all of its sugar, the island’s main crop. When the USSR went, so did Cuba’s economy. As the island struggled to get back on its feet, Cubans endured all sorts of shortages.

Cuba turned to tourism, forming joint partnerships with foreign developers and building strings of high-quality beach hotels, starting on Varadero Beach, east of Havana. By 1996, tourism had replaced sugar as Cuba’s biggest industry, and it is still growing.

Last year — despite punishing hurricanes — Cuba counted 2.3 million tourists. That’s a stunning total for a country with a population of only 11.4 million.

U.S. passports used to list Cuba, along with Libya and Iraq, as places where “transactions related to travel ... are generally prohibited.” Today’s passports are less specific, but the rules remain complex. What they boil down to, for most Americans, is that we can go to Cuba — we just can’t spend any money there.

But other nationals can, and they do. There were vastly more tourists this winter — not just the ubiquitous Canadians who make up 35 percent of Cuba’s visitors, but big, noisy tour groups of Italians and French. And there were more restaurants, more sights, more pricey shops and more activities to keep them busy.

This time, there were many modern cars, not just staid Russian models. These new cars mean that the famous pre-1959 American classics no longer dominate Cuban roads.

The old cars are still there, just more diluted. Many are in private hands, lovingly held together with house paint and ingenuity. Others have been exquisitely restored and bear discreet signs on their newly shiny doors: “Rent a fantasy,” they say. But that isn’t private enterprise. Car rentals, like every other aspect of Cuban tourism, are controlled by the government.

Even with more vehicles, though, traffic was thin. You could still cross any street in Havana without paying much attention in either direction, any time of day. As far as I could see, there was no rush hour.

More of Old Havana has been meticulously restored, and more restoration is under way. Plaza Vieja, the last of a quartet of lovely Spanish-colonial squares, is nearly finished. Hotels, shops, restaurants and museums have opened on all these plazas and on the key streets that connect them, and the income they generate is being reinvested to restore more.

Enough streets have been spruced up, in fact, that it is now possible to stroll all the way across Old Havana from the harbor to the Parque Central and never encounter the grinding decay in which most of the population still lives.

But the veneer is thin. Venture one or two streets off the restored main drags, and you can’t miss it. Buildings are crumbling and windows are boarded. Pavements and sidewalks are pocked with holes or half-blocked by rubble. People live crowded into tiny apartments and drying laundry flies like flags off the balconies.

And there are still shortages.

Despite it all, Cubans dance, laugh, sing, flirt, joke and chat up tourists. It’s a mistake to assume that their friendliness is just a facade, or that they all secretly loathe the regime.

“The revolution isn’t about fighting any more,” said a man who had been a little boy when Castro came to power. “Now it’s more psychological.” It has come to mean standing firm, being brave, doing your best in the face of hardship. Plenty of Cubans, including him, are proud of that.

One thing that hadn’t changed was the sound of everyday Cuban life — people talking in the street or calling from one balcony to another; the clip-clop of horses’ hooves; stray dogs arguing over scraps; even the occasional crow of a rooster. And music — music is still everywhere.

It’s impossible to walk down any street, restored or in decay, in any town, and not hear Cuban music, mostly live, pouring out of houses and hole-in-the-wall bars.

It’s also impossible to walk down a street and not get into a conversation. They still begin the same way: “Where are you from? Oh! The United States! My father (or mother or brother or son or uncle) is in the United States!”

Sometimes, the speaker has been there too. Either way, they tell you where, and the range of connections shows how close our countries used to be.

All such conversations eventually get around to the same thing: El Bloqueo, as Cubans call the American trade embargo, which is almost as old as the revolution.

The embargo grew out of the Cold War. The basic idea was to starve Castro out of office. It didn’t work.

To Cubans, continuing the embargo seems cruel. “You are friends with China,” one man said, in puzzled frustration. “You are friends with Vietnam. Why not Cuba?”

This winter, conversations had a new theme. People’s eyes would light up, and I’d know what was coming: “If only Obama. ...” “I hope Obama. ...”

On April 13 came the kind of change they’d been hoping for, when President Barack Obama lifted the restrictions that had prevented Cuban-Americans from freely visiting their relatives in Cuba and from sending money back to them.

Left unanswered was a broader question: When will the rest of us get to go to Cuba? That may change too, possibly this year.

In December, the American Society of Travel Agents requested the lifting of restrictions on travel to Cuba.

As ASTA’s president put it, “To use travel freedom as an instrument of foreign policy manipulation ultimately does harm to the very citizens it purports to protect.”

At the end of March, a Senate bill was introduced that would allow Americans to go to Cuba as we can to every other country. A companion bill has been introduced in the House. The New York Times reported that 67 percent of Cuban-Americans support lifting travel restrictions for everyone.

It may actually be time to think about reserving one of Canada’s cheap all-inclusive Cuban tour packages for next winter. Once we’re finally allowed to use them, they’ll be some of the best travel deals Americans can buy.

* * * * * * *

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: American tourists who go to Cuba without U.S. permission can be prosecuted and fined. For details on the travel restrictions, go to the U.S. State Department Web site, http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis—pa—tw/cis/cis—1097.html, and the Web site of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac.

MONEY: Cuba allows U.S. currency to be changed into Cuban pesos, but special fees add up to a 20 percent penalty. Credit cards, debit cards and travelers’ checks on U.S. banks don’t work. The options are opening accounts with a non-U.S. bank, getting travelers’ checks in foreign currency from a non-U.S. bank, or carrying another country’s cash.

LODGING: The most interesting places to stay are private homes with permits to rent rooms to tourists. Rates are controlled and last winter ran from $25 to $35 per room. A place to start looking is www.casaparticular.info. The best overall deals are all-inclusive Canadian tour packages.

FOOD AND DRINK: Cuban food is not spicy and, except at a fancy restaurant, not very exciting. Average meals in Havana run $8 to $14. Private homes permitted to serve food to guests are cheaper and often better. Cuba makes good beer, and Cuban rum is cheap and famous.

MUST-SEE: The 18th-century Governors’ Palace on the Plaza de Armas in Habana Vieja; the great fortress complex of El Morro; and the Museum of the Revolution in the former Presidential Palace on Calle Refugio. Ernest Hemingway fans should add the author’s room, No. 511, in the Ambos Mundos Hotel on Calle Obispo in Old Havana, and Finca Vigia, his peaceful villa in the Havana suburb of San Francisco de Paula. The single best thing to do in Havana doesn’t cost a cent: A walk on the Malecon, especially at twilight.

ELSEWHERE IN CUBA: Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city, lies on the south coast at the eastern end of the island. It is the site of San Juan Hill, where Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders fought against Spain in 1898. One of the spoils of that war is nearby — the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Trinidad is, like Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s as pretty and much quieter.

The Valley of Viñales is green and lovely, among limestone formations that look like the landscapes in Chinese scroll paintings.

Catherine Watson is the former travel editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

URL: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/05/31/life/doc4a1f25896dece292869910.prt

Qatar ti Build Hotel in Cayo Largo

2009-05-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

Qatar signs deal for new luxury hotel in Cuba
Wed May 6, 2009 11:42pm BST

HAVANA (Reuters) - Qatar and Cuba signed an agreement on Wednesday to build a $75 million luxury hotel on Cuba's Cayo Largo in the first major joint venture between the wealthy Gulf emirate and the communist island.

Construction on the 250-room project would begin next year with the aim of opening in 2012, they said.

The two state-owned partners, investment firm Qatari Diar and Cuba's Gran Caribe, said the five-star hotel could be expanded to 450 rooms. Sixty luxury villas are also planned.

Cayo Largo is an island in the Caribbean Sea off Cuba's southwestern coast.

Qatari Diar chief executive Ghanim bin Saad Al Saad said there was "great demand" for top quality hotels in Cuba, which drew 2.3 million tourists in 2008.

Since Raul Castro took over as president last year, Cubans have been permitted in hotels that were previously only for foreigners, but few can afford to stay in them because salaries average about $20 a month.

Al Saad and Gran Caribe president Luis Miguel Diaz Sanchez said the hotel was not being built with an American clientele in mind, although the U.S. government is loosening its longstanding ban on most U.S. travel to the island just 90 miles from Florida.

President Barack Obama recently lifted restrictions on Cuban American travel to Cuba and bills are pending in the U.S. Congress that would completely eliminate the ban that dates back to the Cold War.

The United States has had a trade embargo against Cuba since 1962 aimed at toppling the communist government installed by Fidel Castro after he took power in a 1959 revolution.

Al Saad said Qatar, which has the third-largest natural gas reserves in the world, views Cuba as ripe with investment opportunities and is looking at other possible projects, not all in tourism.

The Qatari company, which is a unit of the Qatar Investment Authority, has more than 80 projects worldwide worth in total about $60 billion, but intends to make Cuba one of its principal areas of activity, Al Saad said.

"Cuba has strong economic bases, above all in tourism," he said. "We want to send the clear message to the world that Qatar is at Cuba's side."

Qatar and Cuba have an agreement for Cuba, which regularly sends physicians to other countries, to provide medical staff and supervisors for a Qatari hospital. Al Saad said the two countries are also discussing possible agriculture ventures.

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by Jane Sutton and Eric Beech)

Orbitz Launches Break-through Campaign at www,OpenCuba.com

2009-05-15T15:09:00.000-04:00

Orbitz Launches Campaign to End U.S. Travel Ban to Cuba

Orbitz Worldwide, Inc.

CHICAGO, IL UNITED STATES

New Orbitz-Ipsos Poll Finds that 67% of Americans Favor Allowing All Americans to Travel to Cuba

72% Feel Expanding U.S. Travel to Cuba Would Positively Impact the Lives of the Cuban People

CHICAGO, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbitz (www.orbitz.com) and Ipsos (www.ipsos.com) today released a public opinion survey showing that the overwhelming majority of Americans favor ending the U.S. Government's 50-year ban on travel to Cuba. Orbitz today also announced the launch of the "OpenCuba.org" campaign (www.OpenCuba.org), which is designed to give Americans the opportunity to petition the U.S. Government to open up travel to Cuba.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070813/AQM125LOGO)

"President Obama recently took a bold step in easing travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans," said Barney Harford, president and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide. "The OpenCuba.org campaign calls on the President and Congress to take action to end the travel ban to Cuba, giving all Americans the freedom to visit what once was a premier tourist destination for U.S. citizens."

"Our mission at Orbitz is to help travelers experience the world," continued Harford. "67% of Americans would also support a policy that would allow U.S. travel agents such as Orbitz to book vacation travel to Cuba."

OpenCuba.org

The OpenCuba.org website (www.OpenCuba.org) gives travelers the opportunity to get directly involved in a grassroots effort to convince American legislators and regulators to end the ban on travel to Cuba. As a focus of the campaign, travelers will be asked to sign a petition calling for an end to the travel ban. Orbitz executives will formally present the petition to U.S. officials in Washington, DC, later this year.

Every person who signs the petition will receive a $100 coupon redeemable on Orbitz against a vacation to Cuba valid if and when the U.S. Government removes the ban on travel to Cuba, and as soon as Orbitz is able to offer such travel on its website.

The OpenCuba.org website also lets Americans write personal letters to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton and members of the U.S. Congress regarding the Cuba travel ban.

Orbitz-Ipsos Poll

According to the Orbitz-Ipsos Poll:

* 67% of Americans say that they would support a policy that would allow all Americans to travel to Cuba.
* 32% of Americans would strongly support such a policy that would allow all Americans to travel to Cuba.
* Only 23% say that they would oppose lifting these restrictions for Americans traveling to Cuba (only 13% would strongly oppose it).
* 72% agree that expanding travel and tourism from the U.S. to Cuba would have a positive impact on the day-to-day lives of the Cuban people.
* Just 20% feel that allowing Americans to travel to Cuba would not positively impact Cubans in this way.

Other key points include:

* 67% of Americans would support a policy that would allow travel agents to book vacation travel to Cuba, mirroring the level of support for lifting the travel ban.
* Similarly, 63% of Americans agree that it should be legal for online travel sites, such as Orbitz.com, to book travel to Cuba.
* 64% of Americans say that Orbitz.com should play an active role to persuade elected officials to give all Americans the freedom to travel to Cuba.

METHODOLOGY: The Orbitz-Ipsos poll was conducted from April 23-27th, 2009. A nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults aged 18 and over residing in the U.S. was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos' U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

About Orbitz.com

Orbitz.com (www.orbitz.com) is a leading online travel company that enables travelers to search for and book a broad array of travel products, including airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages. Since launching its website to the general public in June 2001, Orbitz.com has become one of the largest online travel sites in the world. On Orbitz.com consumers can search more than 80,000 suppliers worldwide including airlines, hotels and car rental companies. Orbitz.com is owned by Orbitz Worldwide (corp.orbitz.com).

About Orbitz Worldwide

Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) is a leading global online travel company that uses innovative technology to enable leisure and business travelers to research, plan and book a broad range of travel products. Orbitz Worldwide owns a portfolio of consumer brands that includes Orbitz (www.orbitz.com), CheapTickets (www.cheaptickets.com), ebookers (www.ebookers.com), HotelClub (www.hotelclub.com), RatesToGo (www.ratestogo.com), the Away Network (www.away.com), and corporate travel brand Orbitz for Business (www.orbitzforbusiness.com). For more information on partnership opportunities with Orbitz Worldwide, visit corp.orbitz.com. Orbitz Worldwide uses its Investor Relations website to make information available to its investors and the public at http://www.orbitz-ir.com. You can sign up to receive email alerts whenever the company posts new information to the website.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research company, owned and managed by research professionals that helps interpret, simulate, and anticipate the needs and responses of consumers, customers, and citizens around the world. Member companies assess market potential and interpret market trends to develop and test emergent or existing products or services, and build brands. They also test advertising and study audience responses to various media, and measure public opinion around the globe.

They help clients create long-term relationships with their customers, stakeholders or other constituencies. Ipsos member companies offer expertise in advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, media, and public affairs research, as well as forecasting, modeling, and consulting and offers a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies. The company was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded since 1999. In 2008, Ipsos generated global revenues of euro 979.3 million ($1.34 billion U.S.). Visit www.ipsos.com to learn more about Ipsos offerings and capabilities.

Americans at Havana Tourism Fair

2009-05-08T10:02:00.000-04:00

Friday, May 08, 2009

Cuba Prepares for 'American Tsunami' of Tourists
Prospect of an 'American Tsunami' of Tourists Hangs Over the Cuban
Tourism Convention
By MARC FRANK

HAVANA, Cuba, May 7, 2009 —

Cuba's magnificent Morro Cabanas fortress has stood guard over Havana
for centuries while its dungeons below grimly played host to doomed
prisoners, both ordinary and political.

Travelers never fail to gaze in awe at the huge stone structure and its
lighthouse high up on a rock cliff to the left, the city on the right,
as they enter Havana Bay from the sea.

One of the fort's many cannons still sounds at 9 o'clock every evening.
In the past it announced the closing of the gates of the once walled
city. Today it carries on the tradition, complete with colonial-era
dressed soldiers and drummers, torch lights and town criers -- all for
the tourists' pleasure. Locals often use the cannon shot to set their
watches.

This week, the fort played host to Cuba's annual tourism convention,
which unfolded within the fortress walls, complete with tropical
dancers, carnival troops and performing children. Tour operators from
more than 50 countries watched videos of the island's attractions and
haggled with their hosts over blocks of hotel rooms.

Pirates and European fleets no longer threaten from the north, but one
could imagine lookouts waiting for the first glimpse of an American
cruise ship on the horizon, and imagine the cannon's salute as the first
in half a century entered the bay.

With the United States and Cuba engaged in the first steps toward what
many believe will be a new relationship after a half century of
unremitting hostility, the prospect of an "American Tsunami" of tourists
hung over the convention.

The Obama administration has already lifted all restrictions on
Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the island, and is under pressure
to once more allow academic, cultural, religious and humanitarian
exchanges encouraged by the Clinton administration but shut down by the
Bush administration.

Antonio Diaz Medina, vice president of Havanatur, the state-run company
that handles all U.S. arrivals, said the number of Cuban Americans
visiting had increased 20 percent this year.

"The flights from the United States carried about 85,000 last year and
so far this year arrivals have been about 40,000," Diaz said.

American Tour Operators Hopeful of More Travel to Cuba

Legislation lifting all travel restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling
to Cuba was introduced in Congress more than a month ago and is given a
fair chance of passing later this year.

Italian tour operator Nicholas Delord appeared almost speechless as he
pondered the possibility.

"I guess it is OK. You know if they behave and act properly," he said.
"There will be more competition and higher prices, but you know the
Americans are everywhere."

Except Cuba, that is, which is off-limits to most Americans since the
U.S. imposed a trade embargo against the largest island in the Caribbean
after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution.

Among the hundreds of mainly small businessmen and women from Europe,
Canada and South America, Cuba's main markets for the 2.3 million
tourists who arrived last year, a tall and lanky American named William
Hauf was easy to spot.

"Cuba has so many amenities and good things to offer," Hauf, whose
Island Travel and Tours brought humanitarian groups to Cuba to build
playgrounds until Bush-era regulations all but put him out of business,
said.

"We certainly hope President Obama will relax restrictions on nontourist
travel by academics and humanitarian groups. That is why I'm here," he said.

A tour operator from Florida, who also brought people to Cuba through
2004, said she sensed the time was ripe to dive in again.

"I am confident that things are going to change sooner or later, and I
figured now was the time to reconnect," she said, asking that her name
not be used because the U.S. Treasury Department had not given her, and
a dozen other Americans who attended the convention, permission.

The Obama administration decided last month to hold off on restoring
limited travel rights to nontourist visitors first granted under the
Clinton administration's people to people policy, according to John
McAuliff of the New York-based Fund for Reconciliation and Development.

McAuliff, who played a role in the difficult process of restoring
relations with Vietnam, said, "We could have brought 100 tour operators
here, and next year we will. And if all restrictions are lifted, there
will be hundreds, maybe even a special event."

'If They Come, We Will Have Everything Ready for Them'

McAuliff and the other Americans said they supported Obama and were
disappointed he had not gone further in opening up travel.

Cuban officials appeared far less concerned, shrugging their shoulders
as if to say, "We have survived this long, so a few months or years more
makes little difference."

"If they come, we will have everything ready for them. If they need more
hotels, more will be built. We are building 5,000 rooms every year, so
we are ready," Havantur's Diaz said.

"And it is true more American tour operators are contacting us, in many
ways, e-mails, telephone calls and some just walk into my office," he said.

Diaz' company featured a video of its Santiago de Cuba offer at the
convention. Cuba's oldest city, located 600 miles east of Havana, is
where the American navy destroyed the Spanish fleet in 1898.

"You might want to add Daiquiri, where the Americans landed, San Juan
Hill where Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders charged and the Spanish
wrecks, still visible off Santiago's coast, to next year's video," I
joked, referring to the possible opening of the U.S. tourist trade.

"No problem," Diaz said with a grin. "You know some Americans come down
here now, and we often take them step by step through the battles they
fought."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/BusinessTravel/story?id=7527414&page=1

USA Today Reports Momentum Building for US Tourism

2009-05-01T09:23:00.000-04:00

'Momentum is building' for legal U.S. tourism to Cuba

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-04-30-legal-cuba-tourism_N.htm

By Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY

Anticipation that the U.S. government officially will let its citizens vacation in Cuba is expected to infuse next week's International Tourism Fair there.

The trade show, which starts Monday and will showcase the largest Caribbean island for tour operators, travel agents, airline and cruise representatives from around the world, comes as President Obama has loosened restrictions on Cuban-Americans visiting family back home and Congress considers bills that would open the country to U.S. tourists after a 47-year trade embargo.

"I'm very involved trying to get a law passed to lift the travel ban, and we have lots of (bipartisan) sponsors," United States Tour Operators Association president Bob Whitley says. "I feel it will pass; the key is whether Obama will let it."

Says Christopher P. Baker, author of the Moon travel guide to Cuba, who has visited the country more than 30 times: "Momentum is definitely building." He expects to see U.S. firms at next week's fair, and "I'm feeling optimism" that Cuba — about 90 miles south of Key West — will again become a sanctioned destination for Americans and their dollars.

Perhaps 40,000 slip into Cuba annually via Mexican or Canadian airports. (The Cuban government says it does not have statistics.) With an ailing Fidel Castro stepping down as president last year and replaced by brother Raul ("more of a pragmatist," Baker says), observers say Cuba is more receptive to an influx of American hotels and cruise lines.

"There is demand. A lot of (Americans) want to see Cuba," Whitley says.

Many Cubans see the trade embargo — called el bloqueo— "as the main barrier to their advancement," says Brendan Sainsbury, author of the current Lonely Planet guides to Cuba and Havana, who's just back from a visit. "Americans have always been heartily welcomed."

Cuba reported 2.3 million tourists last year vs. 3.4 million for the popular nearby Dominican Republic. Most were Canadians and Europeans. "A large tourist infrastructure does exist," Sainsbury says, especially four dozen mainly all-inclusive resorts on Varadero Beach.

But the facilities — save for some up-to-date resorts and a few contemporary Havana hotels — pose challenges for demanding Americans, experts say.

Cubans own the hotel real estate, "and (foreign) hoteliers don't have free rein to manage as they wish," Baker says. Bad service and food are common. "Communism and good service don't go together," he says. Cuba does not get a high percentage of repeat visitors, he says.

While Cuba is expanding tourist facilities, occupancy has run at 78% to 80%, Whitley says, and demand may exceed hotel supply if the embargo is lifted. U.S. chains won't discuss specific plans, but Whitley says he has heard from the president of a major U.S. brand who said that without a doubt he's interested in moving in.

"I suspect that the likes of Starwood and Ritz-Carlton will one day be in Cuba," Baker says. "But probably not until they can take control of their product."

Cruise lines are already poised to add Cuban ports of call, experts say. Whitley says U.S. tour operators could organize Cuban vacations in six months or fewer.

"There is a mystique" about Cuba, he says. "A lot of people want to see it because we've been denied the right."

"The main plus of Cuba is its uniqueness," Sainsbury says. "Due to its isolation over the last 50 years, it has developed in a totally different way."

The country's "flavor, sensuality" and rich culture are attractions, Baker says.

For its part, Cuba has "never put any restriction on visitation from North American tourists," says Alberto Gonzalez Casals, first secretary of the Washington, D.C., Cuban Interests Section. U.S. tourists "are welcome in Cuba, like all the tourists in the world."

Whitley says legislation allowing U.S. tourism "could pass this year. In time, Cuba is going to be one of the major destinations in the Caribbean."

Furst Quarter Tourism Up 2% in Cuba

2009-04-20T11:17:00.000-04:00

Cuba Tourism Grows Despite World Crisis

HAVANA , Cuba, April 19 (acn) The arrival of 809,937 visitors to Cuba during the first quarter of this year, set a new record figure for the Caribbean nation’s high tourist season.

The official figure, published by the Cuban National Statistics Office (ONE) surpasses all previous reports and exceeded by 2 percent the figure reported same period of 2008; the event takes place despite the serious impact by the economic crisis on the tourist industry all over the world, which could stop the historic and sustained growth of the sector.

Experts with the World Tourism Organization (WTO) estimate that this year, the industry, at world level, could again see the decrease in the number of tourists that took place in 2003, when the indicator fell by 1.4 %, or the 2000 null growth, with particular impact on Europe and The Americas.

This forecast could either improve or worsen depending on the performance of the world’s economy, with an emphasis in the aforementioned areas, where the most severe effects of the crisis are being felt.

Tourism has proven to be one of the most resistant economic sectors and it may signal a strategic way ahead, at a time when the world economic situation continues to deteriorate, according to the WTO.

Since 1996, Cuba has been part of a reduced group of five Caribbean countries that has been receiving over one million foreign visitors annually, and since 2004 Cuba has reported more than 2 million visitors, a figure that has remarkably increased till reaching 2,35 millions last year.

Canada has consolidated its position as Cuba´s main source of tourists, with 818,246 vacationers in 2008; the figure is far larger than the one reported the previous year, which marks a tendency that has prevailed for nearly a quarter of a century.

Other major sources of tourist to Cuba, after Canada, were the U.K., Italy, Spain and Germany in that order, while in Latin America Mexico and Argentina occupied outstanding positions.

Since 1985 Cuba has experienced a sustained growth in the tourist flow, with short downfalls in 2002, 2006 and 2007.

Cheapflights.com Head Writes to the President

2009-04-17T10:23:00.000-04:00

http://news.cheapflights.com/airlines/2009/04/open-letter-to-president-obama-us-leisure-travel-to-cuba.html

Dear President Obama,

Today you made great strides in breaking the tension between Cuba and America. Allowing
unlimited travel and money transfers by Cuban Americans to their family in Cuba is a great first step, and I commend the efforts. Now it's time to focus on giving full travel freedom back to all American's.

My son is 8 years-old and loves baseball more than most things in his young life. Among other topics, baseball is something that we share through many different media. Not a day goes by when we don't discuss players, strategy, or the history of the game.

Last year, when he heard that a group of Little League players from New England were given the opportunity to travel to Cuba and play with kids there, he was so excited because he was sure that he would be afforded the same opportunity. I researched what it took the players from Vermont and New Hampshire to secure the trip and was stunned to find out that 20 months had passed from first request to final permission. Twenty months of bureaucracy so boys could play baseball together.

I usually have an easy time explaining complex topics with my kids, but I was at a loss how to explain this. How do you explain decades-old geo-political tensions that have absolutely no impact on an 8-year-old in 2009? I barely understand it and I'm 41. But, I did the best I could and you know what he said to me after my paltry explanation? "Dad, are the kids who play baseball in Cuba bad people, too?" With all due respect Mr. President, I question whether this is the lesson we want to teach our children.

I understand that the situation is much more complex and that some of Cuba's policies are counter to U.S. ideals. I also fully acknowledge that my motives are selfish and foreign relations experience limited. But, with all of the other international issues facing our country, does this little island nation really deserve our isolationist policy? Several elected officials are echoing growing public sentiment by questioning our hard-line policies. Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) said the other day that "we have to remember that every country in Latin America, 15 countries, have normal relations with Cuba. ... We're the country which is isolated."

If it provides any impetus at all, there is a sharp increase in U.S. interest in traveling to Cuba. I looked up Google searches for "travel to Cuba" and they show a 70 percent increase in searches recently. This highlights the interest that has grown with the possibility of leisure travel to Cuba from the U.S. People in the U.S. want to travel to Cuba for the right reasons. I want to travel to Cuba to help my kids learn and grow as caring, understanding people. The travel industry itself needs this boost during these tough economic times.

Cuba is rich in history and has played an interesting role in the world. It also has some of the most beautiful beaches and friendliest people in the world (or so I am told). Yes, it has inflicted its share of pain and suffering, but what nation hasn't? In my son's eyes, he just wants to play baseball with a group of kids that he has heard love the game as much as he does. In my eyes, I want to share the unique experiences with my family that only come from travel to a foreign land. I want my kids to be open to differences in culture, religion, politics, whatever. I am trying to teach the importance of acceptance to my kids and I hope they choose this path. Why should we expect anything less from our elected leaders?

Mr. President, you ran a campaign based on inclusiveness. You had a very large tent and asked people from all faiths, beliefs, political parties, and even nationalities to join the movement for change. Our policy on leisure travel to Cuba seems to be opposite those ideals. It is time to change tactics on our relationship with Cuba and give American's the freedom to travel there.

Baseball connects people. Being a Boston Red Sox fan, I have seen multi-generations embrace and share the sport. Travel also connects people. It helps shrink the world and bring people together. I think I speak for many others in the same situation when I ask that we be allowed to share these experiences with our kids before life takes them on divergent paths. It is the right lesson to teach both Cuban and American children. It is the lesson I try hard to instill every single day. It is simply the right thing to do.

--Carl Schwartz, Chief Travel Officer, Cheapflights.com

Cuba Prepares

2009-04-12T15:08:00.000-04:00

Cuba readies for possible influx of U.S. tourists
Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:10pm EDT

By Jeff Franks

VARADERO, Cuba (Reuters) - Behind the mangroves that skirt the blue waters of Cuba's Bay of Cardenas, a 1,500-slip marina is taking shape as the island's tourism industry braces for what could be its biggest challenge yet.

The Americans are coming -- or they may be, soon.

Rock jetties jut out into the bay and beyond them a plot of land the size of several football fields is taking shape, reclaimed from the water as part of a big new marina project at Varadero, a beach resort 80 miles east of Havana.

"The Americans will come here in their yachts and they'll put them in the marina," said a security guard, gesturing to the earth-moving and sand-dredging behind the mangroves.

"It's so close, they're expecting a lot of them," he added, referring to the United States just 90 miles away.

The United States and Cuba have been separated by a wide ideological gulf since Fidel Castro's 1959 Revolution.

For most of that time, Americans have been prohibited by their own laws from traveling to the communist-led Caribbean island under a 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo.

But that may change. Legislation to free travel by Americans to Cuba is pending in the U.S. Congress, and backers expect it could be approved in what they see as a developing thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations under U.S. President Barack Obama.

"If the travel ban is lifted, you'll probably see hundreds, hundreds of American yachtsmen going to Cuba the next day," said Timothy Ashby, a former U.S. Commerce Department official who studies Cuban commercial issues.

Cuba's government and people have been anticipating this moment for a long time, but questions about their readiness for an onslaught of American visitors are being raised.

The doubts focus on the capacity and quality of Cuba's tourist infrastructure, but also on possible political effects on an island that has resisted U.S. influence for 50 years.

After years of animosity with the United States, Cuban leaders do not like to say that developments such as the Varadero marina, and other big golf and leisure projects, are being built with the American market in mind.

The official line is that Cuba is preparing for visitors from the whole world and if that includes Americans, so be it.

But the United States is the natural market for Cuba, whose economy is reeling from the damage inflicted by three hurricanes last year and the ongoing global financial crisis.

CONTROLLING A TOURISM BOOM

A study for the International Monetary Fund estimated that as many as 3.5 million Americans could visit Cuba annually if the travel ban was lifted.

But travel experts say 500,000 is a more likely maximum the Cuban government would allow in the early years because it does not have enough facilities for more.

"Cuba is ready to absorb another half million visitors a year, but not another million, just because of hotel capacity," said a foreign businessman in Cuba's travel industry.

"I'm sure they will try to control as much as they can in order to avoid a boom that nobody can control. Every country in the world would try to do the same," he added.

One of Cuba's biggest sources of cash in recent years has been foreign tourism, which brought in 2.3 million visitors and $2.5 billion in revenues in 2008.

According to government statistics, the island had about 55,000 hotel rooms in 2007, the last year for which numbers are available. At least 10,000 more are under construction, and others are on the drawing boards.

Experts say Cuba will need more four- and five-star hotels for Americans, but also more and better restaurants, shops, rental cars and other tourist amenities.

Before Fidel Castro took power on January 1, 1959 in a guerrilla uprising, Cuba was a U.S. playground where Americans swilled booze during Prohibition and gambled and partied the night away in Mafia-built casinos and nightclubs in the 1950s.

They came in boats and planes, and ferries carried them back and forth across the Straits of Florida from Key West. They filled up Havana hotels like the Plaza and the Inglaterra and hung out at Sloppy Joe's bar or the Tropicana night club.

"AMERICANIZATION" DEBATE

In 2007, Cuban government figures show just 40,000 people visited from the United States, although the overall figure is said to be far higher because many come to the island through other countries on visits that are illegal under U.S. law.

By comparison, 660,000 came from Canada, the top supplier of tourists to the island, followed by Europe.

Opponents of the Cuba embargo hope more American visitors could open up future opportunities for U.S. investors in a Cuban market now dominated by Europeans and Canadians.

"I think there's going to be a lot more pressure from the likes of Marriott and Hyatt and Starwood and others to allow U.S. investment," said Ashby.

Because of its proximity, travel experts say it is inevitable the United States will one day dominate Cuba tourism again. Within 10 years, said one industry source, perhaps 70 percent of the island's visitors will be American or Canadian.

When that happens, said Nigel Hunt, head of Cubaism Ltd, an Internet travel sales site, Europeans who currently make up about 40 percent of Cuba tourists may go elsewhere.

"If Cuba becomes Americanized, it would probably be less attractive to Europeans ... That's what makes Cuba interesting, modern American culture is not so pervasive here," he said.

The possible "Americanization" of Cuba is a selling point in Washington for lifting the travel ban. Supporters say the more Americans who visit the island, the more pressure there will be for an economic and political opening on the island.

While Cuba's leaders may fret over the prospect of large numbers of Americans arriving, ordinary people in Varadero who depend on tourism for a living seem much less worried.

"Not one person here has anything against the Americans," said hotel cook and taxi driver Jorge Mendives as he puffed on a cigarette outside the stately Mansion Xanadu hotel, built in the 1920's by U.S. millionaire Irenee du Pont de Nemours.

"Let them come to Varadero in their boats or whatever because for us the Americans mean one thing -- more money".

(Additional reporting by Nelson Acosta, Esteban Israel and Rosa Tania Valdes in Havana and Pascal Fletcher in Miami; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

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Conde Nast Traverler Takes a Look

2009-04-09T23:12:00.000-04:00

Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba?
Cuba

by Barbara S. Peterson
Conde Nast Daily Traveler

April 02, 2009

Here's the latest stimulus package to come out of Washington: Take one formerly forbidden destination, mix in short, cheap flights and bargain beach resorts, and it's hello Havana, good-bye overpriced tourist traps. Today a phalanx of more than 120 House lawmakers joined a gaggle of two dozen like-minded senators to call for a full repeal of the 47-year-old ban on U.S. citizen travel to Cuba, the only country in the world our government expressly forbids us to visit. (Technically, it's a Treasury Department ban on spending money there--but it's the same thing).

So it's exciting to hear reports out of Havana that U.S. airlines are already in "regular and direct contact," as one source put it, with Cuban travel industry officials about resuming direct air links between the countries.

Calls in to several major lines, including American and Continental, were not returned, but a spokeswoman for the airlines' lobbying group, the Air Transport Association, said the group "will be watching this development with great interest." That's an understatement. While cruise lines could certainly step in to fill demand in the immediate future, airlines will have to compete to get permission from the Transportation Department to fly to a new country, and typically such deals include reciprocity for the flag airline of the other country. Cubana, with its clapped-out Soviet-era planes, isn't exactly going to give our beleaguered airlines much competition.

Not everyone involved is thrilled at the prospect of Cuba becoming the next Cancun. Several Cuban Americans I spoke with recently expressed concerns about the unbridled development this could set off. But tourism is important to Cuba; the island already receives 2 million visitors a year from countries like Canada, Britain, and Spain, whose citizens can go there. U.S. tourism officials predict that American visitors to the island could top 3 million annually.

Certain Americans can travel there now--academics, journalists, and some others who fit some strict criteria--but even they must apply to the State Department for permission or risk a $7,000 fine. There is direct service from Miami and (soon) JFK via charter airlines, but you can't just go online and book; this trip involves travel agencies and the ritual red tape. And it's an open secret that many Americans are already going there illegally via a third country.

It's obvious why this is coming up now, just months into the new administration. George W. Bush's hostility towards the Castro regime led him to tighten up this arcane rule. While there are still a few members of Congress who strongly oppose anything that looks like we're cozying up to the Castro regime, odds are that lifting the ban is an idea whose time has truly come. Supporters predict the move will create jobs in the travel and tourism industries and lead to an easing of trade barriers.

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/blogs/80days/2009/04/cuba-travel-ban.html

Debate Over Travel; Insight from ASTA

2009-04-09T22:42:00.000-04:00

Spring Break in Havana?

Senate Proposal to Lift Cuba Travel Ban Ignites Debate
A bipartisan group of 20 senators is calling for a repeal of a 47-year-old travel ban to Cuba, saying the proposal will weaken the Cuban regime that will "make a difference for democracy."

By Stephen Clark

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Move over, Cancun. Step aside, Acapulco. Another island could soon become the Spring Break Capital of the World.

It may be time to party hearty ... in Cuba.

If some U.S. lawmakers are right, American tourists could hit the beach in Cuba, and help defeat the forces of evil who have led the island nation for nearly half a century.

A bipartisan group of 20 senators is calling for a repeal of America's 47-year-old travel ban to Cuba, saying the proposal will weaken the Castro regime and "make a difference for democracy."

"The best antidote to totalitarianism is the American citizen traveling, the ability to actually communicate with other people," Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn, said at a news conference this week. "The one thing that totalitarianism can't stand is light, is communication, is information."

But anti-Castro groups call that argument specious.

"The senator means well. But we know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions," said Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for Free Cuba.

Calzon agreed with Dodd that the best way to fight totalitarianism without going to war is disseminating the truth.

"One can agree that information is essential and disagree that hundreds of thousands of Americans drinking mojitos at the beach and thousands engaging in sex with young boys and girls won't bring democracy to Cuba," Calzon said, adding that American tourism did not end totalitarianism in Chile under Augusto Pinochet, South Africa under P.W. Botha or Cuba under Fulgencio Batista.

"The idea that American tourists are going to bring democracy to Cuba and other totalitarian countries flies in the face of every factual analysis in the last 100 years," he said.

Proponents of the bill have not set a date for the Senate to take up the legislation, but they are confident that they have the necessary votes to move forward with the measure.

President Obama signaled during last year's campaign that he was open to loosening restrictions on Cuba. An Obama administration official told FOXNews.com that the White House is reviewing current practices in relation to travel and remittances.

"We hope to see evidence that the government has committed itself to address the disparities among citizens with regards to human rights and economics," the official said, noting that Obama has stated it makes "moral and strategic sense to lift restrictions for family visits."

"We continue to evaluate our key objections, the need for democratic reform and improving human rights while looking at ways to meet these goals that the president has laid out," the official said.

In 1962 the United States established the travel ban along with a number of other restrictions, including a trade embargo, soon after Fidel Castro's takeover of Cuba. His brother Raul now rules the island nation, located 90 miles from the Florida coastline.

Tourism is already considered the heart of the Cuba' economy, with more than 2 million people visiting each year, mostly from Canada and Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Last year, tourism generated a record of more than $2.7 billion in revenue, a 13.5 percent increase over the previous year, the Cuban government reported.

Cuban tourism has remained strong while the number of visitors to other Caribbean destinations has dropped amid the world financial crisis. International travel operators say Cuba remains popular because many visitors can buy relatively cheap, all-inclusive packages and can budget trip costs well in advance.

William Maloney, chief executive officer of the American Society of Travel Agents, said lifting the U.S. travel ban would open the floodgates to American tourists seeking to explore a forbidden territory.

"The pent-up curiosity about what the island and country is like would create a lot of demand for first-time visitors to go," Maloney told FOXNews.com. He said Americans traveled in droves to South Africa when apartheid ended and to Germany when the Berlin Wall collapsed and to Vietnam after the war ended.

"Americans have a curiosity to go where they were not welcomed or allowed to before," he said. "Americans should have a right to travel anywhere. When those rights are curtailed or denied, it stores up pent-up demand that will be satisfied at some later date."

Maloney said if the travel ban is lifted, the first wave of tourists will probably be accommodated on cruise ships out of Miami, bringing to Cuba anywhere from half a million to a million American visitors a year. Then airlines would start flying there.

But Calzon said he believes the more lawmakers learn about the facts on the ground in Cuba, the less likely they are to favor lifting the ban.

"Lifting the travel ban means the most hostile elements of the Cuban government will get an injection of our currency," he said. "The tourist industry is controlled and staffed by the Cuban government. If Washington wants to transfer dollars to the Cuban military, that's one way of doing it.

"Secondly, lifting anything on Cuba without getting anything in return goes against U.S. interest. Cuba is part of an anti-American hostile coalition in the region that includes Venezuela."

Other critics of the proposal, including Cuban-born Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., agree, claiming that any U.S. tourism dollars will only bolster the Castro regime.

"This is the time to support pro-democracy activists in Cuba, not provide the Castro regime with a resource windfall," he said in statement. "Changing travel restrictions for U.S. citizens will simply allow Americans to contribute to resources available to the Castro regime to perpetuate its repression.

"My fellow senators should be standing in solidarity and showing support for the 11 million Cubans who are suffering under the Cuban regime, instead of making it easier for Americans to vacation in Cuba."

But supporters of the proposal argue the travel ban has not worked, either.

"This is a failed policy that has failed for 50 years and it is long past the time to change the policy," Sen. Bryon Dorgan, D-N.D., said Tuesday. "Punishing the American people in our effort to somehow deal a blow to the Castro government has not made any sense at all."

FOX News' Mosheh Oinounou and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/01/senate-proposal-lift-cuba-travel-ban-ignites-debate/

International Tourism Fair in Havana May 4-8

2009-04-07T12:07:00.000-04:00

Cuba's 29th International Tourism Fair will be held in Havana May 4-8 offering a unique comprehensive survey of opportunities for the US travel industry if legislation to end travel restrictions is adopted (HR 874, S 428). This is an annual trade show at which the full range of domestic and international travel services and facilities available in Cuba are represented. High level officials speak and presentations are made by the primary government tourism agencies. Hundreds of tour operators and travel agents from Canada, Europe and Latin American attend, negotiating contracts for the following year. Germany is the guest of honor this year.

Under current OFAC regulations, it is not legal for American travel agents or tour operators to attend, even with a general license for professional research (" meetings or conferences may not be for the purpose of promoting tourism in Cuba"). However, that could change if President Obama decides to "loosen remaining travel restrictions for all Americans by the time he goes to the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas" as reported in the Washington Post on March 30th. Even at present there is no legal obstacle to travel writers covering the Fair. They have a general license if they are "persons regularly employed as journalists by a news reporting organization".

For further information, see the FIT website here or contact John McAuliff, Travel Industry Network on Cuba, jmcauliff@ffrd.org

ASTA on Clinton's Testimony

2009-01-17T18:04:00.000-05:00

Supporting Americans' Freedom To Travel

ASTA praises Sen. Clinton for signaling Cuba policy change

Related Articles

By eTN Staff Writer | Jan 17, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, VA - ASTA is praising President-elect Barack Obama' nominee to be Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), for signaling a change in American foreign policy with respect to Cuba. At her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week, Senator Clinton indicated that the new administration is committed to lifting current restrictions on Americans' freedom to visit family members in Cuba and to send remittances to relatives in that country.

Calling Cuban-Americans "the best ambassadors for democracy, freedom, and a free market economy," Clinton went on to tell members of the committee that she hopes the Castro regime will see that the new administration represents an "opportunity to change some of their typical approaches."

Clinton's nomination cleared the Foreign Relations Committee Thursday in a 16-1 vote.

"Senator Clinton's statement is an encouraging signal that the incoming administration is open to new ideas with respect to US-Cuba policy," said ASTA president and chair Chris Russo. "While easing restrictions on family travel and remittances is a good first step, Americans would best be served by a complete elimination of current restrictions on travel to Cuba," Russo added.

In a letter dated December 4, 2008, ASTA and a host of organizations from across the business community formally requested that the incoming Obama administration make immediate changes to US policy toward Cuba, including a removal of the travel ban.

ASTA is committed to working with its allies from within and outside the travel and tourism industry to make the case for these policy changes, and it looks forward to working with Senator Clinton and fellow members of the incoming Obama administration and with the 111th Congress to ensure that Americans are free to travel the world without restriction from their own government.

For additional information on this issue, please visit ASTA.org or contact Colin Tooze, vice president of government affairs, at ctooze@asta.org .

The mission of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is to facilitate the business of selling travel through effective representation, shared knowledge, and the enhancement of professionalism. ASTA seeks a retail travel marketplace that is profitable and growing and a rewarding field in which to work, invest, and do business.

Tourism Industry Summit calls for end of travel bans

2009-01-16T13:01:00.001-05:00

How to Fuel the U.S. Economy through Travel & Tourism

Seven Recommendations from the Economic Summit of Travel & Tourism Sector Leaders

excerpt Full text of recommendations and list of signers can be read here

On Dec. 16, 2008, 37 U.S. travel and tour entities gathered in Washington, D.C., for an historic high level meeting [organized by the National Tour Association].

Traditionally segmented by specific interests, these voices united for the first time to identify immediate top priorities for President-elect Obama’s Transition Team that will help fuel America’s economy.

As a collective voice, they speak for more than 82,000 businesses and members and stand ready to assist the new Administration in leveraging the travel and tourism sector as a stimulus for the national economy and global competitiveness.

[Although Cuba is not mentioned specifically, it is the only country currently affected by a travel ban.]

7. Re-Examination of Travel Bans

On rare occasions, the United States government has restricted or banned travel to certain countries as a punitive economic measure or to advance other foreign policy goals. It is recommended that the incoming Administration re-examine this practice and to eliminate any such bans currently in effect.

The use of travel freedom as an instrument of foreign policy manipulation ultimately harms the very citizens it purports to protect. Were the American people allowed the opportunity to travel to countries whose leaders are publicly opposed to American interests, they could serve as ambassadors of freedom and American values to those nations. The travel and tourism industries, those who do business with them, and the broader economy will see both immediate and long-term economic gains as the easing of travel bans leads to increased demand for new passenger routes, tour operations, and travel agent services. It is recommended that the incoming Administration:

• Recognize that freedom to travel is an important instrument of economic development and mutual understanding.

• Adopt as policy that the citizens of the United States should be free to travel the globe without
artificial restrictions placed on them by their own government.

• Promote the benefits of unfettered travel for U.S. citizens as a matter of national policy.

Cuba says tourism up 2% in 2008

2008-12-28T22:43:00.000-05:00

Image via paastalk.com

By laht.com | Dec 28, 2008

$2 billion from 2.3 million visitors, with Canada, Italy, Spain and Britain topping the list.

HAVANA -- Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero announced that this sector grew by 2 percent in 2008 and will end the year with 2.3 million visitors, a number that breaks the record set in 2005.

Marrero said Friday that the sector managed to reverse the decrease that occurred in 2007, while giving an account of his management at a plenary session of Parliament attended by President Raul Castro.

Marrero, who gave no revenue figures for tourism, said the sector grew despite the devastation wrought by three hurricanes between August and November at resorts in the eastern cities of Holguin and Camagüey and the western city of Pinar del Rio.

He said that plans for 2009 estimate that the island will welcome 2.5 million foreign visitors and increase both revenues and profits for the sector.

In 2007 Cuba received more than 2 million tourists, generating revenues close to $2 billion.

Canada remained the chief source of tourists to the island with more than 800,000 people, accounting for 24.5 percent of the growth, followed by Italy, Spain and Britain.

http://www.eturbonews.com/6928/cuba-says-tourism-2-2008

Jamaica-Cuba Joint Destination

2008-12-16T06:06:00.000-05:00

Jamaica and Cuba to sign tourism MoU

Published on Tuesday, December 16, 2008

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): Jamaica will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cuba within the next few weeks, which will provide for joint destination marketing and airlift arrangements between the Caribbean island states.

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett. JIS Photo

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett speaking at a media forum on issues affecting Jamaica's tourism sector at the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) in Kingston last week, said the MoU evolved out of negotiations, which Prime Minister Bruce Golding commenced with the Cuban administration earlier this year, when he led a delegation, which included the Tourism Minister, to that Spanish-speaking nation.

"We started the negotiations, when the Foreign Affairs team, along with a team from my Ministry, visited Cuba again. about September, and we are ready now (to sign the MoU)," Bartlett explained.

The Minister informed that the agreement will facilitate the "marrying" of both countries as destinations of choice for visitors.

"Cuba has very strong European traffic at the moment. Perhaps 60 per cent of the Cuban traffic is out of Europe, for example, there are about 100,000 Italians that go to Cuba every year. The Europeans have the luxury of vacation time. they get three weeks or more," he said, noting that they could spent some of them time in Cuba and Jamaica.

Bartlett advised that Jamaica Vacations (JamVac), an agency of the Tourism Ministry, which has responsibility for developing new travel gateways for Jamaica, will be working with entities that co-ordinate flights out of Europe into Cuba, to facilitate code sharing arrangements with Air Jamaica.

In the meantime, he said that Jamaica could benefit from the possible lifting of the United States' economic embargo on Cuba.

"Jamaica and Cuba, as you know, enjoy a good relationship, and in our marketing, we have looked beyond the opening up of Cuba, and. completed (the) Memorandum of Understanding. We see Cuba's opening, not as a threat, but as an opportunity for co-marketing and for regional cooperation," Bartlett stated.

American Society of Travel Agents Addresses Obama

2008-12-09T15:55:00.000-05:00

ASTA Calls on New Administration to Lift Cuba Travel Ban

Requests that President-Elect Obama Support Americans’ Freedom to Travel

Alexandria, Va., Dec. 9, 2008— ASTA is calling on President-elect Obama to permit Americans to travel to Cuba. During the 2008 presidential election campaign, the President-elect indicated that he supports changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba, including a suspension of restrictions on family remittances, visits, and humanitarian care packages from Cuban Americans. While these proposals are encouraging, ASTA believes that Americans would best be served by an elimination of current restrictions on travel to Cuba.

In a letter dated Dec. 4, 2008, ASTA and a host of organizations from across the business community formally requested that the incoming Obama administration make immediate changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba, including a removal of the travel ban.

“ASTA has long supported the principle that Americans ought to be allowed to travel across the globe without restriction,” said Chris Russo, ASTA’s president and chair. “While the U.S. government plays a legitimate and valuable role in exercising travel advisories to provide up-to-date information concerning the conditions in foreign countries, to use travel freedom as an instrument of foreign policy manipulation ultimately does harm to the very citizens it purports to protect.

“Were the American people allowed to travel to Havana, as they currently are allowed to travel to Pyongyang, Tehran, Khartoum, and other cities whose nations’ leaders are publicly opposed to American interests, they could serve as ambassadors of freedom and American values to the Cuban people. Routine interaction with American tourists and with Americans travelling for business, religious, or educational purposes would permit the Cuban people to see the United States in a new, more favorable light.”

Russo continued: “Beyond the obvious economic opportunities awaiting both countries if current travel restrictions were to be lifted, these changes would also benefit Cuba’s neighbors and the travel industry that services them. Whether as part of multi-destination cruises or as a stop along the way to other countries in the region, the resulting influx of travelers to Cuba cannot help but spark demand for new passenger routes, tour operations, and travel agent services.”

ASTA is committed to work with its allies from within and outside the travel and tourism industry to make the case for these policy changes, and it looks forward to working with the incoming Obama administration and the 111^th Congress to ensure that Americans are free to travel the world without restriction from their own government.

For additional information on this issue, please visit ASTA.org or contact Colin Tooze, vice president of government affairs, at ctooze@asta.org.

The mission of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is to facilitate the business of selling travel through effective representation, shared knowledge and the enhancement of professionalism. ASTA seeks a retail travel marketplace that is profitable and growing and a rewarding field in which to work, invest and do business

Cuban tourism surges as rest of Caribbean stalls

2008-12-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

By AP | Dec 08, 2008

Havana — Cuba's vacation industry has remained as hot as the tropical sun here, even as the world economic crisis sparks cancellations and layoffs elsewhere in the Caribbean.

The communist country says it's booked solid through December and expects a record 2.34 million visitors this year — largely because global financial woes have so far been softer on Canada, its top source of visitors.

Luck also played a role: While the island suffered three devastating hurricanes, its key tourist sites were largely spared. And where beachfront resorts did get hit, the tourist-hungry government has made sure to repair hotels — in some cases even before damaged homes and infrastructure. Tourism is Cuba's second-largest source of foreign income, behind nickel production.

So while other islands in the region are laying off hotel workers and suspending construction of new property, Cuban resorts are gearing up for a strong season.

"We've had a few cancellations, but overall our numbers are still strong," said David Gregori of WowCuba, a travel agency in Charlottetown, Canada, that specializes in bicycle trips and other Cuba tours. "People still like to get away. They might try to save some money while doing it, but they're still traveling."

The number of foreign visitors has swelled nearly 11 percent this year, making up for 4 and 3 percent declines in 2006 and 2007, government figures show.

Officials offer no explanation for those slower years. But tour operators blame the island's low returning-visitor rates: Some tourists complain of poor service, crumbling infrastructure and lousy food, indicative of a communist system where shortages are common and state employees are unaccustomed to putting customer service first.

Still, the island is often cheaper than its subtropical neighbors, because many foreigners buy all-inclusive packages offering dozens of direct flights from Europe and Canada to airports all over Cuba, as well deep discounts on hotels, food and booze.

Others are enticed by the prospect of seeing one of only five communist countries left on the planet.

"A lot of people who are going for simple fly-and-flop holiday, and there are others who are going for history and culture, dancing, music," said Julia Hendry, marketing director for Europe and the United Kingdom of the Bahamas-based Caribbean Trade Organization. Cuba has both, she said, "whether it's swimming and beach or the excitement of Old Havana and Cuban history."

About 35 percent of this year's tourists have been Canadian, with 635,000 visiting through September, one-fifth more than in the same period last year. Canada's economy has not suffered the same losses now sapping the savings of homeowners in the U.S.

Russian tourists rose 40 percent to top 28,000 thru September, and Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero traveled to Moscow last month to further promote his country.

Visitors from Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany, the top suppliers of tourists after Canada, declined between 3 and 5 percent respectively, however.

Washington's trade embargo prohibits Americans from visiting, though island immigration records show about 41,000 came last year, many presumably without permission. But not relying on U.S. tourists may now be a blessing.

"Canadians are going to keep coming, especially with snow at home," said Helen Lueke of Sherwood Park, Canada, who has vacationed in Havana about once a year for decades.

Alexis Trujillo, Cuba's deputy secretary of tourism, predicted full bookings at least through next summer.

"There's no doubt tourism is always sensitive to everything," he said of global economic turmoil. "But we don't think that for Cuba that will mean an important decrease."

Tourism generated $2.2 billion for Cuba in 2007. The government has announced no plans to delay a $185 million plan to upgrade more than 200 resorts and build 50 boutique hotels by 2010 — not even after Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma hit within two months, causing more than $10 billion in damages and crippling farms and infrastructure across the countryside.

Construction crews assigned to vacation properties in Havana and elsewhere have largely continued working as normal since the storms.

In the eastern province of Holguin, the island's No. 3 tourist destination after Havana and the beach resort of Varadero, officials prioritized hotel repairs, trucking in workers to rebuild beachfront resorts. Holguin expects about 270,000 foreigners this year, about the same as 2007, despite scores of hurricane-related cancellations.

Havana's decaying yet picturesque historic district saw little damage, as did Varadero, 90 miles (140 kilometers) to the east, where white sand and warm, see-through surf has enticed everyone from Fidel Castro to Al Capone. A record million visitors are expected to stay in the town's 7,000 hotel rooms, which range in price from about $120 to $350 per night, with meals and open bar included.

Though European tour operators say sales have slowed since the financial crisis deepened in October, they expect trips to Cuba and some other Caribbean destinations to stay strong through the winter. Europeans are putting off short, side trips closer to home, but many families are still willing to splurge on once-a-year trips to the tropics, Hendry said.

"We have noticed that all-inclusive markets, where travelers can budget in advance, seem to be doing relative well. Cuba is quite well-populated with that sort of property," she said.

The industry could get another boast if President-elect Barack Obama keeps campaign promises to ease restrictions on Cuban Americans who want to visit their relatives on the island. Currently, those with family here can only come once every three years.

Nelson Gonzalez, a 56-year-old physical therapist, said his mechanic brother in Miami last came to visit in 2007. But his brother called the morning after the U.S. election to say he was reserving a seat on one of the many special charters that fly from the U.S. to Havana for the last week in January — confident Obama will ease family travel rules immediately after his Jan. 20 inauguration.

"When your family members reach a certain age, you don't know if in three more years everyone will still be here," said Gonzalez, who lives with his 80-year-old parents.

Though visiting family members spend less than tourists, Gregori said many Cuban Americans use his company to book rental cars in advance of visiting relatives.

But "if you want to rent a car in Havana in December, I don't have any," he said. "They've been sold out for months, and every year they get sold out earlier and earlier.