Obama Lifts Travel Restrictions to Cuba for Cuban Americans

[Tinto]

Hot off the press!

News Alert
12:25 p.m. ET Monday, April 13, 2009
Obama to Lift Cuba Travel Restrictions
President Obama will announce today that he is lifting travel restrictions that block Cuban Americans from traveling to Cuba and will relax the rules governing what items can be sent to the island, a senior White House official said. The decision does not lift the trade embargo on communist Cuba but eases the prohibitions that have restricted Cuban Americans from visiting their relatives and has limited what they can send back home.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

[Cubafro]

One step forward !!! como decimos, hasta la victoria siempre or should I say, hasta los mejores dias mi cuba!!!
Thanks for posting this article Tinto

Cuba

[Bala]

Thanks, T.

For those who support lifting ALL travel restrictions to Cuba, including travel by non-Cuban Americans, please contact your local Congressman and Senator and tell them you support "The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act" (S.428). It has bi-partisan support in both Houses, and numerous co-sponsors, with a real shot to pass.

Read more here:
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/U.S._Con...uba_travel_ban

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"One day this flag will fly over a free Havana."
President John F. Kennedy, Dec. 1962, referring to the flag of the Bay of Pigs Brigade.

[sws]

Would this make it the next destination? Certainly close enough.

HAVANA – A push in Congress to do away with U.S. travel bans on Cuba could set off a flood of American visitors to the long-forbidden island.
But many wonder if a country where foreigners have long complained about lousy food, sluggish service and iffy infrastructure is ready for an onslaught of Americans unseen since the days of Meyer Lansky and Al Capone.
Cuba has about as many hotel rooms as Detroit and most are already full of Canadians and Europeans. Experts say droves of Americans could drive up prices, unleash calls for more flights and cruises than Cuba can handle and force the government to tighten visa restrictions to regulate the stampede.
"There is great pent-up demand," said Bob Whitley, president of the United States Tour Operators Association, which opposes the travel ban. "It will have to be controlled by officials in Cuba, but also by U.S. tour operators to make sure the infrastructure is up to it."
Bills in the U.S. House and Senate would effectively allow all Americans to visit. Trips for U.S. citizens with relatives here already got easier last month. Cuban-Americans can now come annually instead of every three years.
Cuba began encouraging international tourism after the fall of the Soviet Union, and its top feeder countries are Canada, Britain, Italy, Spain and France. Foreign tourist visits jumped 9.3 percent last year to a record 2.35 million, generating $2.7 billion or 11 percent more than 2007, the government says.
Despite the global economic downturn, international visitor rates have increased 4.5 percent through February as compared to the first two months of 2008.
An influx of Americans could create a lodging crunch. The communist state has partnered with foreign companies such as Spanish chain Sol Melia to offer about 46,000 hotel rooms across an island about the size of Pennsylvania. Some 17,300 of those rooms are concentrated in the beach resort of Varadero, 90 miles (140 kilometers) east of Havana.
Cuba plans to build 30 new hotels nationwide to tap into the market for boutique accommodations. Some of those have been completed, but many aging properties have been shut down for remodeling, leaving the total number of rooms flat since 2006.
According to Smith Travel Research, the 349 hotels in Miami and Hialeah alone have about as many rooms as all of Cuba. The city of Detroit, with 42,000-plus hotel rooms, is not far behind.
Even at top Cuban resorts, it is often hard to get amenities as basic as an extra roll of toilet paper. Comforts including apples, french fries and bottled beer are sometimes scarce — not to mention perks like in-room coffee-makers or wireless Internet access.
And, as in Eastern Europe in the 1970s, international tourists complain about sub-par food and service.
"You have maybe five hotels that you could consider decent enough for Americans and their standards, but if they are already running at 60-70 percent occupancy during high season, where are all these new people going to stay?" asked John Kavulich, senior policy adviser for the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council in New York.
Many travelers bypass hotels for rented rooms in Cuban homes. But the government does not allow those offering home-stays to rent more than two rooms, and few are hopeful those rules will be eased, no matter what happens to the U.S. travel ban.
"More demand won't mean anything unless the government changes things," said Concha Perez, who offers rooms in her home in Havana's Plaza de la Revolution district.
U.S. travel to Cuba is not illegal, but spending money here is — except with special authorization like that for journalists and some businesses. In 2007, the latest figures available, about 40,500 Americans visited the island, most presumably on the sly. Tracking U.S. family visits is difficult since authorities count Cuban-Americans as Cubans.
Just how many U.S. travelers would come if Cuba weren't off-limits is a guess. The American Society of Travel Agents estimated in 2007 that nearly 1.8 million Americans could visit in the first three years after travel rules were loosened.

To control the flow, the government might tighten rules on visas. Currently, tourist cards can be purchased at airports outside the U.S. or through travel agents.
"The Cuban government may go, 'Just because you say your people can come doesn't mean we have to let everyone in,'" Kavulich said. "People forget the United States is not the only one with a say."
Cuba has long welcomed U.S. tourists with few questions asked and officials say they have taken no special precautions to prepare for more Americans. Deputy Tourism Minister Maria Elena Lopez said Cuba understands that aspects of its tourism industry need to improve. She singled out beach hotels overdue for renovations and a lack of golf courses: a 9-hole course in Havana and Varadero's 18-hole club are the only ones on the island.
But instead of the beach or the links, many U.S. tourists will hit Havana for its classic if crumbling architecture and streets choked with 1950s American behemoths.
Americans "are all going to want to go to El Floridita and La Bodeguita del Medio at the same time and there won't be space," Kavulich said, referring to two ever-crowded watering holes made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway.
Whitley said the first wave of Americans could arrive by cruise ship and visit Havana only for a few hours, thus alleviating strains on hotels, restaurants and already hard-to-find taxis and rental cars.
"There's going to be such a desire to see the country that people won't care if they are in a five-star hotel," he said.
Whitley said U.S. airlines and charter companies could restore commercial service to Cuba in six months if the travel ban is lifted. Other industry watchers say U.S. carriers could shift flights to different airports around the island to ensure Havana isn't overwhelmed — at least until extra tourism generates enough revenue to improve infrastructure.
Added demand for limited tourist accommodations could drive up prices that already have been high since 2004, when the Cuban government banned the U.S. dollar in official transactions and imposed a 20 percent tax on exchanging it.
But Elliot Feldman, head of the international trade practice at Baker Hostetler LLP in Washington, said Cuba's command economy may cap prices and supply to create buzz. "They'd rather just have everything fully booked and make people wait a year or two to get a room than raise prices and hurt interest," said Feldman, who has traveled to Cuba and litigates international trade disputes. "Having to wait to go only adds to the mystique."

[BIG E]

I'm in many visits to Cuba, I see what happens when foreign tourists are there. Americans have a reputation, right under the Italians, for acting insane when they vacation in a foreign country. Once US Citizens are allowed to travel there legally, prices on everything will be jacked up, and they will wear out their welcome very quickly.

Its funny, when ever I meet Canadians while traveling, they are almost always on their best behavior. We have many thing in common with the Canadians, aside from language, but the way Americans act while traveling to foreign lands and the way Canadians act is COMPLETELY different.

I am really hoping the travel ban does NOT get lifted anytime in the near future.

There is someone I have vowed to take to Cuba... I want him to see it before it becomes another tourist spot.

[John Wayne]

Originally Posted by BIG E

I'm in many visits to Cuba, I see what happens when foreign tourists are there. Americans have a reputation, right under the Italians, for acting insane when they vacation in a foreign country. Once US Citizens are allowed to travel there legally, prices on everything will be jacked up, and they will wear out their welcome very quickly.

Its funny, when ever I meet Canadians while traveling, they are almost always on their best behavior. We have many thing in common with the Canadians, aside from language, but the way Americans act while traveling to foreign lands and the way Canadians act is COMPLETELY different.

I am really hoping the travel ban does NOT get lifted anytime in the near future.

There is someone I have vowed to take to Cuba... I want him to see it before it becomes another tourist spot.

Big E, I agree and I disagree, I see this in Nicaragua, it doesn't take but a "Bad Apple" or two to make a stink in the barrel.....

I am still remembering that not so long ago people "Fled" from the Island country over Human rights......

Unless that changes...Well I have to say....Its a no go....

I can see thru the BS on those restricted tours foreigners take simply because of word of mouth of those "Refugee" friends I have made in my life.

[BIG E]

Cuba is a great place. Yes, it has problems with the government... but the people are by far the friendliest in Latin America.

Now, I have been to Nicaragua a couple times. I have not had a chance to really tour the country. I went surfing with some friends in college in the San Juan del Sur area. I hate surfing, but I went for the partying that was happening.

I plan on going back to Nicaragua at some point. I would really like to see Grenada and Leon.

[Cubafro]

Originally Posted by BIG E

Cuba is a great place. Yes, it has problems with the government... but the people are by far the friendliest in Latin America

Thank you and AMEN to that!!
US standards??? WTF if this is what you are looking for why even bother going out of USA ..This article or post is kind of funny and yes in Cuba we do not access to internet as we do up here but guess what I am able to talk to my family every two days with cam on yahoo messenger. Toilet papers missing in a hotel??? what sort of hotel did they go to say that?? Never had that problem ...The problem with turists is that they want the same thing as in their country, and are not willing to explore the country with neutral or virgin eyes because in Cuba you find almost everything someone needs and if you are smart enough you can get it at a cuban rate... anyways I better

Originally Posted by BIG E

I would really like to see Grenada and Leon.

My best friend and co-worker is from Grenada and she invited me for the carnival during summer.. don't think I will make it though as I am flying to bogota and coming back in a prospection of buying finally my house here so will see ..I saw pictures and it is really nice

Cuba

[BIG E]

Cuba...

I have been to Cuba several times. The service and cleanliness of the hotels was great. Never have I had an issue. Never had anyone try and rob me. And NEVER had anyone act rudely to me. The police watch out for tourists. It is safe...

I have always traveled there on my Spanish passport. I think the next time I am going to travel on my US passport and see if my experience changes. I have taken a couple Americans down there, and they never had an issue, other than a language barrier, which was annoying when the people you take speak 0 of the language in the area you are going to. But there were people there that spoke English too.

The Cuban rate is not fair for the Cubans. What really pissed me off is when Italians, and others, eat dinner and then dont tip the waiter/waitress because they are too damn cheap. But they have no problem buying that expensive bottle of rum to show off to the ladies in the clubs.

[LastLion]

I would put less value on americans acting stupid in cuba.. Of course it is always the ugly american that stands out. We stand out everywhere, but we have a leader now who know how to be a guest in other countries and not walk all over people. I see it as a great examble, minus the curstsey (sp) WTF?? hahahahhaa

But based on the type of men that post on this board, I think there are plenty of us that set good examples and would just be honored to be able to visit CUBA, Like myself..

One thing that continues to cross my mind is , whatever happened to all the money cuba stole , when they nationalized all the businesses in Cuba, when they took the property of foreigners.. I know I coulld use a few old debts paid back.. Yaa fifty years old greenbacks are greenbacks..