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Preparing
for a Cuban vacation after Castro
By Peter Greenberg. TODAYShow.com
contributor. June 4, 2007.
Quietly, deliberately, and quickly, the
travel industry is preparing for Cuba after
Castro.
Major U.S. cruise lines won't publicly
admit this, but each has now charted at
least seven, and perhaps eight viable Cuban
harbors. It stands to reason that the cruise
ships will be first in when the travel rules
are changed. After all, they are already
floating infrastructure/hotels.
U.S. hotel companies - through their foreign
subsidiaries - have been "prospecting,"
doing handshake deals on properties throughout
Cuba, signing quiet conditional deals to
kick in the minute things change and they
are allowed to do business.
And, despite U.S. administration efforts
to the contrary, on any given day in Cuba,
there are as many as 2,000 American tourists
- no, these aren't the folks who are Cuban
Americans visiting friends and relatives.
Or officially licensed travelers on humanitarian
missions. They are American tourists, who
fly in from any of five secondary countries
- Bahamas, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico or the
Cayman Islands. All eager to experience
Cuba before Fidel checks out.
How are they doing this? After all, aren't
U.S. citizens banned from travel to Cuba?
First, some history. There's a law, still
on the books, called the Trading with the
Enemies Act. It's been around since 1963.
And for more than 43 years it's officially
banned American tourists from Cuba. Or has
it? There are those who would argue that
the legislation was specifically aimed at
U.S. firms trying to do business in Cuba.
Indeed, if you read the law it doesn't specifically
bar American tourists from going to Cuba,
but it does ban Americans from spending
U.S. dollars there.
So what about those 2,000 American tourists
in Havana as you're reading this? Are they
in violation of the law? Certainly they
are in violation of the spirit of the law.
What they've done is book all-inclusive
travel through any one of five other countries
- Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands
or the Bahamas. They've paid local tour
operators there in U.S. dollars for trips
that cover their airfare, hotels, transfers,
taxes, tips, meals. So, officially, they
prepaid in another country, and are not
spending U.S. dollars in Cuba. In addition,
Cuban authorities do not stamp U.S. passports.
Officially, you visited that secondary country
and never left that country, when in fact
you transited to Cuba.
And, since 1963, how many have been fined
or arrested for doing this? It's actually
tough to find any. Why? Some would argue
that for the American government - which
is surely aware of this long standing practice
- to crack down on U.S. tourists would also
be to acknowledge how many there are. It's
as if the U.S. government is playing the
Claude Raines role in the legendary movie
Casablanca, "shocked" to find
out there's gambling in Rick's casino and
then collecting his winnings from the night
before. And this is despite even more tightened
travel restrictions to Cuba imposed by the
Bush administration in 2004.
In fact, American tourists are not only
staying in Cuban hotels, many from the Southeastern
U.S. are even sailing their pleasure boats
into Havana and staying in the Hemingway
marina.
(Important note to those considering doing
this: Remember, I am not endorsing this
behavior, just reporting that it is being
done. One additional caution: Should you
wish to buy anything in Cuba, be aware that
U.S. credit cards are not accepted, and
even if you do buy something, that is, of
course evidence that you actually were in
Cuba, and you are dangerously flirting with
a stiff fine, at the very least).
However, times are changing. This past
March, Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and
Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., cosponsored HR 654
- a bill calling for an end to the restrictions
of Americans traveling to Cuba. The bill
would also allow all U.S. companies to compete
in booking trips to Cuba. This may mark
the first time such a bill gets strong bipartisan
support.
Flake depicted the fading health of long-time
Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a time for
a new approach to Cuban-America relations.
"For nearly 50 years our current Cuba
policy has done little to bring democracy
to Cuba," Flake said in a statement.
"Far from hastening democratic reforms,
our current policy has given Fidel Castro
a convenient scapegoat for his own regime's
failures. With the Cuban government taking
new shape, we shouldn't give the new leader
the same excuses we've given the old one,"
Flake said.
The bill reads, "The president shall
not regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly,
travel to or from Cuba by United States
citizens or legal residents, or any of the
transactions incident to such traveling."
In other words, the travel ban would disappear.
Of course, all of this is having a big
ripple effect throughout the rest of the
Caribbean. Tourism ministers from just about
every Caribbean country are worried - as
they should be - that the minute Castro
goes, their tourism numbers could drop as
much as 20-25 percent, with Americans flocking
to Cuba to be first on their block.
Indeed, for the first time in nearly 44
years, Cuba may be no longer officially
off-limits. Stay tuned …
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