Tuesday 21 February 2017

Is Cuba's US tourist boom over before it begins?

One of Obama’s major foreign policy objectives was rapprochement with Cuba, leading to a relaxation in travel restrictions between the two countries through a process known as ‘normalization’.

This has led to a huge jump in US tourists to Cuba, with the island’s already growing tourism entering a full-blown boom in 2016. The Miami Herald reported that “visits by Cuban Americans and other US travelers last year was 614,433, a 34% increase,” making them the second biggest visiting nationality. American Airlines has even opened a Havana office in a sign of the changing times.

However, President Trump is furiously signing in executive orders, overturning many of the key initiatives of the Obama administration. President Trump has threatened to halt the process of normalization “unless the Castro regime meets our demands”, so if you are an American looking at Cuba, now might be the time to go before it’s too late.

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Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
alex@eyefortravel.com 




Sources: The Miami Herald; New York Times