Articles tagged “cuba”

Miami-based Carnival, the world's largest travel and leisure company measured by revenue, is salivating at the idea of finally getting into Cuba as is every company from Marriott to American Airlines.

Americans visitors to Cuba saw significant growth in 2014, and an easing of the U.S. travel ban doesn't mean the floodgates will open. No one knows for sure yet how quickly things will progress.

Like Obama said, the U.S. has diplomatic relations with China and Vietnam, so turning a deaf ear to Cuba and Cubans made no sense. U.S. travel companies are chomping at the bit to get into Cuba.

Lifting the travel ban to Cuba is totally sensible and necessary for U.S. travelers, although President Obama will ignite a new firestorm if he takes steps to ease the decades-old embargo.

As Caribbean destinations get smarter about how to market and foster their guest experiences, islands like Cuba and Haiti are also experiencing a Renaissance of sorts, realizing tourism is the biggest way they can change their images and boost their economies.

Beyonce and Jay-Z obviously weren't in Cuba for tourism because that would be illegal, according to U.S. law. They were visiting for cultural purposes, obviously.

The majority of the Caribbean islands rely on American visitors to fuel their tourism industries, but Cuba is the stark exception as the second most-visited island in the region and very few Americans in sight.

Sanchez's trip will be a test of whether things are really opening up in Cuba.

Besides U.S. doing the right thing in lifting restrictions, Cuba will also have to ove on its own antiquated foreign investment laws if it wants travel to grow, and have infrastructure that supports it.

If Graham Greene calls it a tourist trap, it likely is. But Sloppy Joe's rebirth now is yet another signal that a half century of nonsense between the U.S. and Cuba is coming to an end.