Multi-destination tourism--Perspective from Cayman Net News

Editorial: The return of Americans to Cuba


Published on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Email To Friend Print Version



A recent Reuters news report was headlined: “US travel industry gearing up for return to Cuba,” which prompts us to ask, once again, “Is our travel industry gearing up for the return of Americans to Cuba?”



According to Reuters, US tour operators held a video conference with Cuban tourism officials in Havana last week and asked them if they are ready for the “rush” of Americans if the US travel ban is lifted as proposed by legislation now under consideration in the US Congress.



Robert Whitely, president of the US Tour Operators, which together with the National Tour Association, handles 75 percent of all package tour business to the Caribbean, predicted that “at least 850,000 Americans will go to Cuba in the first year.” That does not include an estimated 480,000 Americans who will go to Cuba on Caribbean cruises when US ships are allowed to dock there.



Cuba was a favourite playground for Americans in the 1950s, when the Mafia ran casinos and brothels in Havana that were closed by Castro. As Cuba veered towards communism, Washington broke off diplomatic ties, imposed trade and travel bans and Cuba’s tourist trade all but disappeared for three decades. However, some 2.5 million tourists visited Cuba this year, mostly from Canada and Europe.



But whether American tourists will return to Cuba will hinge on debate in Congress, where opponents say sanctions should not be lifted until Cuba frees political prisoners and undertakes democratic reforms to its one-party state. Whist this may not be an event that our own tourism industry will have to face in 2010, surely such a change in the established order of things is inevitable sooner or later.



We have discussed in these columns on previous occasions the implications of Cuba opening up, especially from a tourism perspective and, as we head into a new year, this seems to be an opportune moment to revisit the topic, especially given the apparent heightened interest in the US travel industry.



There is no doubt that Cuba is the sleeping giant of our region and, compared to the Cayman Islands, has vast resources of raw materials, agricultural products and labour, all at greatly reduced cost in comparison to what is typical here.



Indeed, given the proximity and the historical family and other connections between Cuba and the Cayman Islands, Cuba is far more of a natural trading partner than some Central American countries that have been receiving attention in the past.



To our mind, Cuba therefore represents both an opportunity for increased trade and co-operation, as well as an eventual threat as a competitor for tourism dollars.



We have remarked on previous occasions that the Cayman Islands, along with other destinations in the region, have had a forty-year free run in the tourism stakes. Up to the early 1950s, Cuba was very much the destination of choice for a large segment of the American travel market.



Now, without any contribution from the American market to speak of, Cuba’s tourism sector currently earns approximately US$2 billion a year, with half of the tourists coming from Canada, Argentina and Venezuela, and the other half from Europe, principally Italy, Germany and France. Air Canada alone runs 10 flights per week into Cuba in the summer, rising to 28 weekly flights in the winter.



The world’s largest resort operator, a Spanish company, operates 24 hotels in Cuba, one quarter of the country’s hotel rooms.



Jamaican tourism interests have predicted a slump in visitors from America if the US lifts its travel ban to Cuba but they are already preparing for the reopening of Cuba to US travellers. What are we doing to make similar preparations? So far as we can tell, the answer still seems to be very little, if anything.



Hotel chains in Jamaica already operate hotels in Cuba and Air Jamaica also has regular flights there, providing the potential for multi-destination tourism between Cuba and Jamaica.



Surely there will be similar opportunities for multi-destination travel between Cuba and the Cayman Islands that we need to be thinking about now rather than when our competitors have beaten us to the punch.



Clearly, we are not going to be able to compete with the initial novelty value of Cuba as a “new” vacation destination for Americans but we should be planning for the inevitable and doing our best to profit from it instead of relying on the customary knee-jerk reaction.



The tourism sector in the Cayman Islands has been facing some significant challenges in recent years and will continue to do so in the years ahead. Another strong regional competitor in the shape of Cuba is not going to make life any easier for tourism stakeholders.





Comments:





John McAuliff:

Multi-destination tourism offers good opportunities, in part, because Cuba's hotel capacity will not be adequate in the initial years. Having twice as many people visiting for half the time, while spending the remainder of their holiday in the nearby, better developed, Cayman Islands, will make sense for both countries. However, the packages must be developed and promoted now. Cayman Airways should offer, without delay, direct connecting flights from New York, and on its other established US routes which do not require disembarking. The return flights could be structured around an overnight, or longer, stopover in Grand Cayman to decompress from the intensity of first visits by Americans to Cuba. A growing number of Americans are choosing to disregard the unenforceable restrictions on their travel to Cuba. One of the simplest ways for them to exercise this internationally recognized human right should be through the Cayman Islands so the itinerary is well-established by the time Congress ends the travel embargo.

Cruises Serving Cuba

From a letter to The Havana Times blog
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=17548

the issue on the cruise ships to havana is of great interest since our company CUBA REAL TOURS, a swiss owned and havana based touroperator, is presently organising the shore excursions of three cruise ships. last week came from hapag lloyd the number one cruise ship in the world the MS EUROPE. this week we have also from hapag lloyd the MS COLUMBUS and as of Dec. 31sth we do have the SEACLOUD II - one of the biggest sailing ship calling several ports in this country. there was also the LE LEVANT yacht of the french company ponant in cuba just these days, although this ship was handled by someone else.


we do have the intention to bring in more cruise ships in the future but with the restrictions given, they have to be owned by non american companies and observe the 6 months rule of not returning to a US port after visiting cuba.

kind regards,



CUBA REAL TOURS

Money Lost to US Travel Business

Cuba: Travel ban costs US businesses $1.1B a year

 

AP – The Europa cruise ship is seen in Havana Bay, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano) 

 

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 21 mins ago

HAVANA – U.S. tourism companies could take in at least $1.1 billion a year on trips to Cuba if Washington didn't ban most of its citizens from visiting the island, officials said Wednesday during a videoconference with American tour operators. That figure includes $600 million in sales by airlines, $300 million for travel agents and $200 million in U.S. tourism-related exports and services, including food and drink items that could be sold to Cuba as well as spending on advertising to promote Cuba as a destination, said Miguel Figueras, a top aide to Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero. Figueras provided few details on how Cuba arrived at the numbers, but pointed to a previous study by the American Society of Travel Agents in asserting that without travel restrictions, 1.8 million U.S. tourists would come to Cuba annually. That includes some 482,000 Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the island, he said. More than 2 million foreign tourists come to Cuba every year, with the biggest numbers from Canada, Britain, Italy, Spain and France. It wasn't clear how much of what Cuba was estimating would be new business for U.S. tour operators, since many people interested in visiting Cuba are likely to take trips elsewhere and not simply stay home because they can't come to the island. Journalists attending the videoconference were not allowed to ask questions. Currently, U.S. citizens, other than Cuban-Americans, may legally visit Cuba only if they obtain a license from the Treasury Department for government, journalistic, religious or humanitarian purposes. The embargo took its current form in February 1962 and prohibits nearly all trade between both countries, although the travel ban was eased during the Carter administration. Legislation introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate would end the travel ban, but a series of similar proposals in the past have never made it to floor votes. Dozens of representatives from Cuba's government-run hotels, travel agencies and rental car outlets participated in the video link to a gathering of a similar number of U.S. tourism executives at a Washington hotel. One U.S. tour operator wanted to know why he couldn't buy Cuban beach property and build his own hotel — an impossibility in a communist country where the government dominates all aspects of the economy. Another asked if Cubans are still prohibited from entering tourist hotels, a ban that stood for decades but was lifted in April 2008. When asked about golf, Figueras said the government would like to build 10 new courses. Now, there are just two — a nine-hole course in Havana and an 18-hole one at the beach resort of Varadero. The government has talked for decades about more golf courses, but hasn't yet built even one.


***************

U.S. Travel Industry Gearing up for Return to Cuba
By Anthony Boadle,
December 16, 2009
Reuters

WASHINGTON

It's too soon for
Americans to plan a Cuban vacation of beach, mambo and mojitos, but the U.S.
travel industry is gearing up for a return to its largest Caribbean destination
before Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Tour operators held a video
conference with Cuban tourism officials in Havana on Wednesday and asked them if
they are ready for the "rush" of Americans if the U.S. travel ban is lifted as
proposed by legislation now under consideration in the U.S.
Congress.

"Americans really want to see Cuba," said Robert Whitely,
president of the U.S. Tour Operators, which together with the National Tour
Association also present at the event, handles 75 percent of all package tour
business to the Caribbean.

"We predict that at least 850,000 Americans
will go to Cuba in the first year," Whitely said.

That does not include
an estimated 480,000 Americans who will go to Cuba on Caribbean cruises when
U.S. ships are allowed to dock there, and another 480,000 Cuban American
visiting family in Cuba each year, a Cuban official said.

Cuba plans to
build 30 hotels over the next six years with the help of foreign investors,
adding 10,000 rooms to the 48,600 that exist now, as well as golf courses, said
Miguel Figueras, the top adviser to the Cuban tourism minister.

FAVORITE
PLAYGROUND

Cuba was a favorite playground for Americans in the 1950s,
when the Mafia ran casinos and brothels in Havana that were closed by Castro. As
Cuba veered toward communism, Washington broke off diplomatic ties, imposed
trade and travel bans and Cuba's tourist trade all but disappeared for three
decades.

Some 2.5 million tourists visited Cuba this year, mostly from
Canada and Europe, said Figueras, who indicated that U.S. companies are losing
out to the tune of $1 billion a year.

According to Cuban estimates based
on 2 million Americans visiting Cuba a year, U.S. airlines stand to earn $600
million and travel agencies $300 million annually, Figueras
said.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to improve ties with
communist-run Cuba and lifted restrictions introduced by the Bush administration
on visits and family remittances by Cuban Americans to the island.

But
whether American tourists will return to Cuba will hinge on debate in Congress,
where opponents say sanctions should not be lifted until Cuba frees political
prisoners and undertakes democratic reforms to its one-party state.

They
say American tourism will help prop up the communist government of President
Raul Castro, who succeed his ailing brother last year.

A bill to end the
travel ban sponsored by Democrat Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts and Republican
Jeff Flake of Arizona has 195 backers in the House of Representatives, 23 votes
short, supporters of the measure said.

Similar legislation in the Senate
has the support of key senators such as Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana, but
needs 60 votes to pass.

"They are within striking distance in the House,"
said Phil Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute think tank.

No
action on the bill is expected until the spring.

(Additional reporting by
Marc Frank in Havana, editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Copyright 2009 Reuters News Service.