Travel agents urged to push for lifting of Cuba travel embargo

Travel agents urged to push for lifting of Cuba travel embargo
By: Nadine GodwinSeptember 14, 2009

LAS VEGAS — Tony Martinez, a consultant on U.S.-Cuba policy issues,
called on members of the U.S. travel industry to get involved with
ending the Cuba embargo.

"Pro-embargo politics blocks you and your industry," Martinez said at
TheTradeShow.

He added that the embargo policy has been a failure. "It has changed
nothing," Martinez said.

The embargo policy stays in place because "it is about money," he said.
A group of 5,000 Cuban-Americans spending about $1 million during
congressional elections every two years "have had a great impact." They
have kept Congress at bay even though a majority of Americans and even a
majority of Cuban-Americans want the embargo lifted, he said.

Martinez was one of several speakers at TheTradeShow session called
"Cuba: Breakthrough Opportunities for the U.S. Travel Industry." He also
is a senior foreign policy adviser to New Mexico Governor Bill
Richardson, but he said he was not participating in TheTradeShow in an
official capacity and his remarks reflected his own opinions.

However, he reported on Governor Richardson's August trade mission to
Cuba because the governor met with officials at the Cuba Ministry of
Tourism. (A trade mission was possible because it is legal to export
food and agricultural products to Cuba.)

The tourism officials made it clear they were "eager to work with
American businesses" to prepare for and receive American tourists,
Martinez said.

He listed for TheTradeShow delegates the ways they can be involved:

• Get the newest regulations (updated because of new rules allowing
Cuban-Americans to visit Cuba at will) and "get your business mind
working" on the travel that can be done legally now. Get a license to
sell Cuba travel and promote legal travel to Cuba.

• Discuss the matter with your representatives in Congress.

• See Cuba for yourself, and get your congressional representatives to
visit, as well.

• Make a contribution to an organization that is campaigning to end the
embargo. "Look at current politics and how politicians are raising large
sums from small contributions. If all supporters [of eliminating the
embargo] gave $10 each, that would be enough." Martinez said money could
be given to a group like the U.S.-Cuba Political Action Committee, but
there are others.

John McAuliff, coordinator of the Travel Industry Network on Cuba, added
his own suggestions:

• Sign a petition created by Orbitz to end the embargo. He said there
are close to 100,000 signatures now.

• Take the message to the White House urging President Obama to license
all non-touristic travel to Cuba. That is as far as the president can
go, he said, adding that only Congress can end the ban on ordinary
tourism to Cuba. Bills to lift the embargo are pending in both houses now.

In TheTradeShow session moderated by U.S. Tour Operator Association
President Bob Whitley, speakers also provided information on Cuba
tourism today.

Christopher Baker, travel writer and author of six books about Cuba,
said there is speculation that 1 million Americans would visit Cuba in
the first year after the end of an embargo, and 2 million to 3 million
would visit annually after that.

"Tourism to Cuba already is huge," Baker noted, as the island had 2.3
million visitors last year. Three-quarters of hotels are inclusives
concentrated in three beach areas. A quarter of the hotel stock is
managed by Sol Melia but all hotels are government-owned, Baker said.

Baker said he worries about the change that might be wrought when the
doors are opened from the U.S. but he still supports open doors "for
obvious reasons."

"So much about Cuba is nostalgia," he said.

Andrea Holbrook, president of Holbrook Travel in Gainesville, Fla., said
there is "almost the sense of a long-lost cousin" when visiting Cuba.

Holbrook's agency has a license to sell Cuba. She described it as a safe
destination and, because of the pent-up demand, "a recession-buster."

She said there are several travel companies, all government-owned, and
three are assigned to work with the U.S. travel sellers.

Travel Weekly (14 September 2009)
http://www.travelweekly.com/article3_ektid203146.aspx