What the recent Cuba news means for travelers
With the recent news that US and Cuban relations will begin to normalize going forward with the prisoner swap, my first thought as a travel writer is: when's the first plane to Cuba?
According to聽, we Americans are already traveling to Cuba: over 98,000 in 2012聽alone. 聽While this isn't聽close to the number of tourists that hop aboard a cruise ship in Miami each year, since 2011 Cuban-Americans and a select number of travel agents have been able to travel to the Caribbean island. 聽And, the island saw about 2.8 million visitors from the world in 2010 (more than Costa Rica).
This recent news does not automatically lift the ban for Americans looking for a new beach destination in Cuba 鈥� there are a number of bureaucratic steps that need to happen before there are direct flights from the States. 聽Instead, it gets us a big step closer. 聽According to an聽, Carnival Cruise's CEO says that Cuba is an "exciting opportunity." 聽Since it is the largest island in the Caribbean, new to most cruisers, it should be. 聽Cruise lines have resorted to creating their own ports, like private islands in the Bahamas or beaches in Haiti, in order to entice visitors with a new destination. 聽This is an entirely new island!
Airlines like American already fly to Cuba, in the form of chartered flights for sanctioned visitors (mostly academics, Cuban-Americans, and cultural visitors, like Jay-Z).
However, until the travel ban is completely lifted, get this: 聽as a visitor starting today, you can now bring up to $400 in Cuban goods back to you, including $100 in alcohol and tobacco products. No doubt, more Cuban cigars will be hitting American shores soon.
