Americans still have an appetite for Cuba even as some travel and business avenues with the Communist-run island will disappear in the coming months under President Donald Trump’s more restrictive economic policies toward Havana.
South Florida and other Cuba travel specialists canvassed this week said business remains strong as they await the final terms of new rules of engagement expected from Washington, possibly in September.
“It’s been a big benefit for us,” said Ampa Manzella, travel manager at Cultural Explorations Cuba in Delray Beach. “There is more business coming in.”
With the window closing on individual “people-to-people” Cuba trips, travelers who might have opted to purchase airfares and hotel stays through the internet on their own are now reaching out to federally-licensed travel agencies like Cultural Explorations, Manzella said.
Individual people-to-people travel as defined by the U.S Treasury Department is travel for non-degree educational purposes and does not involve a sponsored organization subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Under President Obama’s loosened travel and trade relations, the introduction of individual people-to-people travel had squeezed business for agencies holding licenses from the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Manzella said.
Now, Cultural Explorations is getting more inquiries from travelers.
“The groups we have now are filling up,” said Peter Sanchez, CEO and co-founder of Cuba Tours and Travel in Miami.. “In the long run, it’s going to be beneficial for my business model.”
At InsightCuba in New York, consumer demand for its group people-to-people Cuba itineraries has rebounded after seeing declines just before and after Trump’s Miami declaration of new restrictions in June.
“Now that there’s more clarity, business is beginning to pick up,” said Tom Popper, InSightCuba’s president. “In the last two weeks, business has returned to 2016 levels.”
Under Trump’s new U.S.-Cuba policy, the ban on general tourism will remain as part of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. Generally, Trump does not want American interests doing business with enterprises controlled by the Cuban military.
Travel will largely be limited to the 12 approved categories allowed under Obama, including trips for educational and religious activities, family visits and humanitarian projects.
But there will be adjustments.
In a July 25 update by OFAC, the agency said “the new policy will also impact certain categories of educational travel as well as travel under support for the Cuban people.” The office did not elaborate.
Still, U.S. commercial flights and cruises to Cuba are largely unaffected by Trump’s pronouncements, and new operators are entering the market..
The revised policy “has actually helped the cruise industry,” said Bruce Nierenberg, president and CEO of Miami-based Victory Cruise Lines Ltd.
Victory is seeing increased reservations from U.S. tour operators concerned about booking rooms in Cuban hotels that may have ties with its military, he said. Individual travelers are also seeking to be incorporated with groups of cruisers to meet regulations.
“With cruises there is no need for hotels because we have the ships,” Nierenberg noted.
The year-old cruise line plans to operate six cruises from Miami to Cuba between February and April following recent Cuban government approval. It had originally planned to begin Cuba sailings last November, but did not get approved in time.
Victory will join other U.S. cruise operators now offering voyages to Cuba from Florida ports including Port Everglades, PortMiami and Port Tampa Bay. The other lines include giants Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
The inaugural Victory Cuba cruise will depart PortMiami Feb. 8 on a 14-night itinerary aboard the 202-passenger Victory I cruise that will circumnavigate Cuba with visits to five ports: Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Maria la Gorda.
“We have more demand than we have capacity and we expect we’ll do very well,” Nierenberg said.
Some South Florida legal specialists are also fielding new inquiries from companies interested in doing business with Cuba ahead of the release of the new rules.
“We’re seeing about 10 new engagements since Trump’s new policy announcement,” said attorney Pedro Freyre, partner and chairman of the international practice at Akerman in Miami.
Other clients who delayed Cuba business decisions are returning to talk about “the art of the possible” under the new policy, Freyre said.
“The good news is we now have the general lay of the land and a snapshot of the policy going forward,” Freyre said. “The next shoe to drop will be the new regulations.”
To that end, Freyre said he and other attorneys with experience in Cuba want some input in how the new policy’s business rules are written.
“Cuba is not a cakewalk,” Freyre said. “It’s a tough place to do business in and do business with because [there’s] a very narrow opening on both sides.”
