MILLIONS OF AMERICANS TRAVEL TO CUBA

Havana Hotels in Cuba

HAVANA CUBA  TO MIAMI FLORIDA. Over one thousand tourist arrive to Cuba from the USA every single day making America, Havana's long-time political arch rival, Cuba's second largest source of tourism directly behind Canada, stated Cuban ministry of Tourism official from Havana. If this  trend continues by next year America will be the number one tourist in Cuba. American Travel charters flying to the Communist Cuba say their USA-Cuba travel business has boomed since American President Barack Obama's administration lifted restrictions last year on Cuban-Americans visiting their homeland, and also loosened curbs on academic, religious, cultural and other professional Cuban travel visas. U.S. citizens were previously forbidden from visiting Cuba without American government's Visa under a wide-ranging U.S. trade embargo on all of Cuba imposed back in 1960 by President John Kennedy.

Massive increase in Cuban Travel this year compared with last year quoted Cuban born owners of GoCuba Charters, the oldest of a growing number of American Cuban companies chartering direct flights to Cuba.
October posted over 265,000 American tourist to Cuba from the USA. November and December are the peak months, so Cuba ministry of Tourism expects over 330,000 Americans to travel to Cuba on direct American flights originating from the United States this year mostly from Miami. Cuban tourism industry officials said more and more U.S. American citizens or Cuba-bound tourist born in the United States were also arriving through third countries such as Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas to get around the U.S. travel ban and to avoid licensing hassles, or find a less expensive Cuba flight.

Regular scheduled commercial flights directly between Havana Cuba and Miami, New York in the United States which lie less than an hour's flight apart, separated by the Florida Straits allows for millions of American tourists in Cuba every year. Estimates of U.S. tourist to Cuba for the first year will be more than 400,000 according to U.S. State Department.

CUBA EXPANDS VARADERO AND HAVANA AIRPORTS TO ACCOMMODATE AMERICAN TOURIST

Image via WikipediaCuba reported 2.5 million tourists in 2009, with Canada topping the list with close to 915,000 visitors, followed by Great Britain at 172,000 and Spain at 129,000.  Cuban National Statistics Office http://www.one.cu says that Canadian arrivals through October of this year have increased significantly, while there was little change from England and a huge drop in Spanish tourist due to the European economic meltdown. Cuba reported over 52,000 tourist arriving from the United States in 2009, but those of Cuban origin were included under a wide separate category of other tourist. Local tourism officials said 80,000 U.S. citizens came in 2008, including Cuban-Americans.

The official trade union weekly Cuban newspaper, Trabajadores, posted a front page story on Sunday about the expansion of the Havana airport terminal that receives U.S. flights, saying it would be completed by this Christmas and double capacity to allow more American tourists in Cuba. Estimated U.S. travel to Cuba would increase another 30 percent in 2011.  American Legislation that will lift the U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba will be in Congress once again next year. Such initiatives will have even less chance of passage when a new Congress convenes in January, following the Republican Party's success in the November mid-term elections.

Cuban-American Republican members of Congress are fierce anti-Cuba opponents of opening up more U.S. travel to Cuba, saying there should be no relaxation without political change and human rights improvements on the island. American moderate advocates of more open travel to Cuba hope the Obama administration will at least further loosen remaining restrictions, opening up more so-called 'people to people' contact visits that would favor sports, cultural, artistic, academic and religious exchanges.  Either way you can pretty well guarantee that Cuban travel in now onthe radar of millions of Americans that are counting the days when they will soon be allowed to return to Cuba travel in Havana & Varadero.

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