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WORLD NEWSSaturday 20 January 2018
Tourism booming in Cuba despite tougher new Trump policy
Private tour guide Javier Rodriguez, left, speaks to tourists in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 18, rents two rooms in his home
for about $30 a night.
2018. The government figures show that 2017 was a record year for tourism, with 4.7 million visitors “Since then, it’s fallen off.”
The ultimate destination of
pumping more than $3 billion into the island’s otherwise struggling economy. American tourism spending
in Cuba seems an obscure
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) data point, but it’s highly
relevant to a decades-old
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ is booming from dozens gling economy. The num- goal of American foreign
policy — encouraging
Associated Press of countries, including the ber of American travelers change in Cuba’s single-
party, centrally planned
HAVANA (AP) — On a U.S. And the tourism dollars rose to 619,000, more than system. For more than 50
years, Washington sought
sweltering early summer from big-spending Ameri- six times the pre-Obama to strangle nearly all trade
with the island in hopes of
afternoon in Miami’s Little cans seem to be heading level. But amid the boom spurring economic col-
lapse. Obama changed
Havana, President Donald into Cuba’s state sector — an 18 percent increase that policy to one of pro-
moting engagement as
Trump told a cheering Cu- and away from private over 2016 — owners of pri- a way of strengthening a
Cuban private sector that
ban-American crowd that business, according to Cu- vate restaurants and bed- could grow into a middle
class empowered to de-
he was rolling back some ban state figures, experts and-breakfasts are report- mand reform.
Cuba’s tourism boom be-
of Barack Obama’s open- and private business peo- ing a sharp drop-off. gan shortly after Obama
and Cuban President Raul
ing to Cuba in order to ple themselves. “There was an explosion of Castro announced in De-
cember 2014 that their
starve the island’s military- The government figures tourists in the months after countries would re-estab-
lish diplomatic relations
run economy of U.S. tourism show that 2017 was a re- President Obama’s de- and move toward normal-
ization. U.S. cruise ships be-
dollars and ratchet up pres- cord year for tourism, with tente announcement. They gan docking in the Bay of
Havana and U.S. airlines
sure for regime change. 4.7 million visitors pumping were everywhere!” said started regular flights to cit- groups, which depend
ies across the island. Over-
That doesn’t appear to be more than $3 billion into Rodolfo Morales, a retired all tourism last year was up
56 percent over Cuba’s
happening. Travel to Cuba the island’s otherwise strug- government worker who roughly 3 million visitors in
2014. While the U.S. prohib-
its tourism to Cuba, Ameri-
cans can travel here for
Jamaica imposes curfew in Montego Bay amid crisis
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) Police said Friday they will in killings that officials to search areas without a
— Authorities in Jamaica take a zero tolerance ap- blame on gangs and lot- warrant.
have declared a state of proach to crime in the tery scams. Police said busi- Authorities also have im-
emergency in areas includ- parish of St. James, where nesses and recreational posed a curfew in parts of
ing the popular tourist town Montego Bay is located, areas are under a tempo- St. Catherine parish locat-
of Montego Bay amid a rise and nearby communities rary curfew, and the state ed just west of the capital
in violent crime. that have seen an increase of emergency allows them of Kingston.q
specially designated pur-
poses like religious activity
or the vaguely defined cat-
egory of “people-to-peo-
ple” cultural interaction.
Obama allowed individu-
als to participate in “peo-
ple-to-people” activities
outside official tour groups.
Hundreds of thousands of
Americans responded by
designing their own Cu-
ban vacations without fear
of government penalties.
Since Cuba largely steers
tour groups to govern-
ment-run facilities, Ameri-
cans traveling on their own
became a vital market for
the island’s private entre-
preneurs, hotly desired for
their free spending, heavy
tipping and a desire to see
a “real” Cuba beyond all-
inclusive beach resorts and
quick stops on tour buses.
The surge helped travel-
related businesses main-
tain their role as by far the
most successful players in
Cuba’s small but growing
private sector.
Trump’s new policy re-
imposed the required for
“people-to-people” travel
to take place only in tour
largely on Cuban govern-
ment transportation and
guides.
As a result, many private
business people are seeing
so many fewer Americans
that it feels like their num-
bers are dropping, even
though the statistics say
otherwise.
“Tourism has grown in
Cuba, with the exception
of American tourism,” said
Nelson Lopez, a private
tour guide. “But I’m sure
that sometime soon they’ll
be back.”q