Cuba Travel Inches Closer

[Osolomia]

Cuba Travel Inches Closer
By ANDREW MEADOWS
Tampa Tribube, FLORIDA
Published: Nov 2, 2003

TARPON SPRINGS - Ivar Fiskaa is preparing for the day U.S. citizens can openly travel to Cuba.

The Tarpon Springs travel agent began organizing tours to the island nation recently, even though a decades-old federal travel ban prohibits most Americans from going there.

... Fiskaa said contacts made now at hotels, restaurants and within the Cuban government will be invaluable. ``Once the travel ban is lifted, there is going to be a big rush to Cuba,'' said Fiskaa, who has spent about two years and $10,000 on his Cuba business plan. ``Cuba is going to be a major destination for people. It is going to be a major playground for Americans. It will help me.''

Last week, in a vote that signaled a shift in lawmakers' attitudes toward Cuba, the U.S. Senate voted to effectively eliminate the ban on travel. The House did the same earlier.

Although the measure is still in doubt - President Bush, a strong supporter of the ban, has vowed a veto - opponents say open travel to Cuba is inevitable.

Much more...
http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGAAQTIJIMD.html

[RainDog]

1. I'd love to visit there

And hear the musicans and see if I could find a Rocket 88, since they have so many old cars.

edited to show I know the diff b/t here and hear...

[Judi Lynn]

2. Looks as if the Florida travel industry people are being forced

to start adjusting to the idea of Americans traveling to Cuba.

They are trying to open their minds enough to grasp what the impact will be on Florida tourism, and think beyond their immediate fears of being cut out of American's vacation money.

Interesting seeing how they are looking for angles on this.

The idea that Florida could be used as a "jumping off" spot for Cuba tourists seems sound. The idea of travelling to Florida, then flying to Cuba from there seems feasable, and they could win business from European and Asian Cuba travel which is not allowed to stop in Florida now because of our travel ban.

[Mika]

3. Other Caribbean countries are worried about a shift in US tourism..

.. to Cuba. They are busy trying to make cross tourism package agreements with the Cuban dept of tourism, only to have Bush* thugs threaten and intimidate. I heard on local radio in Miami that some of the Caribbean foreign reps complained to Otto Reich during the recent FTAA meeting in Coral Gables that US 'free trade' is anything but, when it comes to the US's interferences in their country's inter Caribbean relations with Cuba. Reich responded by saying (paraphrasing) 'Its our way - or the highway'. What a guy.

[Judi Lynn]

4. That sounds like his Miami Cuban Mafia attitude

People like him should have NEVER been placed in responsible positions in our government. He obviously isn't capable of thinking of the beset interests of the country which he has infested. (Of course that's what got the brutal right-wing Batistianos pitched out of Cuba in the first place.)