President Trump may not have built a wall yet, but he has made one thing clear: everything the Obama administration has established must go, including some of the recent changes regarding U.S. relations with Cuba.
Last year, Americans were finally starting to travel to the Caribbean island, and with Cuba’s borders finally open, many were picturing vacations featuring picturesque waters, salsa dancing, and Cuban cigars. But with this new change, travel is not going to be quite as easy.
If you were planning on heading to the island nation, let us shed light on what that now entails. These are the four things you need to know about traveling to Cuba under the new policy.
1) U.S. Companies Can’t Do Business with GAESA
GAESA is a huge military-owned conglomerate made up of so many companies in Cuba that they are said to control close to 60% of the Cuban economy. Basically, if you ever did anything tourist-y at all while in Cuba, you were most likely paying GAESA. This includes anything from the small trinkets at sea ports to hiring a guide for a tour. This is naturally going to make it extremely difficult to utilize American brands or companies to arrange anything in the country and effectively shuts down tourism from the U.S.
2) How To Legally Travel To Cuba
What you need to understand is this change means you cannot go to Cuba for any old reason. When Obama opened travel between the two nations he established 12 legal ways to do so. Now there are restrictions. For example, individuals will be restricted from traveling for education or for trips, or that are cultural in nature. (Individuals can still travel as part of a group if they book through an official Cuban tour operator—more on that later) That means a few of the 12 legal ways are still okay.
The more practical travel reasons include:
Visiting familyOfficial government businessJournalism or Reporting purposesProfessional research and seminarsEducational activitiesReligious activitiesProfessional performances, entertainment or eventsPhilanthropic projectsActivities of private foundations or research or educational institutes
You can still book a flight or a cruise to Cuba as well, but again there are restrictions. For instance, you cannot book a cruise for a vacation unless you book through an office tour operator. Several airlines have pulled out altogether, including Spirit, Frontier and Silver.
3) Official Licensed Touring Company
If you do plan to book a cruise through a tour company, it must be executed via a government-approved itinerary.—you’ll basically be paying for a chaperone. They will tell you where you can eat, where you can sleep, and where to browse. In short, traveling to Cuba through a touring company will be pricier and more restricted.
4) The Loophole To Traveling To Cuba
Naturally it is only Americans that have travel restrictions to Cuba. So technically, you can get into Cuba by traveling through Canada or Mexico. Should you find yourself wanting to go, despite not having a valid reason as stated above, youcouldstill get there. Not that we are condoning trying to skirt the law, however U.S. citizens have certainly been doing it for decades. Beware, though that it’s a federal offense to lie to Customs officials when you return.
Authour : Nicki Jenns
