Cuba Tourism Considered (by Bahamas, if US travel ban to Cuba were to be lifted)

[Mika]

Cuba Tourism Considered
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=45&a=18024

Chairman of the Nassau Tourism Development Board Charles Klonaris is saying that there is no definite way for The Bahamas to counter a possible fall off in tourism arrivals due to the possibility of Cuba opening its borders to mass tourism.

While responding to a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report which indicated a considerable fall off in tourist arrivals from the United States to The Bahamas if the 40 year embargo by the US on Cuba were to be lifted, Mr. Klonaris said all that the only thing left for The Bahamas to do is tighten up and improve on the quality of its present tourism product.

"I believe that we have to increase the value of our product, we have to create a product that tourist wants," Mr. Klonaris said.

He added that due to the challenges that the opening up of Cuba may bring to The Bahamas’ tourism industry, the revitalization of the city of Nassau is now more crucial to The Bahamas.

"The renaissance of the city of Nassau is crucial if we are to maintain ourselves as a premier destination. You cannot have Atlantis and a few other major resorts without a real proper and interesting and exciting city. Historic Nassau is a part of the whole picture and it is important that Bahamians understand this so it becomes an enjoyable experience."

Mr. Klonaris said that Cuba is filled with history and culture that will attract curious American visitors and people from all around the world.

"If they are going to go just out of curiosity to Cuba, they are going to see magnificent architecture, they are going to see historic Havana. It’s been there in the past and it’s exciting.

"It’s a different culture and it’s very attractive. We (Bahamians) have to lift the value of our service and the product itself," Mr. Klonaris indicated.

He said that the quality of the tourism industry is crucial if The Bahamas wishes to remain the premier destination in the region.

He said that the service, the experience and culture that The Bahamas offers to tourist is what is lacking in comparison to Cuba and other destinations.

"We really don’t give them that total experience where they will say ‘yes let’s come back,’" Mr. Klonaris said.

He said that The Bahamas has all the amenities but stated it is the service and the lack of opportunities for tourist to mingle with the people that put the nation’s top industry at a serious disadvantage.

"We are not up to the level. It’s global competition now and if we want to be successful we have to the raise the product itself."

He indicated that Cuba is considerably cheaper to travel to and live in during vacation than The Bahamas.

"Bear in mind that we are a very expensive destination. It’s stiff competition," Mr. Klonaris said.

The report released by the IMF states that, "An opening of Cuba to U.S. tourism would represent a seismic shift in the Caribbean’s tourism industry. This study models the impact of such a potential opening by estimating a counterfactual that captures the current bilateral restriction on tourism between the two countries.

The report also said that the U.S. would grow to be the largest source of arrivals to Cuba by far, followed by Canada.

On the Caribbean side, Cuba would become the largest destination in the Caribbean (not including Puerto Rico), and Belize would grow to approximately the size of Costa Rica.

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[Mika]

1. Cuba and tourism

Cuba and tourism
http://freeport.nassauguardian.net/editorial/295116375966401.php

If Barack Obama is successful in his historic quest to become the first African-American president of the United States, there is a strong possibility that steps will be taken to end the more than four decades old U.S. embargo against Cuba. For starters, the restrictions limiting how often Cuban-Americans can travel to Cuba to visit family and how much money they are allowed to send to relatives will be lifted. Indeed, during his campaign for the democratic presidential nomination, Obama was highly critical of the restrictions, noting that they have had "a profoundly negative impact on the Cuban people, making them more dependent on the Castro regime, thus isolating them from the transformative message carried by Cuban-Americans."

Obama, however, is against lifting the trade embargo until Cuba embraces democratic changes, but he predicted that the day will come when U.S. relations with Cuba will eventually be normalized. To be sure, a strong argument could be advanced that the embargo should have been lifted a long time ago, if the only reason why it is still in place is because Cuba is a communist country. This argument does not pass the test of sensible reasoning, given the fact that China today is the world's major communist powerhouse and the United States not only has normal relations with China, but is one of its major trading partners.

What's more, since he formally replaced his ailing brother Fidel as president earlier this year, Raoul Castro has relaxed some of the oppressive policies of his older brother and has been sending some strong signals that he would like to reestablish normal relations with the United States. Certainly, with the lifting of the travel restrictions, Cuba's tourism industry will be revitalized. This likelihood has sent tremors of concern among Bahamians, who harbour fears that this would have a damaging impact on The Bahamas' tourism industry.

Prior to the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959, Cuba was arguably the leading tourism destination in the Caribbean, and with the lifting of travel restrictions, curiosity alone will once again make it a magnet for tourists wanting to see how the island has fared under the communist rule of Castro.

Unquestionably there is good reason for Bahamians to be concerned, considering that even with the travel restrictions in place, Cuba last year attracted more than wo million tourists, mainly from Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. Based on information gleaned from the Internet, hotel properties in Cuba are concentrated in three major areas: Havana, Varadero and Cayo largo. They are said to have been developed mainly through joint venture partnerships between Cuban agencies and foreign investors, primarily from Europe, Canada and Latin America, but with the lifting of the embargo, it certainly would not be long before major American chains establish hotels in that country once the tourism market begins to flourish.

Rather than being concerned about Cuba's possible reemergence as the leading tourism destination in the Caribbean, however, The Bahamas should be looking at ways to benefit from this eventuality. For example, new Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace should direct his marketing team to start developing two-city vacation packages aimed at encouraging visitors headed to Cuba to first stop in The Bahamas for a couple days. Such a package certainly would be particularly attractive to European tourists who travel longer distances and generally take longer vacations.

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[Judi Lynn]

2. Great idea, isn't it? It would be a lot better if people started getting a better look at Central

America and other islands before visiting Cuba, so they have some way to put things in perspective, rather than trying to compare every place to the more prosperous areas in the U.S., like total tools.

[Mika]

3. Ignorance is bliss.

As the article points out there are people from around the world going to Cuba for tourism, education, exchanges & research of all kinds, yet there are "experts" here on DU who insist that Cuba is an isolated nation.

Didn't Cuba just receive praise from the UN for achieving Millennium goals for the whole range of health, ed, self sufficiency, food and shelter for all of the Cuban people - and doing so about 10 years early?

The Bahamas (actually, the Bahamian people) would do well with a more cooperative and open engagement with Cuba. So would we.


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[Judi Lynn]

4. Cuba has been so open to engagement for ages. Yet, any quick check of ordinary citizens here who

don't ever question anything they hear will indicate they believe it's CUBA keeping everyone out. This is changing slowly, but most people have been swallowing everything without even giving any conscious thought to ANY of it. No wonder we end up with stolen elections and bogus wars on people having nothing to do with aggression on the U.S., slaughtering multitudes of innocent people, and making our war profiteers into super rich, dirty, conscience-less, completely deceitful, murderous fat cats, like Cheney.

They know they have painted themselves into a corner by using Cuba for so many decades as the boogeyman, to keep the masses quaking in their boots, while they rattle the old "commie" threats and lies, then running their candidates who will promise to not be soft on "commies," and getting themselves re-elected for their dirty tricks.

They know if they drop the travel ban, and people move freely from here to there in great numbers, the story of what has been happening in Cuba all this time, and how life goes there is going to finally get out. They can't continue to target isolated Cuba visitors like Michael Moore as "the liberal enemy" since there will be so goddamned MANY of them they can no longer revile and insult and cheap-shot every one of them, in order to keep their lies intact. Their wall of dirty propaganda is going to fall. "Take down that wall, assholes!" They're going to be exposed as the colossal liars they are, and they're not going to be able to get ANY of the liars re-elected. That's why they're fighting like lunatics to keep it all in place. They can't afford the laughter and disgust headed their way.

As the time draws nearer, no doubt the ones who are threatened by free exchange with Cuba are going to get more hysterical, and probably go on the attack as a "hail Mary" effort. That's doomed to failure, too, in time.

Can't wait.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. My church has another group going in January (the 4th group, I think)

I've applied to go, but I think there are more members who want to go than are allowed by our U.S. license. We shall see how this works out.

If I get to go, I'll be happy to see the place for myself.

[roody]

6. Screw the license. I'll go with you.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Sad to say, the license is only for current members of the church, and

we're not permitted to take anyone else.

According to the woman who organizes these trips, they're pretty strict about it. One man wanted to take his father along last time, and he wasn't allowed to.

[roody]

13. I am serious. You don't need no stinkin' license to go

to Cuba. All you need is some cash. I speak Spanish fluently. I would love to go over Cmas school break. Thousands of US citizens break the embargo every week. Let's go.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. I know, but I want to go with my church group, which has formed

a lot of personal ties there. :-)

[Judi Lynn]

7. That would be tremendous. I've thought about asking you, from time to time,

if you had gone, yet, after reading your comments on your church's concern for Cuba, and its planned trip.

A really good number of outstanding DU'ers have been there multiple times already. You'd be joining a wonderful bunch of people in having shared that experience yourself.

A couple of DU'ers have also gone there with Pastors for Peace, when they've taken useful material through the blockade to make a point about the embargo while sharing needed items with Cubans who have a hard time getting them due to this internationally illegal economic warfare.

You can find tons of interesting photos in google images of Cuba, and Cuban people. You can loose so much time reading through the articles attached to the photos, too.

It's useful to get a good map of Cuba in google images, and pick towns, and then put their names into a google image search, and give yourself a terrific little education on the places, people, and sometimes history of these towns. You'll be amazed.

A lot of people have their Cuba vacation photos on the internet, too, many fascinating.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. The people who went last time are meeting to figure out an appropriate project

for the next group.

Last year's group took sewing machines so that the women in one of the parishes could set up a sewing cooperative. The first group helped repair some buildings that had been damaged in a hurricane, and I forget what the second group did.

I already ordered the Insight Guide to Cuba (ordering the Insight Guide is always my first step when I travel to any unfamiliar place), and it arrived yesterday. I haven't had time to do more than page through it, but the photography is wonderful, as in all the Insight Guides.

[Mika]

11. I really hope that you can go.

Cuba has such a breathtakingly wide ecological & geological range that it could take dozens and dozens of trips to encounter much of it, and, of course, the Cubans are so hospitable and friendly. I'm sure it will find a place in your heart forever, as it has mine.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. That's the impression I get from just paging through the Insight Guide

The scenery looks stunning.

Fingers crossed.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Back in the days when I still subscribed to The Economist*

(*They're total corporate globalization types, but since they really cover the whole world, they're an invaluable resource for someone who translates articles on international relations from Japanese and needs to know how to spell the names of finance ministers from obscure countries)

they ran an article on Cuba and concluded that it was a shame that the talented Cuban people weren't exposed to market forces (you know, the great, infallible god "Market Forces") that would allow them to really prosper.

Some astute person wrote back the following week and asked slyly, "You mean like Haiti?"

I haven't been to any other Latin American country, but the pictures I see of Cuba don't look any worse (and often better) than the ones I see from my friends' trips to Mexico or Jamaica.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Truly! I've heard from people who've been through Central America, and a DU'er has been there

VERY recently, that Cuba is far, far better off than those countries, for sure.

They had to get their priorities in order and go after the infrastructure, set up housing for everyone, since many rural Cubans had been living in huts without electricity or running water or sewers, of course, since their only work was seasonal, as in the sugar cane fields, etc., and organize food distribution, and education, and medical care, etc., etc., etc., so they didn't spend any on maintainance of the old flashy buildings and got to work on finding what the people needed the most, first.

Now that they've got that underway, they are turning their attention to going back and restoring the old buildings you see in bad condition in photos of Old Havana. They have a world famous city historian, Eusebio Leal:





Jose Goitia for The New York Times

A view of a building in Old Havana renovated by Eusebio Leal Spengler, the city's official historian.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Well, I put down my deposit for the trip

:-)

The dates are January 3-14, and we'll be spending most of our time in Santiago. The woman who is making arrangements for us through the licensed travel agencies said that there are huge celebrations scheduled there for the 50th anniversary of the revolution, and while the principal festivities will be around New Year's Day, there will still be some events going on.

Tengo que estudiar español. He olviado mucho.

[Judi Lynn]

17. This is wonderful news! Not that far away, either. And what a BEAUTIFUL town to visit!

Are you going to read up on it before going?



Santiago de Cuba kids, from google images

http://images.google.com/images?ndsp=20&hl=en&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&q=Santiago+de+Cuba&start=0&sa=N





Be sure to look through the google images, and check the sources of the photos. These photos are so intriguing. You could get lost in there for ages looking through it all, if you haven't already.

Don't be surprised if you bump into an American or two while you're there. I understand there are a LOT more people coming and going than you'd expect, cosidering the circumstances. A lot of people want to see it as it is, before it's overrun by American tourists, and of course people from everywhere else always have gone to Cuba. We're the only ones who have been forbidden to go.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. The Insight Guide to Cuba is next in my bedside queue

Paging through it, I see some beautiful photos. I look forward to reading it.

We're going via Cancún.