The dearth of American tourists in Cuba has nothing to do with the unavailability of cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms or cheap vacation packages. Instead the problem was caused by travel restrictions imposed in 2003 by President Bush.
The number of travelers from the United States which visited Cuba legally fell from over 200,000 in 2003 to under 50,000 in 2004.
American tourism in Cuba is expected to grow significantly because of policy changes approved by President Obama. The Treasury Department is once again granting people-to-people licenses which greatly expand U.S. citizens travel opportunities to Cuba.
The new changes, which are in addition to the loosening of restrictions for Cubans and Cuban Americans visiting relatives in Cuba, are expected to boost the number of American visitors to Cuba to about 450,000 this year. Between 375,000 to 400,000 Cuban Americans are expected to visit this year, with another 50,000 in other categories of legal travel.
It remains illegal for the average American tourist to visit Cuba, which has faced a United States economic embargo for almost 50 years. Some American tourists have gotten around this embargo by flying to Cuba via another country, such as Mexico or Canada.
Technically it is not illegal to travel to Cuba, but US citizens are prohibited from spending money in Cuba except in the case of students, journalists, Cuban-Americans and others with legal reasons to travel there.
The new people-to-people measures make it easier for Americans who do not have special status as working journalists or scholars to visit Cuba legally, as long as they go with a licensed operator. Now all a US citizen has to do to visit Cuba is sign up with an authorized tour operator.
In all, eight companies have been issued people-to-people licenses as of July 1st. Thirty five applications are still pending. www.cheapfares.com