Cutting through the Confusion on Cuba

Cutting through the Confusion on Cuba
By David Cogswell

This past January, after reports that the U.S. government was relaxing regulations for travel to Cuba, the huge pent-up demand for travel to Cuba started boiling over again. Many American travelers and American tour operators began hoping that the door to the enigmatic Caribbean island, which had been closed for more than half a century, would once again be opened.

In the months that followed, several new Cuba tour programs burst onto the marketplace from such companies as Abercrombie & Kent, Globus, Austin-Lehman Adventures, National Geographic Expeditions and Insight Cuba.

In January, for example, Insight Cuba, which had operated Cuba programs from 2000 to 2003, said it would resume those programs. Insight Cuba is a division of the not-for-profit Cross-Cultural Solutions, which operates volunteer programs. In 2003 it halted its programs when the Bush administration tightened restrictions. The company plans to pick up right where it left off, operating programs similar to what it offered before with eight departures scheduled for the fall.

Abercrombie & Kent and Globus both announced their own programs through licensed not-for-profit partners.

Shortly after that, Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) and Globus both announced their own programs through licensed not-for-profit partners. Globus partnered with the Center for Caribbean Religion and Culture, while A&K affiliated with the Foundation for Caribbean Studies. A&K put its Cuba program up for sale July 18 and sold out most of its 13 departures in a week. On July 25 the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a Cuba Travel Advisory, which was intended to clarify the requirements for tour operators for travel to Cuba. A&K subsequently put its clients on notice that plans were on hold pending further clarification, and on Aug. 1 the company canceled the program.

For its part, Globus is still planning to operate departures in 2012, but now, instead of working with a partner, the company is applying for its own license. “We are still in the process of registering for our own operating license to ensure that the payment path between traveler, agent and Globus complies with regulations,” says Steve Born, Globus’ vice president of marketing. “That process has taken longer than expected, but we’re still on it.”

Austin-Lehman Adventures in September said that it would begin running a new series of cultural/educational adventures to Cuba beginning in early 2012.

Meanwhile, Austin-Lehman Adventures in September said that it would begin running a new series of cultural/educational adventures to Cuba beginning in early 2012. National Geographic Expeditions plans to start its trips to Cuba on Nov. 26 with nine more programs scheduled January through May of 2012. Both companies’ programs are licensed as people-to-people trips, focused on meeting and interacting with Cuban people, with meetings arranged between American visitors and Cuban farmers, teachers, artists, teachers, Santeria priests, park rangers and veterans.

Ronen Paldi, president of Ya’lla Tours, which has been a licensed Travel Services Provider (TSP) for travel to Cuba for the last nine years, says the relaxation of regulations announced in January applied to religious institutions and colleges and had very little to do with commercial travel. According to Paldi, some companies that were offering travel to Cuba were not clear enough on the laws themselves to realize they were uncomfortably close to breaking federal law.

“I’m not so sure the government gave the impression that restrictions were relaxed.”

“I’m not so sure the government gave the impression that restrictions were relaxed,” Paldi says. “That impression was given by some tour companies that didn’t do the right due diligence on legal travel to Cuba. They started offering programs without being licensed, so that not only would they have been violating the law, but travel agents who put down deposits would have been violating the law. Then later they did find out what was going on and, rightfully so, they stopped the programs.”

The religious, educational and cultural organizations that are authorized to travel to Cuba must work with a TSP to facilitate the travel. “A legal traveler can go, but they need a Travel Services Provider to get there,” Paldi says. “Only a TSP can book you a flight. It is the TSP’s responsibility to qualify the people, to make sure that the people who travel under you are legally doing so. We are the gatekeepers. We make sure that the trip is legal and the passengers are in 100 percent compliance with the law.”

Breaking the law, even unknowingly, could be a serious problem.

Breaking the law, even unknowingly, could be a serious problem. According to the page on Cuba on the U.S. Department of State’s website: “The regulations require that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction be licensed in order to engage in any travel-related transactions pursuant to travel to, from, and within Cuba. Transactions related to tourist travel are not licensable. This restriction includes tourist travel to Cuba from or through a third country such as Mexico or Canada. U.S. law enforcement authorities enforce these regulations at U.S. airports and pre-clearance facilities in third countries. Travelers who fail to comply with Department of the Treasury regulations could face civil penalties and criminal prosecution upon return to the United States.”

Licenses can be obtained for humanitarian projects, journalism, professional research, religious activities, athletic or performance events, and even some importation and exportation. But the rules for handling money are highly restricted in all cases.

The embargo is an economic policy and restricts spending money in Cuba, but not any actual presence in Cuba. Few licenses are actually granted to travel service providers, however.

People-to-people travel must be operated by an operator licensed as a Travel Service Provider. Airlines must be separately licensed as Carrier Service Providers. Meanwhile the travel industry waits hungrily for the door to open for commercial travel to Cuba.