Twists and Turns in Travel Industry's Approach to Cuba Since Obama's Changes


Skift Take

Travel industry policies toward Cuba have not transitioned smoothly from Point A to Point B over the last three years, and the upcoming Trump administration fine print will likely change things anew.

There have been numerous interesting developments and outright surprises since President Obama announced in late 2014 that the U.S. and Cuba agreed to begin normalizing diplomatic relations. The latest head-turner was Thursday when Trump administration officials revealed that the president would announce Friday that the U.S. government is tightening travel policies toward Cuba but wouldn't implement an outright ban of flights and cruises, for example. Still, we have to introduce a note of caution here since, as with all things Trump, the policies could pivot on a peso tomorrow. One thing in store is more aggressive scrutiny of whether travelers' itineraries are consistent with the 12 permissible categories of travel, or whether the categories themselves wi