Skift Take
U.S. tour operators and travel agents are betting that it will be business as usual, or perhaps even better, as the new Cuba restrictions take effect and individual people-to-people visas get sidelined. But many also find it ironic that the White House announced these changes while Trump was courting leaders of Asian countries that have poor human rights records.
Tour operator and travel agents just returned to their former status as the gateways for Americans seeking to visit Cuba.
U.S. President Donald Trump's policy outline of several months ago on U.S. travel to Cuba have become reality: Americans will no longer be able to travel to Cuba without a tour group, or stay in a hotel or spend money with any business that has ties to the Cuban government and military, among other restrictions.
While those changes are likely causing confusion for many U.S. travelers who have reservations for Cuba trips or plan to visit the country, the changes give an advantageous position to tour operators and travel agents that are once again the default gateways for any American wanting to visit Cuba.
Some cruise lines, too, say the changes will make them a more favorable option for visiting the country.
Many tour operators stand to gain from these new restrictions given individual, unguided travel is no longer allowed, but many also worry the changes will send mixed messages that Americans can't travel to Cuba at all.
U.S. travelers' dreams of individual travel to Cuba were short-lived — Americans could go by themselves without a tour guide from March 2016 to November 9 thanks to Obama-era regulations that eased restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba. The new regulations will not affect U.S. travelers who already had one element of a trip to Cuba booked prior to June 16, 2017. For educational travelers, this deadline applies for trips with elements booked before November 9.
But some tour operators also feel that the changes aren't a complete backtrack from the U.S.-Cuba détente that began in December 2014.
David Lee, owner of Cultural Cuba, leads groups of fewer than 12 people from the U.S. to Cuba. "The reality is that no one was supposed to go without having some kind of itinerary that met the
