U.S. Tour Operators Proceed Carefully on Cuba Trips With Eye on 2024 Elections
Photo Credit: El Capitolio in Havana, a site U.S. tour operators hope more Americans see. Friendly Planet Travel
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U.S. tour operators may not have long to take advantage of the eased travel restrictions to Cuba. So they're not wasting time during their preparations because legally taking travelers to the island is very complicated.
The Biden administration's decision earlier this month to ease some travel restrictions to Cuba enacted under former President Donald Trump has U.S.-based tour operators making plans to run more trips for Americans on the island — or in some cases, return to the popular Caribbean destination.
But tour operators are also treading cautiously during their preparations, with such companies aware that travel to Cuba could again be significantly curtailed after the results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
"This is sort of a volatile destination in terms of it remaining open for travel," said Jeff Roy, the executive vice president of Collette, about the possibility of running trips again in Cuba.
The Rhode Island-based tour operator took, on average, between 500 to 1,000 U.S. travelers to the country annually between 2012 and 2018. Former President Barack Obama relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba in 2011, which enabled companies like Collette to run trips for Americans on the island.
"We're at a point now where we're moving a lot of volume and there's still a lot of work with all of the U.S.-(enacted) Covid travel restrictions. To distract ourselves from that right now to move ri
