US travel warning has Cuba worried
A US STATE Department travel warning for Cuba following mysterious attacks that harmed nearly two dozen American diplomats has come like a bucket of cold water for the aspirations of thousands of private entrepreneurs on the island.
Amid a sudden diplomatic thaw between the Cold War foes that began in 2014, many Cubans invested heavily in privately run restaurants, homestay B&Bs and cars to operate as taxis in hopes of cashing-in on an expected boom of American tourists.
But now entrepreneurs worry Americans will be frightened away – even though there has been no word of any tourists affected.
Nowhere are such fears more pronounced than in Old Havana, where many Cubans bought into a hot real estate market as part of a proliferation of B&Bs catering to the hordes of tourists who stroll its cobblestoned streets each day.
“We got to work opening businesses, bars, restaurants, rental homes, and many people invested everything they had, and even borrowed,” said Yunaika Estanque, the 51-year-old owner of a three-room hostel.
Estanque partnered with her parents and two children. They all sold other properties and sought additional financial backing from a friend who lives overseas, and two years ago bought a rickety colonial home steps from the Bay of Havana.
Today it has been spruced-up and reborn as the Mi Tierra (My Land) hostel, whose polished vintage floors, warm pastel walls, republican-era furniture and modern air conditioning make for attractive and affordable digs at just $35 (R475) a night per person plus $5 more for breakfast.
Mi Tierra opened its doors about two months ago and has received mostly European travellers so far, but it is Americans that Estanque truly has in mind long-term.
In addition to the travel Tourists ride a classic convertible car on the Malecon beside the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba. Thousands of private Cuban businesses have invested heavily in homes, cars and restaurants, hoping to cash in on an expected wave of American travellers. Now a US State Department travel warning has put their investments at risk.
warning announced on Friday, the State Department also said it was reducing by about 60 percent its diplomatic staff at the US Embassy in Havana and indefinitely suspending visa processing in Cuba.
On Tuesday, Washington went further, expelling 15 Cuban diplomats to protest Havana’s failure to protect American envoys from the attacks, which have not been explained.
The US has not accused Cuba of being behind the attacks. President Raul Castro’s government has disavowed any culpability and called the US response “reckless,” ”hasty” and politically motivated.
Tourism is an important source of badly needed foreign currency for Cuba, one of a handful of key sectors that keep its weak economy sputtering along.
Last year, about 4 million travellers visited the island, according to government statistics. That included 281 000 Americans, up from just 91 000 in 2014. There were also 400 000 visits last year by Cubans living overseas, the vast majority of whom reside in the US.
US tourism to Cuba is still small compared with the numbers already coming from Canada, Europe and elsewhere. But analysts have predicted that if the US embargo on Cuba were to be lifted entirely, 1 million or more American travellers could inundate the island on an A waitress at a private Havana restaurant waits for customers. If tourism suffers it would add to a list of other economic woes in Cuba, which had its energy grid and agricultural sector hammered by Hurricane Irma.
annual basis. It is too early to tell how significantly American tourists may be discouraged by the State Department warning.
With the increase in American travellers in the last three years, “there was a positive effect and a desire to improve the level of services, of quality,” said Martin Payne, a Briton who lives on the island and represents a UK tour agency. “With this (possible) decrease, we’ll see if the momentum continues or if a fall is on the way.”
Measures announced by
US President Donald Trump in June had already sought to limit American travel to Cuba somewhat by barring so-called people-to-people educational trips outside of those run by licensed operators.
Despite assurances that the goal was to support Cuba’s burgeoning class of independent entrepreneurs, those measures were seen as likely to steer US travellers away from privately run B&Bs and restaurants and toward the government-run hotels and eateries that have
larger capacity and long-established relationships with tour operators.
If tourism suffers it would add to a list of other economic woes in Cuba, which had its energy grid and agricultural sector hammered by Hurricane Irma.
Many who depend on the tourism industry say they already noticed a lull in September, when the hurricane hit, after several years when suddenly it seemed the high season was lasting year-round.