People to people programs bring travelers to Cuba
Fifty years after politics brought an end to travel from the United States to Cuba, the regulations are easing, the curiosity is growing, and the visitors are coming.
U.S. citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba as tourists, but you can travel for religious, educational or cultural visits licensed by the Treasury Department.
Such "people-to-people" travel was reinstated by the Obama administration in 2011, and it’s increasingly popular.
Tour operator Globus this week rolled out its 2014 schedule, which includes two trips to Cuba.
Examples of people-to-people activities, it says, include a trip to a tobacco farm and a visit with the farmer in his home, meeting the musicians after a jazz performance, having dinner at a family-owned paladar, visiting with sculptor Martha Jimenez, and interacting with Cuban children at a day-care center.
Two other companies, Insight Cuba and Tauck, this month received two-year licenses to operate people-to-people programs to Cuba.
Insight Cuba, in partnership with General Tours World Traveler, has 150 scheduled tours for 2014.
Itineraries range from a three-night Weekend in Havana to an 11-night Undiscovered Cuba. Travel agents earn a referral fee on all bookings.
This week Island Travel & Tours announced it will add a third weekly flight from Tampa International Airport to Cuba on Friday nights, to accommodate travelers going for the weekend. ABC Charters Inc. of Miami also offers two flights a week on the route.
Meanwhile, American Express, one of the largest providers of authorized Cuba travel, this week agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle violations involving more than 14,000 tickets issued by its foreign branch offices and subsidiaries for trips to the island.
The bookings were never approved by the U.S. government.
American Express said in a written statement that it "voluntarily self-disclosed these bookings and put in place robust controls to ensure it would not recur."
But federal officials said American Express showed "reckless disregard" for the regulations and "caused significant harm to U.S. sanctions program objectives regarding Cuba."
By Cheryl Rosen
Cheryl
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