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Carnival responds to possible changes to Cuba travel rules
Carnival Corp has said it is business as usual for Cuba sailings and insists plans to tighten rules for travel will not affect its operations.
President Trump has announced he will tighten regulations on Cuba and described former President Obama’s decision to thaw relations with the country’s government as ‘terrible’
The rules are expected to still allow travel but will ban ‘individual’ people-to-people trips, meaning only travellers booking licensed people-to-people tours through designated operators will be allowed.
Scheduled flights and cruises will not be affected, although there may well be some tweaking of shore excursion policy to meet the new rules.
"We will review the extent of the tightening of the travel rules, but our guests have already been travelling under the 12 approved forms of travel to Cuba since we undertook our historic first cruise to Cuba more than a year ago," Carnival Corp said in a statement.
"Our experience in Cuba this past year has been extremely positive. We look forward to the new cruises being planned for Cuba with Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America Line. We also have requested approval for our other brands to travel to Cuba.
"Travel brings people and cultures together so we are excited about the upcoming cruises to Cuba for our guests."
In essence, the goal of any tighter restrictions is to make sure Americans are not spending money which directly benefits the Cuban Military.
The Military has interests in countless tourism and hotel projects including reportedly one property that Starwood Hotels and Resorts debuted last year in Havana.
This could spell bad news for parent company Marriott International and US hospitality companies in general.
Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s president and chief executive said: "We urge the Trump Administration to recognise and utilise travel as a strategic tool in its efforts to improve relations with Cuba, allowing us to be part of a promising future, as opposed to reverting to the policies of the past."
The World Travel & Tourism Council president and CEO David Scowsill said: "There is latent demand from the US for people to visit Cuba to explore its history and culture, and it would be a retrograde step to revert once again to Americans travelling in groups."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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