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Traveling to Cuba just got a whole lot harder.
The Trump Administration imposed new travel restrictions on Tuesday, targeting some of the most common ways for Americans to visit Cuba.
Announced by the Treasury Department, the new travel restrictions on American travel to Cuba include cruise ship stops and group educational trips, which was called "people-to-people" travel. This was one of the most common ways for Americans to visit the island; tour operators booked Cuban cultural itineraries that fell inline with Office of Foreign Assets Control or OFAC regulations making it easier for Americans to visit the country.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the new directives were a response to Cuba's "destabilizing role" in the region. The new travel restrictions will also end cruise travel to Cuba for Americans , which previously has made up a large part of the Caribbean country's inbound tourism market. The country says that Americans have quickly grown to be the second largest foreign group visiting the island after Canadians.
Prior to the latest regulations, the country was set to welcome five million visitors in 2019, according to their tourism ministry.
With some press calling the move a "crackdown," many tour operators are upset. Collin Laverty, one of the largest Cuba travel companies in the U.S., Cuba Educational Travel, told the Associated Press that "it kills the people-to-people category, which is the most common way for the average American to travel to Cuba."
However some operators are remaining optimistic.
“We will always find a legal way to bring people to the amazing destination of Cuba. The genie is out of the bottle and this move will not diminish Americans’ desire to visit Cuba and learn about its culture," Peggy Goldman, President and Founder of Friendly Planet Travel, said in an e-mail. She added that her tours are "about forming a deep connection with the Cuban people and our travel is always planned with the betterment of the destination at its core. We intend to continue offering legal tours to Cuba. We’re not giving up on Cuba and we don’t think anyone else should either.”
