Cuba's BoomingTourism

Will Trump Halt It?

     Yet another major U. S. company -- Expedia -- has joined the Cuban bandwagon even as the small but powerful and self-serving counter-revolutionary factions in Miami and Washington frantically try to convince President Donald Trump to reverse all of the Cuban positives the Republican administration inherited from the Democratic Obama presidency. This week -- Tuesday, May 23, 2017 -- Expedia announced it will start offering online booking for Cuban hotels to capitalize on the Obama-generated "boom in tourists activity to Cuba." The Republican-dominated U. S. Congress staunchly maintains a plethora of anti-Cuban laws, including restrictions on U. S. citizens' freedoms to visit Cuba, but Obama eased many of those anti-democratic obstacles.

            The Expedia executive in charge of the Caribbean is Veronica Vega. She told Reuters, "I see a lot of potential in Cuba. We are talking about the largest country in the Caribbean with significant hotel expansions now underway and with much more tourist-friendly actions in their plans. The Cuban market excites us and, if roadblocks are not instituted, Cuba looms as a Caribbean hot-spot because it is, for real, the intriguing Pearl of the Antilles. There are now 12 U. S. airlines and cruise operators with regular forays to Cuba."

       In the background, this is the magnificent Hotel Encanto in Santiago de Cuba on the island's southeastern tip. It has now been newly renovated up to luxury status in Cuba's second largest city.

This is the renovated Hotel Santa in Old Havana.

        The American hotel giant Starwood Hotels & Resorts now has massively important investments in Cuba -- such as this Four Points-Sheraton in the historic and picturesque Miramar district of Havana.

Inside Starwood's 5-star Four Points Havana Hotel.

Also inside Starwood's luxury Havana Hotel.

A Starwood's luxury bedroom in Havana.

      This is one of Starwood's 2-bed luxury gems in Havana. Starwood Hotels & Resorts is already booking its Four Points Hotel in Havana but the opening day for its Inglaterra Hotel is set for December 31, 2019.

      Cuba has also welcomed the American online giant AIRbnb. In fact, AIRbnb now says, "Cuba has become our fastest growing market in the world and also our fastest growing market ever."

    A privately owned AIRbnb-related Bed & Breakfast in Cuba.

      With inroads paved by President Obama and now with massive assistant from AIRbnb's worldwide booking prowess, Cuba's newly excited Bed & Breakfasts entrepreneurs are just beginning to thrive.

      Although there are cheaper Bed & Breadfast rentals in Cuba, the AIRbnb connection has enabled Cubans to invest in remodeling their businesses as shown above. Many Cuban-Americans have long assisted Cubans on the island financially but because of advances in U.S.-Cuban relations orchestrated by President Obama, business investments from Cuban-Americans to new Cuban entrepreneurs have increased massively since 2014, enabling private homes-businesses like this to be sharply upgraded.

         The vast majority of Cubans in Cuba and the vast majority of Cubans in the United States, as well as almost every business and entrepreneur enterprise on both sides of the Florida Straits, want to continue the mutually beneficial cordial relations that former U. S. President Obama made possible. But a small, self-serving cabal of Cubans and lobbyists in Miami and in Washington are in the process of trying desperately to persuade current U. S. President Donald Trump to reverse those long-awaited positive measures.

  *&***********************&*