Easing Travel to Cuba: Agents React
by Judy Jacobs /
Travel agents are generally pleased with the easing of restrictions on travel to Cuba but they caution that the island nation is not yet a destination for all Americans and, they say, agents need to be especially careful in qualifying clients.
“I am excited to start sending my sun and fun customers to Cuba but it might be a while before the infrastructure and the [hotel] brands consistency can deliver,” said Sandy Anderson, owner of Coon Rapids, Minn.-based Riverdale Travel, a Travel Leaders agency.
“There seems to be a disconnect for service that American tourists would expect,” she said.
Not 'up to par'
Cuba native and agent Olga Ramudo agreed that, “Cuba is not advanced and not up to par with what our customers are used to.
“It is a beautiful island which has been frozen in time for 53 years,” said Ramudo, president and CEO of Express Travel in Miami. Born in Cuba, Ramudo left the country after the 1959 revolution.
“It takes a lot more work to sell Cuba than to sell other destinations, and for tour operators, any programs that they want to develop need to be in partnership with the Cuban government,” she added.
“Buildings are falling down, restaurants are scarce; these are all things to consider”
Up until now Ramudo has not sold travel to Cuba but said, “We will sell Cuba to those requesting travel to Cuba. It will most likely be business travelers.
Well-traveled clients
American tourists have been visiting Cuba for years under the cultural/educational “people-to-people” programs established under the Clinton Administration and packaged by U.S. tour operators.
Given the nature of the people-to-people tours, which are heavily scheduled, “Cuba appeals to customers who are very well traveled but who we’ve pre-qualified to make sure they understand what their program is going to consist of,” said Anderson.
It’s also important that people understand that they need to stick with the program. The trips are intense cultural experiences with little or no time to laze at the beach.
Violette Gorell of Frosch Travel, a Signature Travel Network agency in Ft. Collins, Colo., said, “[A potential Cuba client] can’t be someone who’s too independent. They have to go with the group.”
Gorell took a group of 24 people – aged 25 to 75 – to Cuba last February.
“You can’t say, ‘I’m not going to go to that concert,’ because if you don’t go the tour company has to report to the government why you weren’t going,” she said.
The need for flexibility
Among many things that clients must be aware of in Cuba is the need to be flexible and not get upset when plans are changed, other agents noted.
“In Cuba, the government’s always in charge,” said Suzanne Terry of Blue Sky Excursions, a Virtuoso agency in Boca Raton, Fla.
“You can have a plan and are going to a certain restaurant but the guide gets a call that you can’t go to that restaurant because a dignitary wants it,” said Terry who has taken two high-end groups of 12 people each to Cuba.
The people-to-people trips
Still, the people-to-people programs have given clients a chance to really know the country, said agents.
“These programs are pretty extraordinary,” said Ann MacIntyre, owner of On the Map Travel, in St. Louis. “We went to a hospital for high-risk pregnancy women and had the most amazing conversations with these women about everything from families to health care to food.
“The Cuba trips tend to be much more than anyone would have expected.“
Gorell said her group spent just two nights in Havana and wished they could have spent more but also found their other destinations fascinating.
“It was such a diverse bit of activities – art, music, bird watching,” she said. “We visited Zapata Swamp National Park, the largest swamp preserve in the Caribbean, where we saw all kinds of birds.
“We went to the Bay of Pigs and stayed in cottages that had housed the military. The beach was pristine. Nobody was there.”
More packages—more for agents to sell
Despite the cautions, most agents told Travel Market Report that Cuba will have great appeal to certain kinds of clients.
“It will ultimately replace a lot of Caribbean business that will be diverted to Cuba,” said David Weber, managing director of R. Crusoe & Son in Chicago.
“It’s really appeals to a wide variety of clients,” he said. “People travel for three reasons – intellectual curiosity, because their friends go and they want to go too, and for the bragging rights.”
Riverdale Travel’s Anderson said “I suspect these newly announced changes will allow tour operators to begin to provide packages to travel agencies.
“Because of the free market, the costs for a week to Cuba will be considerably less than is now for Americans to travel on the people-to-people programs,” she said. “It will be incredible to travel freely in Cuba.
“What an exciting time to be a travel agent,” Anderson added. “A new destination.”