Cuba is waiting to hear good news from President Biden, hoping that the new administration will again loosen rules for U.S. tourists visiting the island nation as former Pres. Obama did in 2015.
The 2016 thaw, relaxing many of the rules that had been in place since the 1960s forbidding travel and trade, created a boom with cruise and air passengers arriving and spending money, and hotel chains buying into or rebuilding accommodations for them. During the Trump administration, tighter and then even tighter rules were re-imposed and investment controls returned.
During the Presidential campaign, Biden said he would reinstate at least some of the Obama policies, especially including removing restrictions on money sent by Cuban-Americans to their families in Cuba. So far, though, no word on when, or in what degree, Biden will allow other changes. One major step could be to remove the last of the Trump rules, banning cruise ships from Cuba ports, but until cruising returns, that would be meaningless.
Photo: ProfessorAbe/TravelGumbo
