The U.S. announced new rules for travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens, reversing key changes made during the Obama administration. The biggest changes will reinstate the requirement that most U.S. travelers will be required to go only as part of a licensed, escorted group.
Another major change will ban U.S. travelers from patronizing hotels, restaurants and other businesses that the State Department determines are owned by or benefit members of the Cuban government, and especially the military, which owns many hotels and enterprises. The restriction means that, in practice, travelers will be limited to staying and eating at hotels run by foreign companies.
That list will also be used to ban commercial business with U.S. companies, but will not affect travel arrangements or contracts already signed.
Even under the Obama-era liberalization of rules, trade and travel did not increase as much as many expected. Two major factors are likely involved: The limited Cuban tourism infrastructure and remaining regulations made many Cuba trips seem daunting, and since last fall, the expectation of moves such as today's have reduced investment interest.
Two groups likely to benefit from the changes, however, are the small companies that have specialized in leading licensed group tours, and were thought to be an endangered species, and the cruise lines, whose increasingly popular Cuban itineraries rely on their independence from Cuban infrastructure to make a visit easy, and based mainly onboard.
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