Cuba News - Cuba Weblog
Travelucion ? Obama to visit Cuba in March
The brief visit in mid-March will mark a watershed moment in relations between the U.S. and Cuba, making Obama the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on the island in nearly seven decades. While in the country, Obama plans to meet with groups advocating for change in Cuba, a condition the president had laid […]
Travelucion Gets Exclusive Contract to Market and Book Cuban Medical Procedures and Treatments
Cuban Health is pleased to announce Travelucion has signed an exclusive contract to begin international commercialization and marketing of Cuban medical treatments across its 432 Cuban related websites. The combination of low cost of treatment and excellent post-operative rehabilitation centers makes Cuba an ideal destination for medical tourism. The National Health System of […]
Travelucion to sign strategic marketing agreements with key Florida Travel Agents
Only 90 miles off the coast of Florida yet seemingly out of reach for most Americans, Cuba just got a whole lot closer. Travelucion an online Cuba travel & Media Company, will begin offering online media promotion of packages from Florida based travel agents across its 432 Cuba focused websites in the coming […]
Generación Y ? Cuba?s oddball Y Generation of Child Names
As a resident of Havana, Cuba’s glorious capital, Yanitse Garcia has toiled for three decades correcting people on the pronunciation and spelling of her name. So when she had her first child, Garcia naturally decided to save her daughter a lifetime of misery by choosing a simple name that everyone understand and which […]
Cuba Digital Media Giant Travelucion Courts Acquisition Offers
Controlling a gigantic portion of Cuba related internet traffic has just become a unique commodity that the Cuba digital media corporation Travelucion is relishing. The company’s colossal group of 432 multilingual web properties seemingly dominating each and every internet search. Everything from the life of enigmatic American writer Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, to […]
Havanatur prepares for American Travelers to Cuba
There’s been a quiet but relentless transformation in the Cuba Travel sector over the past 2 years. Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism, better known via the acronym MINTUR, has slowly limited access to the U.S market by prohibiting all national service providers from selling to Americans. That is, besides Havanatur. Havanatur is a wholly owned […]
Havanautos Car rental Next to Sidestep Agents
2014 has been a tough year for travel companies dealing with Cuba. Firstly, the shift away from centralized hotel bookings has seen Cuba’s MINTUR tourism ministry ratchet up direct sales of hotels through Amadeus and locally managed hotel portals. The second step in this move will see those operating websites purporting to be […]
Tripadvisor Gives Cuban Resort Worlds Best Status
Vacation review giant Tripadvisor today announced the world’s highest ranked all-inclusive resort. What makes the accolade so important is not only that it’s the Cayo Santa Maria Royalton Hotel but, that the American company finally decided to give Cuban customer service a thumbs up and the prestigious title it deserves.The Cayo Santa Maria Royalton […]
FITCuba 2014
On the 6th of May this year?s FITCuba will commence, once again held at the Morro Cabaña Castle in Havana Cuba, where it has been held for the past 9 years. Cuba?s annual MICE event is chaired by the top brass of the Ministry of Tourism or MINTUR. The Cuban tourism convention is designed […]
Cuba Travel Network & Fastbooking cease trading
Not a surprise to many in the travel industry, Fastbooking and its Cuban branded Cuba Travel Network have ceased trading earlier this week. Attempts to contact Fastbooking for comment at both their New York and Paris offices have proved unsuccessful. It is unclear why Fastbooking – Cuba Travel Network will no longer provide Hotel Reservations […]
Cuba Car Rental companies to use locally manufactured cars
Every year Cuba’s Ministry of tourism spends upwards of $25million on the renovation of its Cuban Car Rental fleets. However, each year the new cars purchased are often plagued with typical mechanical problems which render portions of the fleet unserviceable until spare parts can be delivered. A recent accord signed in mid 2013 […]
Raul Castro to local Journalists ? OK so long as you?re not Cuban?
Fancy yourself as a part time journalist? Open a business in Cuba… In April 2012 my colleagues here wrote an extensive report on fraud in Cuba, revealed by a foreign blogger based in Cuba. However, it occurred to me that the ramifications of this article were not entirely analyzed and some important issues […]
Cuba Hotel Reservation | Cuba eliminates hotel prepayments
For over two decades Cuba has been one of the worlds few destinations where in order to receive a hotel confirmation, one had to prepay the whole stay, days, weeks or months in advance. Some visitors having prepaid thousands for a hotel stay in Cuba six months or more in advance. But not […]
Cuba Travel Network | against all odds
A lot can happen in a decade, both in politics and business. During my initial visit to Cuba, Tour & Marketing was flying high, its staff a picture of happiness and success. After talking with Elba Castillo, their sales manager and Eddie Lubbers hotel sales manager, about the company’s internet travel business, […]
Cuba sees massive increase in tourism in the midst of Chavez death
The death of President Chavez may not be the blow to the Cuban economy some experts are claiming. Admittedly, Cuba has become heavily dependent on its Caribbean neighbor over the past 10 years, however, recent figures show that tourism could become Cuba´s saving grace as bookings skyrocket and most of the country is […]
Raul Castro retirement a joke or on the books?
Raul Castro has made remarks he may retire but is this a joke or a plan? Of course, everyone retires at some point, either through ill health or simply personal will. But when will that sometime be for 82 year old Mr Castro? Of course, remarks such as this about retirement may just be to […]
Getting out of Cuba | Marriage instead of a raft?
Perversely, as Cuba´s tourism numbers increase, so do the opportunities for Cubans to exit the island. You see, while tourists wander around Old Havana snapping shots of decaying buildings, the Cubans sat in them are scheming about how to get out of the country. Some are courageous enough take to rafts to cross the […]
Cuba set to unify its whole travel sector
Between the 1970´s and early 1990´s the Cuban government had just one tourism travel agency called INTUR. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, with a national eye on increasing tourism revenue, the then president, Fidel Castro, allowed various entities to sprout into life, each spearheaded by one ministry or another vying to […]
Cuba People to People | Marco Rubio wake up call to Obama Administration
This all started with Senator Marco Rubio who recently slammed the Obama administrations travel openings in the United States senate. Here is an excerpt of his floor speech: “When I look at this stuff, you know what I want to say? Come on, man! This is about promoting democracy and freedom in Cuba? […]
Cuba Import Tax Hike | Biting the hand that feeds
In our recent article concerning the introduction, then slow winding back of liberties in Cuba, we offered evidence that Raul Castro was simply opening the door (again) due to the Pope´s visit. Much like his brother did a decade earlier. The door snapped shut about 1 year after the Pope had left in […]