Those of us folowing Cuba Travel have noticed a dramatic recent increase in the number of visitors. All of us Cuba fanatics knew this time would come, and now everybody is scrambling to secure flights, book hotels, and arrange daily activities. Many of the other travel service providers (TSP’s) I listed under “Other Tours” are booked fairly solid for the next several months. Most Americans are not aware of this, especially if they only pay attention to occasional headlines. On the surface, both governments bad-mouth each other, and each accuses the other injustices such as unfairly imprisoning citizens of both countries. It is unlikely that there will be any change in the public positions of both countries, and certainly not until after the 2012 U.S. presidential election. 

   But under the radar, there is lots happening. People-to-people tours are actually encouraged by the U.S. government and happily accepted by the Cuban government. A lot of Americans realized that things have definitely changed when they received this month’s National Geographic Traveler with its cover page proclaiming: “Cuba!–The Time is Now!” It is hard to imagine anything reversing this trend. The one thing most likely to happen is an increase in tour prices, as the supply/demand ratio gets seriously tweaked.

   An informative article that rationally discusses today’s political stalemate between the two governments is “The Frozen U.S.-Cuba Relationship.” You can read it at:

www.cfr.org/cuba/frozen-us-cuba-relationship/p27510 

(If the link doesn’t cooperative, you can copy and paste it into your browser.)