SXMElections.com

MIAMI/HAVANA--Carnival Corporation has won United States approval to operate cruises to Cuba, and plans to start taking travellers there in May 2016, on weekly seven-day voyages from Miami. Carnival, the world's largest cruise operator and a major source of St. Maarten's cruise tourists, said it was still in talks with Cuba for approval to start humanitarian and culturally themed visits.

Based in Miami, Carnival is the first major US-based cruise ship company to venture into Cuban waters, but joins a growing list of maritime companies hoping to profit from a thaw in relations between Washington and Havana.

The Cuba cruise should be launched in May under its new "fathom" brand, set up last month to run cruises with humanitarian and cultural themes to the Dominican Republic.

Carnival will use the 710-passenger vessel, MV Adonia, for its Cuba cruises on the small side for the company, whose ships typically carry 2,000 to 3,000 people.

Carnival said the cruises would focus on education, the environment and economic development, and feature Spanish lessons and workshops on the country's heritage. There will be no casinos or stage shows.

The Cuba cruises will start at US $2,990 per person excluding taxes and other fees. They will be more expensive than typical regional cruises because of visa costs, paperwork and the fact that the US rules require passengers on cruises to Cuba to spend at least eight hours a day on the ground, and participating in academic, professional, religious or educational programmes.

Local perspective

From the local perspective, "quantity-wise it might not have a major impact at this point, seeing that it's a specific type of travel... but we need to keep an eye" on developments, because in the end "we're competing for the same tourist-dollar," said Ricardo Perez, board member at St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) in an invited comment.

The average American tourist only takes one vacation per year, he pointed out, calling the development a "wake up call" to getting in line, as an island, with improving the tourism product and staying competitive.

Last month, a position paper collaborated on by Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) President Emil Lee was issued, "Cuba: The Great Disruption for the Good of the Caribbean."

It outlined the need for a clear and proactive collaborative regional tourism development strategy by both the US and the Caribbean public and private sectors, and called for the "establishment of a Caribbean Basin Tourism Initiative (CBTI) to address the region's socio-economic challenges, and create new opportunities for stimulating trade, travel and investment throughout the region."

It is a summary of CHTA's views after extensively discussing implications of the Cuba "disruption," and will be distributed through CHTA's 32 National Hotel Associations – including SHTA – to the region's public and private sector leaders.

"The biggest and most disruptive pebble to be dropped into the Caribbean pool in 50 years will arrive with the opening of travel to Cuba for United States citizens," read the paper's introduction.

"While US tour, airline and cruise executives are eyeing the tourism potential of the long-forbidden paradise 90 miles south of Key West, Florida; conflicted stakeholders throughout the wider Caribbean have legitimate concerns whether there will be a level playing field, and whether the rest of the region will grow tourism arrivals or lose tourism investments and arrivals as they divert to Cuba.

"The impact Cuba will have on our ability to attract investment in much-needed tourism infrastructure and human resources, not just in Havana but throughout the entire Caribbean region, simply cannot be overstated."

The CBTI would be patterned off of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a regional policy advanced by the United States in the 1980s, only focusing on tourism rather than manufacturing.

"We recognise that the opening of Cuba to American tourists will have an impact on both Cuba and the region and want to maximize the positive benefits for all stakeholders and, at the same time, set a tone for a new era of cooperation among Caribbean nations.

"This is an opportunity to reunite the region under a broad-based effort to increase tourism for all Caribbean nations, and also an opportunity to attract investments and developers throughout the Caribbean."

Requests for comment sent Tuesday afternoon to Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication Claret Connor and St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies Chief Executive Officer Mark Mingo were not returned in time for publication.

Relations

The United States and Cuba have been working for months to improve relations after more than five decades of animosity which led to a trade embargo against the communist-led country.

The countries formally agreed last week to restore diplomatic relations on July 20.

Americans are still banned from going to Cuba as tourists, but are allowed to go there for a dozen approved motives such as visiting family or participating in academic, professional, religious or educational programmes.

Miami-based cruise lines including Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., have for years expressed reservations about upsetting the city's large Cuban-American exile population which has traditionally opposed doing business with Cuba.

"The reaction to the changes in Cuba policy here has been much more muted than expected and the cruise lines are clearly reading that," said Antonio Zamora, a Cuban-born Miami lawyer and critic of the embargo.

In May, the US Treasury Department approved several licences for passenger ferry services between the United States and Cuba. Ferry services between Cuba and the United States were cut off in the early 1960s, following the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

Airlines have also moved to take advantage of the thaw with JetBlue Airways Corp. starting direct charter flights between New York and Havana on Friday. Other US airlines, many of which have operated charter flights to Cuba for years, have also said they would look into ways to increase service there.

Carnival said the cruises had received approvals from the US Department of the Treasury and the US Department of Commerce.

Carnival shares were up 0.39 per cent at US $49.75 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.