UNWTO takes a swipe at Trump

21 Jun 2017  2038 | World Travel News

MADRID The World Tourism Organisation expresses its “firm resentment” over the recently-announced decision by the United States Administration to restore travel restrictions with Cuba.

“This represents a step backwards and a strong attack on the freedom of travel,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai.

“This decision will have limited impact on Cuba’s tourism development, yet it will substantially impact on the US economy and American jobs. Many US companies have started to invest in and do business with Cuba in view of the immense potential of Cuban tourism, which other countries will surely continue to benefit from,” he added.

AFP reported that US President Donald Trump was tightening restrictions on American business and tourism in Cuba to help the island’s people and small private businesses, but analysts warn it would do the opposite.

The US president framed it as a move against a “cruel and brutal” regime: bypassing the state military-run business group GAESA to channel investment to the people.

But in Cuba, cutting out the armed forces means undermining the tourism sector, which is largely controlled by GAESA but also supports many small, private businesses.

“The new measures will attack the only sources of growth that the Cuban economy currently has: tourism and the private sector,” said Pavel Vidal, a Cuban economist at Pontifical Xaverian University in Colombia.

US companies active in Cuba have complained about the threat to business — such as the Starwood hotel chain which last year opened a Sheraton in Havana.

But the biggest impact may be felt by Cubans themselves.

“There will be little impact on the US economy,” said Michael Shifter, a specialist at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based research group.

“But for the Cuban economy -– including the private sector -– this shift is a tremendous blow.”

Trump said he would restrict US tourist visits to the island, which had increased as part of cultural exchange travel approved by Obama.

“The growth of the private sector was linked to tourist demand which was growing in part due to the flow of US tourists,” said Vidal.

“If that flow is reduced and demand slows down, private companies will be badly affected.”

Cuban officials said last week that nearly 285,000 US visitors flocked to Cuba in the first five months of 2017, roughly the same number as for all of last year.

That was a fraction of the 4 million tourists who visited the island overall. But officials said US visitors in particular tended to patronize private businesses.

Trump said his measures aimed to punish the Castro regime, which Washington accuses of mistreating political dissidents.

Cuban state newspaper Granma, a mouthpiece of the regime, said Trump’s measures heralded “a return to the Cold War.”

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