Confusion and setbacks amid changes to Cuba travel rules

Confusion and setbacks amid changes to Cuba travel rules
By Gay Nagle Myers

In the Hot Seat
John McAuliffe of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development offers his
views on the complicated, confusing and ever-changing Cuba travel
regulations.

Anyone who feels confused about what's going on with the
people-to-people travel programs to Cuba has lots of company.

Think government bureaucracy run amok, combined with consumer (and
media) confusion. Then add operator stress due to trip cancellations
and/or postponements, staff cutbacks and loss of revenue, and you begin
to get a sense of where this program is heading.

Dozens of license-renewal applications, which are required each year by
the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC),
are backlogged in OFAC's Washington office.

Meanwhile, companies previously licensed to operate the programs are in
a holding pattern, unable to move forward with their fall and winter
programs.
When the program was discontinued in 2003, the licenses had a two-year
validity period. The Obama administration reinstated the program in
January 2011, but licenses are now valid for just one year.

Companies began receiving their licenses to operate the programs in June
2011 and beyond, which means that the majority of the licenses have
already expired or soon will.

Of the dozens of licenses submitted for renewal, only a handful have
received the go-ahead.

OFAC is not transparent about which companies received the licenses in
the first place, although the figure has been placed at 140, said John
McAuliffe, executive director of the Fund for Reconciliation and
Development (FRD), a nonprofit aimed at normalizing relations between
the U.S. and Cuba.

"Travel is the key to breaking through the suspicion and hostility of 52
years," McAuliffe said.

FRD has applied for a license to operate people-to-people programs but
has been turned down five times, McAuliffe said. The latest application
is pending.

OFAC's new guidelines for the people-to-people programs demand
additional information from the licensees.

The original application for a license was a six-page document.
Operators had to provide a sample itinerary, describe the group
activities and explain how the trip activities would promote
interactions of a cultural or educational nature.

OFAC revised the process in May, with applications now averaging about
100 pages.

This was done "to deter abuses because of reports we received," said
Jeff Braunger, OFAC's program manager for Cuba travel licensing.

Companies operating people-to-people programs, including Insight Cuba,
Friendly Planet, National Geographic Expeditions, Collette Vacations and
Austin-Lehman, applied for and received a specific one-year license at
different times in 2011 to operate the programs. They did not need to
partner with a nonprofit organization to get the license or to operate
the programs.

But those companies and all companies holding a specific
people-to-people license had to then turn to U.S.-licensed Travel
Service Providers to handle all travel arrangements for the programs,
including booking hotels, air, tours and activities in Cuba. Charter air
arrangements are handled by Carrier Service Providers.

A new twist in OFAC's latest regulations is that the service providers
no longer are authorized to issue the tourist cards needed for entry
into Cuba.

In the past, they would get blank entry cards, fill them out with the
information on the passenger who was going on a U.S.-licensed
people-to-people program and attach them to the air charter ticket.

Now, the travelers themselves must obtain the tourist cards from the
Cuban Interest Section housed in the Swiss Embassy in Washington.

The change was made by the U.S. government, "although OFAC never warned
anyone about the change, nor, to my knowledge, did they consult with the
Cubans," one operator said.

Follow Gay Nagle Myers on Twitter @gnmtraveleekly.

http://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/Confusion-and-setbacks-amid-changes-to-Cuba-travel-rules/