Cuba fears 'tens of thousands' of US yachts

Cuba fears 'tens of thousands' of US yachts

Havana (AFP) - Tens of thousands of American yachts could descend on
Cuba if US President Barack Obama authorizes boat travel to the island,
which is not ready for the influx, an official said Wednesday.

Pleasure cruises from the United States to Cuba have virtually halted
since former president George W. Bush cracked down on private boat trips
in 2004 with an executive order that expanded the government's authority
to stop unauthorized travel out of US waters.

That "is the only impediment today" stopping a mass arrival of American
yachts and pleasure cruisers, said Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich, commodore
of the Ernest Hemingway International Nautical Club in Havana.

"The first year the executive order restricting boat trips is lifted,
tens of thousands of vessels could come," he told AFP.

But Cuba "is not prepared (for) the large influx" and will have to take
action to develop its port infrastructure, he said.

"There are no marinas prepared, there are no shipyards or nautical
supply stores."

He said a mass arrival of US yachts could force the communist island to
develop the sector, however.

He also predicted record-breaking attendance at the next Ernest
Hemingway International Billfishing Tournament, to be held in May.

Named for the US Nobel Prize-winning author, who lived in Cuba for two
decades, the tournament has been held since 1950.

Since the US and Cuba announced a historic rapprochement last December
after more than five decades of enmity rooted in the Cold War, the White
House has eased travel restrictions on 12 categories of visits,
including trips for journalism, education, the arts and sports -- but
not tourism.

Currently, travelers from the United States to Cuba must take chartered
"humanitarian" flights, since Washington has barred commercial flights
to the island since 1962.

Diaz Escrich said local officials in Key West, Florida, have expressed
interest in reestablishing ferry service between the US and Cuba.

The ferry across the Florida Straits was popular with US tourists until
it was scrapped in the wake of the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Source: Cuba fears 'tens of thousands' of US yachts - Yahoo News -
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