Our friend Carlos Eire alerted us to the article about tourism problems in Cuba.
Let me tell you about a Dallas couple that just went to Cuba. They were curious and took a trip to see the island. We spoke recently about it and the trip was not really what they expected. In other words, Cuba lacks the infrastructure that Cancun, Jamaica and other places have.
Not a shock, frankly.
Cuba is not ready to handle U.S. tourists who are accustomed to better facilities in Cancun or Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. After all, who wants to go on vacation to an island with 1959 infrastructure? Cuba’s communist system spent a lot of money on the military, prisons and telling gullible U.S. college professors about their health care programs. Unfortunately, they did little to improve such basics as water pipelines, the electricity grid or having hotels with clean sheets.
There is another reason. Cuba is competing with countries that have been marketing to U.S. tourists for decades.
It all reminds me of a conversation I had with an older couple years ago. They went to Varadero, Cuba for their honeymoon. The lady said that Cuba was a popular honeymoon destination back in the 1950s. Back then, the hotels were private and well run, the restaurants were first class and hygiene was not a problem.
Cuba today is not that way. It won’t be that way for a long time. So don’t expect a lot of Americans to go to Cuba.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.