Posted to the Suck Salt blog

Cuba_TourismMainstream media is describing today’s visit by a U.S. cruise ship to Cuba as historic.

This visit, as well as other events, are a clear sign that relations between the U.S. and Cuba continue to warm up. Recall: 2008 Fidel hands over power to Raul, 2009 Obama Lifts Travel Restrictions, 2015 U.S. and Cuba reopen embassies and Removal of Cuba from Terroism List, 2016 Commercial Flights Restored, and the biggest sign of them all was President Obama’s visit to the island earlier this year.

Should the stake-holders of our tourism industry – government, businesses, and of-course, the residents of Barbados – be worried about The Rise of Cuba As A Top Caribbean Travel Destination? Will FDI dollars follow visitors to Cuba as well?

Read full text – Cuba Rising

42 responses to “Cuba Rising”

  1. Violet C Beckles Avatar
    Violet C Beckles

    more Pain for BIM, to many over price crooks,

  2. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Look at the airlift to Varadero this morning…you want to know where the Canadians are going? And there are other flights to Holguin and Havana.
    Ident Type From Depart Arrive
    SWG634 B738 Halifax Int’l (CYHZ) 05:56p ADT 08:59p CDT
    XLF16 A333 Charles de Gaulle/Roissy (CDG / LFPG) 04:35p CEST 08:36p CDT
    SWG630 B738 Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int’l (CYOW) 04:16p EDT 07:41p CDT
    SWG476 B738 Montreal-Trudeau (CYUL) 12:50p EDT 04:18p CDT
    WJA2612 B738 Toronto Pearson Int’l (CYYZ) 10:24a EDT 01:33p CDT
    TSC136 A310 Edmonton Int’l (CYEG) 03:22a MDT 10:25a CDT
    SWG370 B738 Quebec/Jean Lesage Int’l (CYQB) 06:17a EDT 10:04a CDT
    SWG622 B738 Toronto Pearson Int’l (CYYZ) 06:35a EDT 09:39a CDT

    the link for those who wish more info
    https://flightaware.com/live/airport/MUVR

    That’s at least 1 direct flight from nearly every Canadian province!!!


  3. All Cuba has to do is allow the investors in to build the infrastructure and the dog dead.

  4. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    The ‘dog dead’ and then we get another pet @David. Of course Cuba will be a drain on our tourist market but weren’t Canadians going there before this US thaw? So too tourists from all over Europe?

    Frankly I see a hit to places like Puerto Rico and DR as more an impact than to BIM…

    Opportunities always exist…so lets not get ahead of ourselves as Cuba the Mecca Universe of Caribbean Tourist Destinations….


  5. Maybe Cuba will cause us to get some business fixed. Maybe it SHOULD be seen as an opportunity for us to up our game.


  6. Cuba will dominate the low cost market and compete directly with the DR and Jamaica.

    Barbados is not in that market and with tangible improvements to the tourism plant and service at every level we could maintain the viability of the industry.

    But I am dreaming in technicolour.


  7. @Dee Word

    The potential threat is in the strength of the dollar / Can and the expectation of more bank for buck. Doesn’t it make sense to plan for worse case scenario and not sit on our asses all will be well? It is often referred to as scenario planning.


  8. “David May 3, 2016 at 6:57 AM # All Cuba has to do is allow the investors in to build the infrastructure and the dog dead.”

    Easier said than done.


  9. “NorthernObserver May 3, 2016 at 6:43 AM # Look at the airlift to Varadero this morning…you want to know where the Canadians are going? And there are other flights to Holguin and Havana.
    Ident Type From Depart Arrive
    SWG634 B738 Halifax Int’l (CYHZ) 05:56p ADT 08:59p CDT
    XLF16 A333 Charles de Gaulle/Roissy (CDG / LFPG) 04:35p CEST 08:36p CDT
    SWG630 B738 Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int’l (CYOW) 04:16p EDT 07:41p CDT
    SWG476 B738 Montreal-Trudeau (CYUL) 12:50p EDT 04:18p CDT
    WJA2612 B738 Toronto Pearson Int’l (CYYZ) 10:24a EDT 01:33p CDT
    TSC136 A310 Edmonton Int’l (CYEG) 03:22a MDT 10:25a CDT
    SWG370 B738 Quebec/Jean Lesage Int’l (CYQB) 06:17a EDT 10:04a CDT
    SWG622 B738 Toronto Pearson Int’l (CYYZ) 06:35a EDT 09:39a CDT

    the link for those who wish more info
    https://flightaware.com/live/airport/MUVR

    That’s at least 1 direct flight from nearly every Canadian province!!!”

    HAPPENING FOR YEARS NORTHERN OBSERVER NOTHING NEW WHERE THE CANADIAN MARKET IS CONCERNED ABSOLUTELY NO THREAT TO BARBADOS


  10. “David May 3, 2016 at 1:02 PM # @Dee Word

    The potential threat is in the strength of the dollar / Can and the expectation of more bank for buck. Doesn’t it make sense to plan for worse case scenario and not sit on our asses all will be well? It is often referred to as scenario planning.”

    As far as i am aware the system of doing business in Cuba has not changed.No self respecting entrepreneur would invest in cuba under the current anachronistic and bureacratic way of doing things which obtains in cuba.Yes while partnerships in tourism related business with left leaning latin american countries and to some extent italian enterprises have been promoted to the satisfaction of the regime there has been no tangible benefit to the cubans who work in the industry.


  11. Balance wrote, “No self respecting entrepreneur would invest in cuba under the current anachronistic and bureacratic way of doing things which obtains in cuba.”

    Canadian companies have been investing in Cuba for years. Sherritt is a mining company (nickel).

    http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/canadians-suddenly-racing-not-to-squander-head-start-in-cuba


  12. @Hants

    Just last week we read that Minister Inniss will or has led a team to Cuba to search for investment opportunities.

  13. Violet C Beckles Avatar
    Violet C Beckles

    Inniss will or has led a team to Cuba to search for investment opportunities.?

    Let them try their fraud games there, investment is for self and not Barbados, We get nothing from crooks who invest the peoples money, Hes nothing more than a spy,

    We sure he will find CLEAR TITLE LAND THERE. MORE PAIN AND DOWN GRADES TO COME.

  14. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David, Hants at 11:32 AM spoke to the Cuba matter more pellucid than I did.

    But let me be prolix nonetheless. We don’t play in that space, David. I know that you appreciate that DR tops over four million tourists most years. Over 2.3 M from North America with close to 700K from Canada. They have 28 golf courses and 100s of beautiful beaches.

    They (and Jamaica as Hants noted) are the ones to worry most about the competitive energy from Cuba. But Cuba let it be noted had over 3.5 million tourists last year. Already they are a major player.

    Can we get real please….Barbados had just under 600K TOTAL visitors last year. Several of whom go to the villas and high end hotels. And others willing to pay a little higher premium for what we offer. Thank Heavens.

    So with respect can you realistically perceive that if Minister Inniss is leading a team to Cuba now….AFTER the US has modulated its position … that it’s a good thing!

    Is he going because of recent partnerships with tourism players there that may engender some on-travel business from US operations or other??…Otherwise David it would be simply absurd to seek business there now AFTER the US juggernaut is steaming to that port.

    Wouldn’t any “worse case scenario planning” be coordinating and done years ago?

    Now let me state that I have not been studying the Caribbean tourism market closely but rather just ad hoc so I stand to be corrected.


  15. Banks Beer exporting to Cuba

    Didn’t take the Brazilians (AmBev) long to grow the business.

    http://www.cubanews.acn.cu/economy/4870-barbadian-beer-joins-cuban-imports-to-relieve-local-demand

    “Barbados´ Bank Breweries Limited will soon begin exporting nearly one million boxes of beer to Cuba, where the local demand has surpassed production capacity following the increase of tourism and private businesses.

    The announcement was made by Barbadian Industry minister Donville Innis in Bridgetown as he commented on an upcoming visit to Cuba in early May by Barbadian officials and private sector representatives interested in exploring business opportunities here, according to PL news agency.”

    Not that Donvillle would exaggerate, but 1 million boxes?


  16. @David,
    Canadian investors have been investing in Cuba ever since the Revolution. Cuban manufacturers have been building factors, mining natural resources and building up the Cuban economy since the revolution, and Canadian travellers have been going to Cuba in the hundreds of thousands every year since the revolution. It is only OUR tourism hoteliers and potential investors who have never had the courage or understanding to invest in Cuba. Our politicians have made tentative overtures and a few have had the courage to stand up to the American and insist on Cuba,s inclusion in the OAS, but they have not been loud in their condemnation of American policies toward Cuba. Even with regard to the fight to have their Cuban doctors, and qualifications recognized even by our own medical fraternity, they were not prepared to stand up to them and demand fairness for our doctors; who were the recipients of scholarships and training in Cuba, to be recognized and given the opportunity to practice here. They were not prepared to stand up to the snobbery of the other doctors…trained in Jamaica, Trinidad or other places. A heart is a heart whether it is in Cuba or the U.S., but they have always been willing to question the bone fides of anything Cuban. What will happen now?
    Due Diligence,
    What is the population of Cuba? Why are you sceptical of the 1 million boxes? This type of thinking is what has kept us back for so long. We should have been exporting Beer to Canada long long ago. As I am always pointing out, your business persons SELL things, they do not MARKET.


  17. Slight correction; should read ” Canadian investors have been investing inCuba and manufacturers have been building factories ….


  18. Barbados has been lucky. Historical and cultural connections to the UK have sustained British interest in this island, but we lost ground with the Canadians, who used to be our second most important segment and provide almost as many visitors as the Brits. The Canadians now focus on Mexico, Cuba and the DR because our hotel industry is too inefficient to appeal to them any more. Not enough value for money.
    What could go wrong when you rely on one country to keep your industry viable?

  19. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Balance
    I worked in Cuba over many years in hotel construction for Cubanacan. I am fully aware, just unsure others were.
    However the volume to Cuba has increased dramatically.
    It is of no concern to Bim other than an exploding market which cannot supply its needs.
    And the Cubans operate funny, no open tenders like we see calls for here on BU and transparency; almost everything is government owned and orders come from within one ministry or another. One is invited.

    Banks? AmBev obviously has a connection and Cubans tend to prefer not to buy from their tourist competitors, read Mexico and the DR.

    Most of their hotels are owned by one arm of the government or another. The operator Iberostar, Melia etc lease the hotel, but must use local workers who one gets via the relevant ministry. More recently they have allowed some partial foreign ownership, if only because these owners can usually source the needed supplies, and have the foreign business relationships.

    Cuba needs everything. Yet it remains tightly controlled, so you have to wangle your way in. Bring financing with you and you get attention faster.


  20. Hants May 3, 2016 at 5:21 PM #

    Balance wrote, “No self respecting entrepreneur would invest in cuba under the current anachronistic and bureacratic way of doing things which obtains in cuba.”

    Canadian companies have been investing in Cuba for years. Sherritt is a mining company (nickel).

    http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/canadians-suddenly-racing-not-to-squander-head-start-in-cuba

    To what end? to whose end? and how after all these years has it benefitted the hardworking for little pay people in Cuba?


    Like

    David May 3, 2016 at 5:48 PM #

    @Hants

    Just last week we read that Minister Inniss will or has led a team to Cuba to search for investment opportunities.”

    Just political grandstanding. Can’t even find investment opportunities in other business friendly jurisdictions- monumental waste of time under the current circumstances- what would he be looking to invest in?


  21. “David May 3, 2016 at 6:57 AM #

    All Cuba has to do is allow the investors in to build the infrastructure and the dog dead.”
    And that they are not going to do if the mouthings from the still very entrenched old guard are taken into account


  22. Your blinkered perspective is not aligned with the reality. Go and read the news.

    Cuba is actively courting foreign investment as it seeks to build its creditworthiness, and it’s already doing business with China, Russia, Brazil, and a host of nations that showed up at the annual trade fair in Havana earlier this month. Freyre was there; he likens U.S.-Cuba ties to those with Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and China: diplomacy despite differing views.

    http://www.barrons.com/articles/investing-in-cuban-opportunities-develop-1448083146#:YAShB7_RRMaKCA


  23. “Cuba needs everything. Yet it remains tightly controlled, so you have to wangle your way in. Bring financing with you and you get attention faster.”

    Your entire post is an accurate account of how things work there. I commend you for your perception. Yes, money does talk in Cuba but it reaches only the few fortunate enough to be connected with the party apparatus.

  24. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Balance
    The old guard is getting older. For sure there is corruption in Cuba. And the system created does not provide opportunity for the masses to improve their life.
    Yet several members of the old guard appreciate that without financial sponsors, like the USSR and East Bloc, and Venezuela, their system cannot sustain itself.
    Also appreciate, any Cuban under 55, knows of nothing else.
    Exactly what their system becomes in 20 years is anybody’s guess. Yet, is that a reason to not work with them?
    I also worked in Guyana, and the corruption there is greater, the social services far worse, the division of wealth more apparent, the opportunities similarly limited. Their people flee just like the Cubans. But they are ok just because somebody labelled their system differently?


  25. @Northern observer,
    How true.! We have to get rid of our biases; entrenched through brain washing, and see the Cuban people as our brothers; or even closer, and treat them as equals. This exclusion has continued roe too long. We have products that can be sold to the Cubans; all our Cassava, products, powdered sweet poataos, (Check Carmetas on Princess Alice Highway for the number of local products that can be exported. But we hav3e to be prepared to get rid of those biases. And as for corruption, name ma a country, where corruption; at all levels, does not exist. But I remember that a few years ago, a dealership in Cuba, that catered to high end vehicles, where bribery and corruption was discovered, had the dealership closed immediately,and officials of the company were prosecuted. People could net even have their vehicles serviced AT THAT DEALERSHIP, THEY HAD TO BE SENT TO PANAMA TO HAVE WORK DONE ON THEM. Many of have a skewed understanding of the country and its operations; coloured no doubt by the negative propaganda from a hostile country.


  26. Balance,
    Maybe you should take a trip to Cuba. It would probably be a “Sauline” moment for you.


  27. @Alvin Cummins May 3, 2016 at 10:41 PM #

    “Due Diligence,
    ……..We should have been exporting Beer to Canada long long ago. As I am always pointing out, your business persons SELL things, they do not MARKET.

    See LCBO link.

    http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo/product/banks-caribbean-lager/279893#.VyoSczoaWRZ

    Banks does export to Canada.

    BUT, most LCBO stores have no inventory of Banks, and Bajans mad cause they can’t get any.

    Why?

    I guess the Brazilians have not yet discovered that the demand in Canada is not being met


  28. Alvin

    Maybe you should take a trip to the LCBO

  29. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Well stated @Northern May 4, 2016 at 10:45 AM The comparison with Guyana is excellent…Never visited Cuba but certainly traveled to the home of the Kaiteur Falls and various other regional islands and countries. The thing about Cuba that stood out over the years was the fact that American businesses were pulling tightly on their leashes for the legislative changes to get in there. Everyone else was.

    In that regard therefore all this fervor re the Obama initiative is rather perplexing (if yet understandable)…Cuba was not waiting on US companies to move forward…in fact it can be argued strongly that Fidel failed his country over the last 20 years or more by not shedding his most rabid revolutionary rhetoric and pivoting towards a more open industrialized and financially sound economy. A shift of the compass even just 25% of the 180 degrees of his former benefactors in Russia or the even milder 90 degree shift of his other good friends in Beijing …

    Clearly, as noted by those who know these things (and the polls taken over the years) the failure of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – the two Cuban Americans who ran for president – reinforces the wasted time. They illustrate clearly that the generational perspective re US-Cuba relations is one of a failed policy… and their abject rejection simply validates Obama’s sensible approach.

    If Castro had pressed ahead much more vigorously in economic partnership with other countries these US overtures would have much less significance. But as reported folks were always wary because “In Cuba ideology is still more important than the economy, and control is more important than progress”.

    That now finally changes – measurable bit by bit – one hopes…as no sensible person wants a Cuba circa 1950s or certainly like a current Russia: a Putin wealth- fueled plaything.


  30. Cuba will become a mini china of sort .carribbean govts would find trading less expensive with cuba than having to buy from countries who are geogrphically farther away
    The fact being that small island nations whose import bills are high would find a significant decrease as America Captalist move in with haste to rebuild cuba infrastructure and make it become one of the most sought after industrial countries,
    The upside for the american capitalist is a cuban well educated workforce who are capable and defiant enough so to have demonstrated significant industrial strength and financial power to build the city of miami


  31. “Cuba and Barbados Agree Mutual Trade and Investments

    Havana, May 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuba and Barbados today analyzed the possibilities of extending their economic and commercial connections and investments.

    The meetings are part of a managerial forum attended by the government representatives of both countries. Directors of service,energy, manufacturing and communication companies also took part in the exchange.

    In the opinion of Donville Inniss, the Barbadian Minister of Industry, International Business, Trade and Development of Small Enterprises, favorable conditions exist to increase and diversify bilateral links.

    Agreements have already been signed on the subject of the mutual protection of investments and avoiding double taxation in commercial transactions.

    Inniss also signed an agreement, this Wednesday, between the Chamber of Commerce of Cuba and the Corporation of Investment and Development in Barbados.

    The agreement will allow an increase in the mutual exchange of information on opportunities for trading in goods and services and the promotion of investment projects.

    According to Odalys Seijo, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce in Cuba, the deals between two countries cover small amounts and allow limited services and products.

    During the meetings, the Barbadian Minister received advice regarding the legal framework for direct foreign investments in Cuba, the fiscal incentives in force and the projects included in the portfolio of business opportunities on the island.

    hr/ym/tac/to/mjm Modificado el ( miércoles, 04 de mayo de 2016 )”

  32. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    In Bim, as one small island of many, where one focus is on reparations; appreciate there is a huge expatriate Cuban population who have similar reparatory goals. The Revolution took all the islands assets without compensation. When the nostalgia of setting foot on Cuban soil wears off, the old scars will show.
    Beyond the outward politics, there are several ‘messy issues’…land/property ownership being one. And what hasn’t changed, is the belief that Cuba and everything within it, belongs to the people of Cuba, Companeras and Companeros. (loosely female and male comrades of the revolution)

    “the deals between two countries cover small amounts and allow limited services and products.”…this is how the Cubans operate, a slow trial period where they test you. To keep our rum industry going we need molasses, which I think we are buying from Ecuador and other places.

    Cuba’s evoloution will be interesting.

    http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000004343747/fidel-castro-addresses-cuban-public.html


  33. ‘Alvin Cummins May 3, 2016 at 10:41 PM #

    @David,
    Canadian investors have been investing in Cuba ever since the Revolution.”
    and before. Can’t you understand things have gotten worse for the majority of the population since the revolution. the trumpeted successes of the revolution health-education- have been over exaggerated to make a failed experiment look good.


  34. “David May 4, 2016 at 4:50 AM #

    Your blinkered perspective is not aligned with the reality. Go and read the news.”

    My perspective is one of fact- not fiction- Go and see for yourself


  35. “Yet, is that a reason to not work with them?”
    I never said that- I work with the people but whenever the appropriate opportunity arises express my feelings about the repressive system. I do not know how you all who can criticise your system of governance without arrest and leave and enter your country as you please can support a system which deprives the majority of their citizens the freedoms you enjoy and take for granted. selfish lot you are. Mr Castro let your people go.


  36. “I also worked in Guyana, and the corruption there is greater, the social services far worse, the division of wealth more apparent, the opportunities similarly limited. Their people flee just like the Cubans. But they are ok just because somebody labelled their system differently?”
    Cuba is supposed to be a model state where no corruption or poverty or class or prostitution existed.. A utopia compared to the other corrupt Caribbean states driven by the evil of capitalism. I was extremely surprised when a standard corrupt capitalist practice was introduced to me. So do not compare Cuba with Guyana. Guyanese do not flee. They travel as they please free from fear of persecution by their own Government.


  37. Low cost tourists from the UK are already the largest group of tourists to Barbados. They get cheap, all-inclusive holidays. These are the teachers, postmen and shopworkers who save up to go on one holiday once a year with their kids.
    Get over the idea that Barbados is a “luxury” destination. If you want high-end, go to St Barts.
    Yes, luxury for a few, but these either own their own condos or stay in luxury spots like Sandy Lane.
    If you want a cheap, exotic holiday go to Cuba where a burger, fries and a cuba libre costs $1.00 US! Its a huge island with many unspoiled spots plus the wonderful architecture music and vibe.
    Or you could go to Oistins on a Friday night, yawn your head off whilst being pestered by touts or if a young woman, being groped. It’s so commercialised now, you might as well be on the Costa Brava! So much cheaper to get all that on the Costa Brava.

    Lots of Americans learn Spanish at school anyway and Cuba has the added attractions of being (a) close to home, (b) cheap to get to (c) cheap. Roll on Spring Breaks!

  38. Anthony Davis Avatar
    Anthony Davis

    Does our Minister of Tourism still not see Cuba as a threat to our tourism because, according to him, we have a different type of hotel brand? How many ports in Barbados do cruise ships visit? This one will visit three in Cuba. Cuba has more tourism attractions than Barbados – ecotourism, art, beautiful, old buildings, vintage cars and of course the hotel prices. I note that the silence coming from the Minister of Tourism is deafening!


  39. @ Victor May 5, 2016 at 8:44 AM

    You old cynic! What you and Anthony have written could be explained in one word: complacency. But what do I know.

    We are no longer the freshest and youngest prostitute on the block. Thirty years of been shafted has diminished our desirability. Perhaps the time has come for us to turn the page and look at a more sustainable way of growing our economy.

    The appeal of Cuba is evident as can be witnessed from the video below.

    https://www.rt.com/in-motion/341944-chanel-fashion-show-havana/

    I have heard some uppity individuals on this forum discussing Barbados superior infrastructure and her appeal as a high end destination. Bullshit! Please do not compare Cuba with Barbados. The people who say this are the type who lack imagination. Such individuals spend their vacations in the artificial USA or Canada gorging on chicken wings and have very little knowledge of culture.


  40. @Balance,
    I have been to Cuba,I have Cuban friends both in Cuba and Barbados as well as Miami. I know what I am speaking. Your perception now is as blinkered as it was from long ago. The same way we will never get reparations for slavery, the old Cubans who fled will not get any reparations or compensation for the land that has been redistributed or the properties they left. The sooner people like you understand that and stop longing for the past the better. Younger Cubans love their country qiwth the same fervour as those of any othe4r country; although I have my doubts about those in Barbados. We don.t seem to like each other or our country.

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