700,000 Americans Have Visited Cuba in 12 Months

Nearly 700,000 Americans have traveled to Cuba in the 12 months since Washington and Havana renewed relations for the first time in more than 50 years, the Obama administration said this week.

Since re-opening embassies in each other's countries last summer, the Obama administration has eased travel restrictions for educational and other purposes. That allowed people to travel to Cuba on their own, rather than part of a group, as long as they self-certify that their visits are not purely for tourist or recreational reasons.

While it is still illegal to travel to Cuba for tourism, a senior U.S. official could not say whether the Obama administration is still enforcing that law during a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

"I'm not aware of anybody who has been fined," a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. He referred the question to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control, which is in charge of enforcing the law and imposing fines for breaches.

The cruise line and airline industries have been given wide carve-outs. Critics argue the administration is illegally undermining the U.S. trade and travel embargo by creating these loopholes, when only Congress should be able to alter the rules.

Carnival Corp.'s Fathom cruise line became the first to sail from the USA to Cuba in May, and now other lines are planning their own visits.

The U.S. and Cuba reached a bilateral arrangement this year to start scheduled commercial air service directly between the two countries in order to "foster strong people-to-people ties and increase travelers' choices," a senior administration official told reporters.

The Department of Transportation has already awarded commercial airlines direct flight access from the U.S. to non-Havana routes, and passengers will be able to start traveling as early as the fall. Right now, U.S. travelers must reach Cuba through flights from other countries, usually in South and Central America or the Caribbean.

The U.S. and Cuba expect a final decision on Havana routes later this summer, the U.S. official said.

Source: The Washington Examiner