U.S.-Cuba Travel Meeting to Be Held in Cancun in March

Representatives of the U.S. travel industry will meet with their Cuban counterparts at the U.S.-Cuba Travel Summit in Cancun, Mexico, this March to discuss travel between the two countries.

The meeting, at the Gran Melia Cancun Hotel March 24 to 26, is being organized by Alamar Associates, a consulting firm for businesses and organizations looking to do business with Cuba, together with the National Tour Association. It is being sponsored by the U.S. Tour Operators Association and the Americas Group, among others.

The meeting is expected to attract a Cuban delegation of more than 20 people including ministry officials as well as representatives of Cuban travel companies and tour operators. In addition, more than 100 attendees from the U.S. are expected, including tour operators, cruise lines, hotels, airlines and other tourism developers and investors.

“This meeting between U.S. travel executives and their Cuban counterparts is a valuable first step for American companies and organizations to learn how things will work when Cuba is open to American tourism,” Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the lead sponsor of the Senate bill to lift the Cuba travel ban, said in a statement to the meeting’s organizers.

The conference agenda will include presentations by Cuban ministry officials and representatives of the major U.S. travel associations; panel discussions on the potential of the Cuban travel market; as well as general discussions about how to prepare for doing business in and with Cuba, what Cuba offers, the experiences of firms already doing travel business in Cuba, and prospects for changing U.S. legislation.