Cuba for Americans Documentary – USA next travel destination – Movie of a Cuban holiday
Times are changing fast and an ease in the tension between USA and Cuba means Cuba is more and more a tourism destination for Americans. This movies shows glimpses of Cuba you don’t see in the fancy enclave resorts shielded from the rest of the Cuban society.
Besides Havana and other tourist attractions scuba diving in Cuba is something special. You can see in the film why.
Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba comprises the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud and several archipelagos. Havana is the capital of Cuba and its largest city. The second-largest city is Santiago de Cuba.To the north of Cuba lies the United States (150 km or 93 mi away), the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands are to the northeast, Mexico is to the west (210 km or 130 mi away), the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and with over 11 million inhabitants, is the second-most populous after Hispaniola, albeit with a much lower population density than most nations in the region. It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the aboriginal TaĆno and Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and proximity to the United States.
Tourism in Cuba was initially restricted to enclave resorts where tourists would be segregated from Cuban society, referred to as “enclave tourism” and “tourism apartheid”. Contacts between foreign visitors and ordinary Cubans were de facto illegal between 1992 and 1997. The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba, and led to speculation about the emergence of a two-tier economy.
Cuba has tripled its market share of Caribbean tourism in the last decade;as a result of significant investment in tourism infrastructure, this growth rate is predicted to continue.1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003, predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of $2.1 billion. Cuba recorded 2,688,000 international tourists in 2011, the third-highest figure in the Caribbean (behind the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico).
The Medical tourism sector caters to thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian, and American consumers every year.
Allegations of widespread sex tourism are downplayed by the Cuban Justice minister. According to a Government of Canada travel advice website, “Cuba is actively working to prevent child sex tourism, and a number of tourists, including Canadians, have been convicted of offences related to the corruption of minors aged 16 and under. Prison sentences range from 7 to 25 years.”
The once tense relations between the USA and Cuba shows rapid signs of improvement.
As of December, 2014, talks with Cuban officials and American officials including President Barack Obama have resulted in the exchange of releasing Alan Gross, fifty two political prisoners, and an unnamed non-citizen agent of the United States in return for the release of three Cuban agents currently imprisoned in the United States. Additionally while the embargo between the United States and Cuba will not be lifted it will be relaxed to allow import, export, and certain commerce within a limit between the two.
In 2008, the EU and Cuba agreed to resume full relations and cooperation activities. United States President Barack Obama stated on April 17, 2009, in Trinidad and Tobago that “the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba”, and reversed the Bush Administration’s prohibition on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans from the United States to Cuba.
On December 17, 2014, an agreement between the United States and Cuba, brokered in part by Pope Francis, began the process of restoring international relations between Cuba and the United States. Cuba agreed to release political prisoners and the United States began the process of creating an embassy in Havana
Text credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba