- Cuba: The Next Caribbean Hub?
MULTIDESTINATION STANDS FOR A MATCHLESS POSSIBILITY IN THE CARIBBEAN, WHERE THE UPTICK IN U.S. FLIGHTS TO CUBA MUST NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A THREAT, BUT RATHER AS AN OPPORTUNITY
As the thaw in relations between the U.S. and Cuba turned its first year in December 2015, the two countries inked a one-and-only Memorandum of Understanding: the resumption of scheduled flights between the two nations for the first time in over fifty years.
The agreement allows up to 110 daily flights from the U.S. to Cuba, 20 to Havana and 10 to each of the other nine international airports. This is a reciprocal deal, which means there could be the same amount of flights operated by Cuban airlines to different destinations in the U.S., as soon as conditions are right.
Eleven U.S. airlines requested 506 frequencies in 39 routes to Cuba from different cities and airports. Eventually, the U.S. Department of Transportation granted -for the time being- ten of those airlines a total of 302 weekly frequencies in 34 routes to the ten Cuban international airports, with expectations of reeling in some 135,000 to 155,000 passengers every month and chalking up seat occupancy rates in the neighborhood of 75 to 85 percent.
Multidestination Travel
The travel industry is a powerhouse when it comes to social and economic developments for members of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) indicates that 2015 marked the second year in a row in which the region outpaced the rest of the world as far as tourist arrivals are concerned.
That’s why the ACS is calling for multidestination travel (MDT), market diversification and higher service quality in the sector. Intraregional airlift and connectivity with the world have been in the centerpiece of all regional efforts -those topics were broached in the summit held in Havana in June 2016.
Julio Orozco, director of Sustainable Tourism for the ACS, wrote in an article entitled “Multidestination Travel: An Opportunity for Diversification and Development”, that MDT in the region can give the Caribbean a competitive edge and raise sustainability, therefore the region must be able to put together and promote its different attractions. What’s more, it could coordinate its different travel and tourism policies in a smart and open way, in cluding visa waiver programs, the strengthening of collaboration and the chance to round out offers and services, let alone the coordination of air routes in a way that eases the inflows of tourists and visitors among the countries.
U.S.-Cuba Flights: A MDT Opportunity
Cuba has always advocated for MDT over unique and individual destinations that vie fiercely -sometimes slashing prices and fares- in a bid to hold on tight to a market share. However, its rise to the number three spot on the list of the Caribbean’s top travel destination and its significant capacity to cater to European and Canadian sunbathers, coupled with a U.S. travel ban on the island and the lack of scheduled flights from the U.S. as a result of the embargo, were putting a cap on the island nation’s efforts in this direction.
These conditions have changed. And even though the restoration of U.S.-Cuba relations and the fact that Cuba is now all the rage in terms of travel and tourism in the region raised a few eyebrows in terms of competitiveness, Cuba’s Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said in his recent trip to Mexico that he’d been commissioned to “foster multidestination travel between the two countries because Mexico, in addition to its geographical proximity, boasts vast airlift with Cuba.”
The Cuban high-ranking official’s remarks hold water for other destinations as well. The Caribbean boasts enough market room and shares peerless natural and cultural heritage. So, rather than pitting with one another, a sense of complementation must set in.
That explains why different partnerships and coordination efforts are beginning to flourish in the region:
Bahamas: Representatives from the Cuban travel industry and Bahamas gathered to assess the possibility of coming up with different MDT circuits in a bid to lure European tourists.
Mexico: National and foreign travel agencies are currently channeling Cuba-bound tourists through Cancun, both in flights to the island or in travel packages that target the Mexican Caribbean. Mexican airline Interjet is flying daily to Havana and to the U.S.; Cubana has four weekly flights to Cancun. This allows travel agencies to tout circuits between Cancun and Cuba, where visitors can combine archeology and sunny beaches.
Dominican Republic: A number of authorities and travel companies advocate for an alliance with Cuba to complement and rake in Chinese tourists, for instance, that are beginning to sally fourth to the Caribbean island -Air China is now flying to Havana. Executives from Cubana de Aviacion have said that they had held talks with Air China to offer an airfare from the Asian country to the Dominican Republic, with stopovers in Havana. Those travel packages always imply calls to several travel destinations. A similar move can be made with Russian tourists, who are entitled to visa waiver programs issued by the two Caribbean islands.
Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico and other islands could also benefit from similar initiatives and coordinative endeavors. Many American, Canadian or European travelers could land in those destinations not on a direct trip, but from Cuba and vice versa. Havanatur and Viajes Cubanacan, among other Cuban travel agencies, are offering MDT trips to Cancun, Merida, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Nassau, Panama, Peru, Nicaragua and other countries.
The U.S.-Cuba flights render in larger slews of American travelers for those Caribbean countries that could cut MDT programs with Cuba, either by air and aboard cruise liners, both from the U.S. and Europe, as they are now enhancing their operations with the island nation.
Due to its geographical position, hemmed in by so many capitals and major travel destinations in the Caribbean so close at hand, Cuba is a game changer in the efforts to step up air connectivity in the region, and even in Central America and South America.
For further information on new scheduled flights between Cuba and the U.S. and their impact on the Caribbean, read the interview with Prof. Salgado on www.caribbeannewsdigital.com/en/noticia/cuba-amadeus-and-us-airlines.
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