Arnie Weissmann:
Thoughts on Mark Travel’s
research, working for Murdoch
and learning geography.
12
DOT DELAYS NEW RULES
6
Richard Turen:
It’s time we stopped fighting the
Internet and technology and
instead mastered them.
48
www.travelweekly.com
Section 1 of 2
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
Consumer Trends
JULY 25, 2011
[ NEW PRODUCTS FROM A&K, GLOBUS ]
Tour ops jumping
at chance to offer
Cuban itineraries
By Gay Nagle Myers
This year, we examined the research of PhoCus Wright, Mark Travel, Frommer’s, Travel Leaders, Ypartnership, Accor and Hilton as each company sought to plumb the mind of the leisure traveler. SEE PULLOUT SECTION
Think of Cuba today as a theater in which
the curtain is about to go up on the first act
of a performance that created quite a buzz in
rehearsals a decade ago.
Abercrombie & Kent announced new
Cuba programs last week, followed a day
later by a similar announcement from the
Globus Family of Brands.
Insight Cuba was first out of the gate in
June, and according to director Tom Popper,
it didn’t take long to fill its inaugural trip,
which departs Miami on Aug. 11.
There are other companies already in the
mix as well, and more announcements from
mainstream operators are expected soon.
Fueling all these product announcements
is a policy change issued by the Obama administration in January, which allows U.S.
With Canal expansion, an end to ‘post-Panamax’
Obama opens the door just
a crack. And despite govern-
ment red tape, operators
see great opportunity.
By Donna Tunney
If all goes according to plan, the
classification of giant cruise ships
known as post-Panamax vessels will
cease to exist sometime in 2014.
Post-Panamax designates ships too large
to pass through the canal. But when the canal
expansion currently under way is complete,
the canal will be able to accommodate all
existing cruise vessels, including the largest,
Oasis of the Seas, and its sister, Allure of the
Seas (although with Oasis-class ships, height
could still prove to be a limiting factor).
But even as the Panama Canal Authority
recently passed the halfway point in its ambi-
tious plan to expand the 100-year-old canal
and double the amount of cargo that transits
the waterway, it remained unclear if cruise
lines had much appetite for building new
itineraries around the expanded canal.
citizens to travel to Cuba to meet with local
Cubans in the “people-to-people” category
of educational and cultural travel.
The administration expanded the definition of group travel to Cuba beyond strictly
religious, educational, humanitarian and
cultural travel to include U.S. travelers who
want to meet and share experiences with local Cubans in all walks of life.
The people-to-people programs were
popular during the final years of the Clinton
administration, but they were discontinued
in 2004 by President George W. Bush.
Obama reversed Bush’s decision this year,
serving to heighten interest in travel to Cuba
by all sorts of groups and triggering numerous applications for people-to-people travel
licenses from the U.S. government.
But while a lot of companies are clearly
See CUBA on Page 51