Cubans Talk About Impact of Trump Administration Travel Policy Changes

HAVANA, CUBA - In her most despair filled moments, Laila Chaaban walks to Havana's famed oceanfront Malecon to sit on the seawall and stare out at the horizon, contemplating her future, and wondering if things will ever get better.

A young fashion designer, Chaaban took a giant leap of faith several months ago and opened her own storefront just outside Old Havana to sell her creations.

The timing could not have been worse.

Just as she opened the doors to Capicua Fashion, the Trump administration announced its latest crackdown on travel to the country for U.S. citizens. In June, the administration issued a ban on "people to people" travel, which is the most common way Americans visit the island.

The administration also put a stop to all cruises visiting the country, which had been a boon for the small island nation, bringing in some 800,000 travelers last year who had plenty of money to spend.

"Right now, the restrictions from the U.S. are hurting me and I don't know what I'm going to do if this doesn't change," explained Chaaban. "My mother is supporting me but how long can she support me and how long can I stand this situation?"

"It's not just about money," Chaaban added. "It's about growth and feeling like I'm doing something with my life."

Chaaban's heartbreak over her situation is palpable as she talks. Though she maintains a bright, almost infectious smile, her large brown eyes reveal deep-seated worries.

And her story is by no means unique. During interview after interview with Cuban business owners and average citizens last week during a visit to the island, the same narrative was shared, again and again, one of despair and dashed hopes.

Restaurant owners, local freelance tour guides, marketing agency owners and taxi drivers, all expressed frustration and uncertainty with the latest turn of events in Cuba's fortunes.

That despair is not only tied to the precipitous drop in income that has taken place as American visitors to Cuba have dwindled.

The sudden shift in the country's fortunes has also brought about something of an identity crisis for many of Cuba's youngest residents, those who had been contemplating leaving the island to pursue brighter futures in the past, but then decided to stay when President Obama ushered in improved relations with the United States.

For the first time in years, those young Cubans saw a bright and promising future for themselves in their home country. Many felt optimistic enough to invest in businesses, opening restaurants or storefronts and buying cars to be used as taxis for the droves of tourists arriving via cruise ships. But with each successive crackdown under the Trump administration, those hopes and dreams for the future fade, or have been all but destroyed.

On a recent afternoon, Zoila Avile, Zoe Gomez and Lauren Hernandez, a group of fashionable and bubbly twenty and thirtysomethings who work in the tourism industry, sat together at a trendy restaurant in a leafy suburb of Old Havana openly discussing the seismic turn of events.

All three have seen business plummet since the latest travel ban was announced.

"We had 50 to 60 groups a month in high-season under Obama," said 28-year-old Hernandez.

The women say they now have little to no bookings for the upcoming season, which typically begins to get busy again in September after the humid summer months have passed.

"A lot of people were making a living only because of the cruise ships," added Avile, 37. "It's been tragic for a lot of people. Taxi drivers are selling their cars because they have no business."

One of the biggest challenges, all three women agreed, is the confusion brought about by the continuously changing American travel policies.

Americans can still visit the country on a "support for the Cuban people," visa, which is not substantially different than the "people to people" visa that Americans were previously using to visit.

The masses of American tourists, however, do not necessarily understand that fact. What's more, the damage has already been done by the administration's pronouncements that people to people visits are banned.

"The elimination of the people to people category sends a message," said Gomez.

Even the atmosphere on the streets of Cuba has changed in recent months, said Andrea Gallina - owner of the Paseo 206, an upscale boutique hotel nestled among the tree-lined streets, art galleries and art deco buildings of Vedado - the economic and cultural heart of Havana.

"Americans were filling the streets of Havana under Obama and there was happiness," Gallina said, adding that it inspired people to feel confident about opening businesses and spending money. That mood has since shifted to something gloomier in recent months.

Gallina himself has seen the number of Americans booking visits to his hotel drop from about 55 percent in 2017 to about 30 percent now.

"In any market, when you create confusion, people are reluctant to come," Gallina continued. "Americans have very few holidays. They will choose someplace where they know it's easy to visit."

And while the Trump administration had said its policies were aimed at punishing the Cuban government and were designed to increase support for the average Cuban citizen, just the opposite has happened.

"Trump is having an impact on a sector that had a high number of private business operators, the money was going directly to the people," said Gallina. "So, of course, people are very disappointed."

Gallina's point is borne out by Giulio Ricci, a young Cuban economist who recently returned from obtaining a master's degree at the London School of Economics.

Over lunch one afternoon, Ricci talked about how changes made a few years ago by the Cuban government had vastly improved prospects for the average Cuban citizen, allowing for the opening of private businesses and entrepreneurship in areas that had historically been handled by the government.

"It was kind of a coincidence and a compliment that after that started in Cuba, the relationship with the US started to improve," said Ricci.

The subsequent decline of cruises and American visitors however under the new American presidential administration has had an impact on the overall national income and on entrepreneurs in the harbor area, in particular, Ricci continued. Most of the restaurants in the harbor area, for instance, are privately owned businesses. And the vendors selling souvenirs in the same neighborhood are also private enterprises.

"In the end, it's all people who are impacted," Ricci said. "It's kind of cynical to say we're not affecting the people, we're just affecting the government."

The important reality that all Cubans sought to stress in interview after interview, however, is that Americans can, and should, still visit. In fact, Americans can walk into an airport and buy a visa to visit Cuba at the gate, as I did.

If the visitor wants to be a little safer, they can book their trip through a tour agency that specializes in creating "support for the Cuban people" itineraries. Cuba Educational Travel offers such specialized itineraries and is the company that organized the trip that allowed this story to be produced.

Whether that reality can be effectively communicated by the travel industry to Americans far and wide is the true question haunting Cubans. And it is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the travel industry.

In the meantime, as Americans continue to sort through the shifting policy landscape, the futures of countless average Cuban citizens hangs in the balance, with many hoping desperately that their fortunes will shift once again.

"We depend a lot on the American president," said Zoe Gomez, the young tourism industry employee. "When the president changes things, our lives change too. We were making a good income from American tourists. Now, I have no clue what will happen with my life."

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