Posted on 03/23/2015 8:00:32 AM PDT by posterchild
HAVANA (AP) — Bookings to Cuba jumped 57 percent for one New York tour operator in the weeks after Washington said it would renew ties with Havana. In February, they were up 187 percent; and so far this month, nearly 250 percent.
The boom is just one sign that the rush is on to see Cuba now — before, as many predict, McDonald's claims a spot in Old Havana and Starbucks moves in on Cubita, the island's premium coffee brand.
The sense that detente will unleash an invasion of Yankee tourists and change the unique character of one of the world's last remaining bastions of communism is shared by many travelers flocking here.
"Cuba has a very authentic atmosphere which you see nowhere else in the world," Gay Ben Aharon of Israel said while walking through Revolution Square. "I wanted to see it before the American world ... but also the modern Western world comes here."
Outsiders may romanticize the "time-capsule" nation, but many on the island are ready for change.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
For sure, more antique cars than anyplace in the world.
And more buildings collapsing.
Wonderful news!
Say, Andrea, Peter, how much have the bookings of Cubans travelling to New York and Washington jumped by?
I have no desire to visit Cuba, it’s rundown and smelly. That’s what people really want to see?
Say, Gay, how many Cubans get to travel to Israel to see the atmosphere in Israel?
Yes, by all means let’s capture the charm and grace that is the essence of “third world shithole” before the Americans come and mess it up!
/s>
CC
—I have no desire to visit Cuba, it’s rundown and smelly.
Sort of like New Orleans
And most of them have few original parts as they’ve been kept running by cannibalizing wrecks, jury rigging, and handmade replacements.
Yeah. Many "on the island" want to get the hell OFF the island.
But they can't, can they, Andrea? Nothing changes for them. They're "employers" will get paid in dollars and they will continue to receive their pay in pesos.
The streets of Calcutta also have a very authentic atmosphere.
Can I ask a stupid question?
The liberals view seems to be that our embargo against Cuba has created great hardship for the Cuban people. Supposedly living standards and economic conditions were terrible in Cuba because of our actions. By isolating Cuba as we have, it supposedly created these horrible conditions.
My stupid question is: if we supposedly are responsible for these terrible conditions there, why would liberals want to go experience the “authentic” Cuba, before McDonald’s and Starbucks and Hilton Hotels arrive? What the heck is up with these people? Shouldn’t they welcome the day when Cuba is no longer isolated, based on their own criteria????
The horror!
You expect liberals to make sense?
You cannot image the cognitive dissonance those people live with. It’s no wonder they are so angry.
Yes, I was expecting the liberals to make sense, LOL.
So what’s up? Do they really want to see Cuba brought into the modern world or not??? Or will they actually mourning the day Starbucks arrives???
For sure, more antique cars than anyplace in the world.
The Bodies maybe antique ,but all to other parts are old USSR tractor parts
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