JG - EDITORIAL: Watch out, Cuba is coming

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

EDITORIAL: Watch out, Cuba is coming

Published: Saturday May 8, 2010


Industry watchers have been saying it for years. Cuba could become the number one tourist destination in the Caribbean - as soon as the decades-old United States embargo is lifted.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Despite some softening, the US has not lifted sanctions but the news coming out of Havana indicates that 2009 was a bumper year for tourist arrivals. Last year, the Obama administration announced some easing of travel, monetary and telecommunications restrictions on our Spanish-speaking neighbour, and this has become a magnet for investors and visitors."

&

"Not too many miles from Montego Bay, the tourism mecca which has been attracting visitors from across the globe, are communities saturated with gunmen who do not hesitate to turn their weapons on innocents, including infants. How long can Jamaica continue to keep this dirty little 'secret' hidden from potential visitors? And, if the country cannot protect its own citizens, how will it protect tourists?

There is a general notion that the escalating crime in St James is linked to the lottery scam which seeks to con unsuspecting people out of their money by advising them that they are winners in a sweepstake that require them to remit money in order to claim the winnings. But this scam is more than three years old and, apparently, we are no closer to finding the masterminds and punishing them. The sense of frustration, even disappointment, at the inability of the police to stem the bloodletting in the Second City was evident when stakeholders came together this week. "