Cuba still a hot potato

It's the issue that refuses to go away, whether or not the new Obama administration will shortly open up trade and travel links with Cuba. Whatever your thoughts on the situation, it is currently up for discussion among our leaders.CNN reports that many travelers and travel industry professionals hope the Obama administration will soon loosen Cuba travel rules. During the campaign for the White House, President Obama promised to lift travel restrictions on Cuban Americans trying to visit family.
It says: under Bush's policy, Cuban Americans had to wait three years between visits to relatives in Cuba. The policy also complicated travel for Americans with no ties to the island.
In 2007, about 45,200 Americans, including Cuban Americans, legally obtained a license or approval from the U.S. government to enter Cuba by air, a dramatic drop from nearly 84,500 travelers in 2003, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.
Easing travel restrictions for Cuban Americans alone isn't enough for many in the travel industry. The American Society of Travel Agents, the nation's largest group of travel professionals and companies, would like all Americans to be allowed to visit the island.
The group formally requested the Obama administration lift all travel restrictions.
American travel to Cuba remains tightly controlled and highly bureaucratic for most Americans since the U.S. imposed a trade embargo on the country in the 1960s. Many American critics say opening U.S. travel to Cuba would be supporting an oppressive, totalitarian government.
Several academics say Obama's administration wouldn't go as far as allowing American leisure travel, and the president indicated he will maintain the trade embargo.

Whatever President Obama decides, it appears there will be some relaxation of some kind with Cuba. Let me know whether you think this would be a good idea or a bad idea.
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