FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Contact: Brian
Alexander (202) 321-CUBA (2822)
CONGRESS MOVES TO END CUBA TRAVEL BAN;
BILL TIMED WITH NEW TRAVEL STUDY
TRAVEL-RELATED
GAINS OF UP TO $1.9 BILLION AND OVER 12,000 JOBS FOR U.S. ECONOMY FOLLOWING
LIFTING OF EMBARGO
Tuesday, June 25,
2002, Washington, D.C. – At a press conference today, Representatives Jeff
Flake (R-AZ) and Bill Delahunt (D-MA) announced a bill that would end the ban
on U.S. citizens from travel to Cuba.
The bill, which it is anticipated will be co-sponsored by the entire
forty-four member, bipartisan House Cuba Working Group, would allow
unrestricted American travel to Cuba.
The announcement of
the bill was timed with the release of a new study that reveals the benefits to
the American economy of travel to Cuba.
The study, commissioned by the Cuba Policy Foundation, reveals that in
travel-related gains alone, a total lifting of the embargo would produce $545.6
million and 3,797 American jobs after one year; the fifth year out, the U.S.
economy would gain over $1.9 billion dollars in income and 12,180 jobs. Simply allowing U.S. carriers (airlines and
cruise ships) tour operators to operate in Cuba would yield for the American
economy $522.6 million the first year, and $1.6 billion with 10,749 jobs in the
fifth year from travel-related gains.
SEE TABLE 1. The full study is
available at: http://www.cubafoundation.org/CPF Cuba Travel
Study.htm.
“The ban on travel to Cuba is hurting the U.S. economy. Ending restrictions on travel to Cuba and
allowing U.S. carriers and tour operators to provide services to American
travelers would provide a much-needed source of growth to the U.S. travel
sector, particularly the troubled airline industry,”
according to Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal of the Cuba Policy Foundation. SEE TABLE 2.
“Americans want to travel to Cuba, and a growing bipartisan
coalition in Congress supports them. It
is time U.S. policy reflects the sentiment in Congress and the will of the
American people,” said Ambassador Cowal. According to an April 2001 poll by the Cuba
Policy Foundation, 66.8 percent of Americans think Americans should be allowed
to travel to Cuba. In July 2001, the
House of Representatives voted 240-186 in support of a provision that would end
enforcement of the travel ban and another similar vote is expected this
year. The newly formed House Cuba
Working Group, a bipartisan coalition of 22 Republicans and 22 Democrats,
includes ending the travel ban as one of its legislative priorities. “This
new bill is another reflection of the majority will of the Congress,” said
Ambassador Cowal.
If the Cuba Working
Group travel bill is enacted into law, there would be a positive effect on the
U.S. travel industry. “The Cuba Working Group bill would produce
gains somewhere between the first and second scenario benefits, leading to
potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of gains for the U.S. economy,”
according to Ed Sanders, co-author of the Cuba Policy Foundation travel study.
TABLE 1. Summary of Total Economic Benefits
Year One Year Five
Scenario Total Income Total Jobs
Total Income Total
Jobs
2. Allow U.S. Carriers $522.6
mil. 3,224 $1,695.6 mil. 10,749
3. Lift Embargo $545.6 mil. 3,797 $1,972.4 mil.
12,180
__________
TABLE 2. Fifth Year Economic Benefits from Lifting
the Embargo by Travel Sector
Income Jobs
Direct Benefits
- Airlines $595,000,000 2,975
- Cruise ships/ferries 247,000,000 1,907
- Tour operators 63,000,000 630
- Travel agents 21,000,000 210
- U.S. hotels 102,000,000 652
- U.S. other 10,000,000 56
Indirect/Induced Benefits 934,000,000 5,769
Total $1,972,000,000 12,180
__________
Source: “Economic
Benefits to the United States from Lifting the Ban on Travel to Cuba,” prepared
by Ed Sanders and Patrick Long, University of Colorado at Boulder, for the Cuba
Policy Foundation, Washington, DC, June 2002.
For more information,
please contact Cuba Policy Foundation.
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