Cuba’s private sector very concerned with travel restrictions

“Our preference is to do business” is the title given to the survey done in Cuba this past May with more than 200 members of the private sector on the island and conducted by Cuba Educational Travel, a group of young Cubans and Americans working to improve relations between both countries. 

Results demonstrate that the private sector on the Island “depends to a large extent on American visitors.” Some of the findings were:

• 97% report that American travel brings their businesses more earnings.
• 96% report that decreased American travel would harm their businesses.
• To help the Cuban private sector, 99% of respondents say that the US government should increase American travel to Cuba. Out of over 200 respondents, none said limiting travel would help the private sector in Cuba.
• 69% of respondents are “very worried” about impending changes to American travel in Cuba, 27% are “worried”.
• Half of the respondents support 5+ members of their family with their earnings.

The survey was conducted in Cuba from Friday, May 17, to Sunday, May 19, 2019, via online software and in-person interviews. Ninety-four surveys were completed online, and 107 surveys were conducted in person in Havana. To be eligible respondents must take part in some private economic activity as a business owner, employee or freelancer. The survey has a confidence level of 94 percent and a margin of error of 7 percent.

“According to members of Congress and the previous and current administration, supporting Cuban businessmen is a key objective of US policy,” they claim. But the current measures, which seek to restrict the travel of Americans to Cuba, have the opposite effect.

CET was founded in 2012 by Collin Laverty, an expert on US-Cuba relations.

Click on graph to see them clearly:

To read the complete survey, click here. 

Information for this article gathered from the Cuba Educational Travel survey report.