By Gay Nagle Myers
National Geographic Expeditions will launch its people-to-people tours
in Cuba in November.
National Geographic received its Cuba travel license from the U.S.
Treasury Department on Aug. 23. Operators must run educational tours in
which participants interact with locals.
"Cuba: Discovering Its People and Culture" is a 10-day tour departing
Miami on Nov. 26; Dec. 10, 24; Jan. 7, 21; Feb. 4, 18; March 10, 24;
April 7, 21; and May 12.
Lynn Cutter, National Geographic's senior vice president of travel and
business development, said, "We've tapped into National Geographic's
network of experts and resources in Cuba to craft an exciting, immersive
program that provides a true insider's perspective and an interactive
dialogue through encounters with local Cubans."
Each departure will be led by a National Geographic expert who will
serve as an ambassador between the travelers and the Cubans.
Author and travel photographer Christopher Baker will lead the first
tour and several other departures. Author Tom Miller and Elizabeth
Newhouse (former National Geographic editor and consultant with the
Center for International Policy's Cuba Project in Washington) also will
head up departures.
The tour is $4,995 per person, double (add $560 for single travelers).
Air to Miami and charter air to Havana are extra.
The itinerary includes Unesco World Heritage sites of Old Havana and
Trinidad; a trip to the Bay of Pigs with Cuban veterans from the 1961
invasion; attendance at music and dance performances; and visits to
local farms, parks, fishing villages, homes, schools, street parties,
cathedrals, art studios and Hemingway's rural home Finca Vigia.
Abercrombie & Kent on Monday said it was canceling its new Cuba program
after reviewing a clarification on new Cuba travel regulations issued by
the Treasury Department.
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