Cuba FAM for travel professionals to meet local counterparts US travel agents and related professionals are invited to join an unprecedented people to people familiarization program in Cuba. Participants will leave from Miami on American Airlines charters flights directly after the ASTA Global Convention or the NACTA conference. The trip is being organized in cooperation with Havanatur and Sol Melia hotels by an OFAC licensed non-governmental organization long active with the travel industry and Cuba, the Fund for Reconciliation and Development.  September 20-29  (for NACTA attendees September 22-30) $ 2084* including charter flights on American Airlines, five star accommodations and services by Sol Melia Some 100,000 Americans not of Cuban origin visited our neighbor last year.  Join us in a unique opportunity to experience and evaluate the current state of licensed travel and client referrals. Gain insight into the contribution international tourism is making to Cuba's sustainable development and socio-economic evolution.  Discuss and affect planning for the post-embargo era. Meet with counterparts in Havana, Matanzas, Varadero, Santa Clara, Cayo Santa Maria, Trinidad and Cienfuegos. Hold in depth discussions with departments of tourism at the Universities of Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Cienfuegos, as well as with community historians and development specialists. Limited to US travel agents, tour operators, travel planners, travel writers, conference organizers, plus teachers of tourism and hospitality, who are members of ASTA, NTA, USTOA, TPOC, PTANA, CLIA, ARTA, OSSN, IATA, CHRIE, Trinet, ETC, NAFSA, IIE and other professional associations and consortiums.   -- $200 on line registration donation  (refundable if cost increases)   -- $549  air, insurance, visa, express mail   -- $1335 ground  Full itinerary below For further information and a registration form, contact John McAuliff, Cuba/US People to People Partnership, jmcauliff@ffrd.org; 917-859-9025.  *  costs will be higher if fewer than 25 PAX; program has common core for all participants with introductory days repeated at end if sufficient interest from NACTA conference attendees.

photo by David Garten

itinerary subject to change

Group 1

(including ASTA global convention registrants who will not attend NACTA) 

Friday Sept 20

Check-in Miami 10 am, arrive in Havana at 1:50 pm

Dinner at Arte Chef with mojito demonstration, welcome by Havanatur 

Welcome by Sol Melia
Optional:  Habana Cafe cabaret
Hotel Melia Cohiba 

Saturday, Sept 21 
Breakfast at hotel

Visit to Regla church and municipal Museum, talk on Afro Cuban religions and Nsila      

   cheche dance performance, return by ferry
Lunch at El Patio restaurant with representative of the Historian's Office
City tour Old Havana – Miguel Coyula presentation at model of Habana Vieja

Optional: presentation about a tour program on the Irish Heritage of Cuba
Dinner on own in Habana Vieja or elsewhere

Optional: Tropicana, jazz cafe, other cultural attractions 
Hotel Melia Cohiba 

Sunday, Sept 22 
Breakfast at hotel
Discussion at hotel of social and economic changes
Visit selected Havana hotels 
Lunch at La Barraca Restaurant (Hotel Nacional) 
Travel from Havana to Matanzas

Visit slavery museum and fortress

Travel to Varadero

Dinner at Kike Kcho restaurant

Hotel Melia Marina 
Group 2 , transfer to Varadero to merge with group 1

(primarily for NACTA registrants: check-in Miami at noon, arrive Havana 4:00 pm)

Monday, Sept 23

Breakfast at hotel
Visit Marina condominium project
Lunch at Al Resturant
Visit selected Varadero hotels, Xanadu
Dinner at hotel
Hotel Melia Marina 

Tuesday, Sept 24
Breakfast at hotel.
Travel from Varadero to Santa Clara
Lunch at Hotel America restaurant
Exchange with students and professors from UCLV (Santa Clara University)
Visit Che Memorial 
Travel to Cayo Santa Maria
Dinner at hotel
Hotel Melia Buenavista

Wednesday, Sept 25
Breakfast at hotel
Visit selected CSM hotels
Travel from CSM to Trinidad
Lunch at restaurant Plaza Mayor with historian
Visit to pottery workshop Casa del Alfarero Santander 
Dinner at restaurant El Colonial 
Hotel Iberostar Trinidad or La Ronda 

Thursday, Sept 26
Breakfast at hotel
Travel from Trinidad to Cienfuegos
Walking tour of city center, Terry Theater 
Lunch at Club CFG with historian
Exchange with students and professors from Cienfuegos University
Choral performance
Dinner on own (optional, seaside Finca de los Colorados)
Hotel Union or Jagua 

Friday, Sept 27
Breakfast at hotel
Travel from Cienfuegos to Havana
Buffet lunch in Vedado
Exchange with professors and students from Faculty of Tourism, University of Havana
Check in Melia Cohiba or Melia Habana Hotel
Dinner at restaurant La Divina Pastora, cannon firing ceremony
Optional: Tropicana, jazz cafe, other cultural attractions 

Saturday, Sept 28
Breakfast at hotel
Discussion at hotel with representatives of P2P receiving agencies
Lunch at El Aljibe
Visit Finca Vigia  (Hemingway home)
Discussion at hotel of bilateral relations with Cuban expert and official of US Interests Section

Dinner on own
Opera de la Calle

Optional: Tropicana, jazz cafe, other cultural attractions 

Sunday, Sept 29 
Breakfast at hotel

Group 1 
Artisans market
visit museum of revolution or museum of art
depart hotel at 2:30 pm, arrives Miami 6:10 pm 
Group 2 
Artisans market
visit museum of revolution or museum of art

City tour Old Havana
Optional:  Industriales 50th anniversary baseball game
Optional:  Habana Cafe cabaret show, Tropicana, jazz cafe, other cultural attractions 

Monday, Sept 30
Group 2 departs hotel at 11:00 am, arrives Miami 2:40 pm