U. S Resumes Direct Flights To Cuba Wednesday
SESAY: Hello, everyone. In just a few hours a Jetblue flight will take off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Destination? Cuba. It will be the first commercial flight between the U.S. and Cuba in more than half a century. CNN'S Patrick Oppmann reports.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is colonial (old town is,) full of music. And increasingly, visitors from United States.</s>OPPMANN: Just two years ago, Americans visiting Cuba without special permission from the U.S. government face the prospect of (hefty fines,) even prosecution. But the thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations and loosening of restrictions on travel to the communist-run island has led to a surge in u.s. visitors. Up 93% from last year, according to Cuban government figures. Many Americans say they want to see Cuba while the island remains stuck in a cold war time warp.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our friends have been here, and so they said "Let's go -- why don't you go to Cuba before it becomes too westernized?"</s>OPPMANN: Too westernized?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Before you see McDonald's and Walmart and all of the other U.S. companies here in cuba.</s>OPPMANN: Cuba's largely state-run tourism industry is already buckling under the increased demand.</s>OPPMANN: Tourism will likely continue to boom. Soon it will be much easier for Americans to fly to the island. Up until now, the only way that Americans could come to Cuba was via third countries or on expensive inefficiently run charter services. But that's all changing now that direct flight service is being restored between the U.S. and Cuba after more than 50 years. The first direct flight will land here in Santa Clara, Cuba where revolutionary icon Che Guevara is buried. Even though he was tracked down and killed with help from the CIA, Cuban officials say Guevara would have agreed with the opening to the</s>U.S. JOSEFINA VIDAL: So, I would say that he was not different from us thinking that even with the kind of differences that we have it's beneficial for Cuba and the United States to have normal relations.</s>OPPMANN: Benefits that can be seen on Havana Streets already packed with U.S. visitors. As Cuba's economy continues to struggle, the boom in U.S. visitors is a rare bright spot that's only expected to grow. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana, Cuba.</s>SESAY: But keep in mind, American tourism to Cuba is still illegal on the U.S. law. Some in the tourism industry believe that up to a million visitors from the U.S. could eventual -- eventually rather, travel to Cuba each year. Earlier, John Vause spoke to John Kavulich, President of the U.S.-Cuba trade and economic council.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: John, you're among those who floated that number of a million visitors. But you i think are among the first to admit there is still a long way to go before that happens. And also how did you get to that 1 million number?</s>JOHN KAVULICH, PRESIDENT, U.S.-CUBA TRADE AND ECONOMIC COUNCIL: The U.S. Airlines that applied for routes to Cuba, specifically Havana, there were going to be 20 routes that the U.S. and Cuba agreed to. The U.S. carriers asked for 70. And in terms of actual seats, the number of seats that were going to be available were 1.2 million. And the airlines asked for 3.4 million. So that gives you some idea in terms of what the airlines feel the demand is. But they are constricted by the realities of Cuba's infrastructure.