a cab driver in Viñales who said they were offering tourists to sleep in the back of their car for $10,"

[helix]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-tourism-idUSKCN0V40DP

Sounds like change is happening very rapidly , and along with US tourists , Chinese tourists are poised to be regular visitors with new direct flights very soon .

[HarveyBoulevard]

Is there another...uhumm..."person" back there for the $10?

[Lotusguy]

Is there another...uhumm..."person" back there for the $10?

My thought exactly

[luv2fly]

I want to see Cuba as it is now. Now the freedom of the people is another question which is another discussion but just want to step back in time. A trip back in time. Once Americans can travel as tourists and do business there, it will be another ball game. Not too many places left that one can travel back in time and see how things were. I do think that there will be a collectible car market. Love the old cars!!! Nothing but respect for the Cuban people.

[TonyAccardo]

Edited because it was a little too opinionated. But let me say that this makes me mad and sad to no end.

[leftimatic]

Glad I got there when I did. But give it a few years and a few american hotel chains and you will see rapid growth and expansion. It doesn't take long to put up a hotel when there is money to be made. The company I used to work for could put up an entire shopping mall including a 6 screen movie theatre, ground works to grand opening in less than a year. Money makes things happen.

It's Ecuador for me next time I head south anyway. Been on my bucket list for years. I'll bring my own cigars if I have to.

[cigcars]

The bustling crowds may be a hassle for both the visitors and the natives...but I sure do hope that the little business owners there are reaping heaps and heaps of financial benefit and revenue as a result!

[El Presidente]

But give it a few years and a few american hotel chains and you will see rapid growth and expansion. It doesn't take long to put up a hotel when there is money to be made.

Unless a Cuban hotel does offshore tour packages (and banks that money offshore), there is not a lot of money to be made.

To JV with the Cuban Government is a nice way to lose money. Even if that changes, unless they can pay a living wage above the state sactioned rate,then they will find internal theft will wipe out their anticipated profit.

[CanuckSARTech]

I want to see Cuba as it is now. Now the freedom of the people is another question which is another discussion but just want to step back in time. A trip back in time. Once Americans can travel as tourists and do business there, it will be another ball game. Not too many places left that one can travel back in time and see how things were. I do think that there will be a collectible car market. Love the old cars!!! Nothing but respect for the Cuban people.

It already is a lot different than it was just a year or two ago. BIG differences already.

[wabashcr]

I want to see Cuba as it is now. Now the freedom of the people is another question which is another discussion but just want to step back in time. A trip back in time. Once Americans can travel as tourists and do business there, it will be another ball game. Not too many places left that one can travel back in time and see how things were. I do think that there will be a collectible car market. Love the old cars!!! Nothing but respect for the Cuban people.

Agree. My primary concern is for the Cuban people as well. But I'd still like to visit before there's an Applebee's or Starbuck's.

[Troels]

Unless a Cuban hotel does offshore tour packages (and banks that money offshore), there is not a lot of money to be made.

To JV with the Cuban Government is a nice way to lose money. Even if that changes, unless they can pay a living wage above the state sactioned rate,then they will find internal theft will wipe out their anticipated profit.

Find this very plausable. Just got back from a trip to cuba, where we spend a few days on an all inclusive resort on the way - what struck me was how Everybody on the hotel was busy making their own little business within their designated job; the maid selling off water bottles that was suppossed to be put in the rooms, bottles leaving the bar, quality of the coffee from the coffee stand changing according to who manned it and the ladys in the tienda putting their cut of the overpricing beside the registre without any attempt of hiding the action, being busy keeping double accounts on a piece of paper! God knows how far that practice goes. Feel bad about writing such accusations, but it seemed like a very natural thing in that business

[CanuckSARTech]

Find this very plausable. Just got back from a trip to cuba, where we spend a few days on an all inclusive resort on the way - what struck me was how Everybody on the hotel was busy making their own little business within their designated job; the maid selling off water bottles that was suppossed to be put in the rooms, bottles leaving the bar, quality of the coffee from the coffee stand changing according to who manned it and the ladys in the tienda putting their cut of the overpricing beside the registre without any attempt of hiding the action, being busy keeping double accounts on a piece of paper! God knows how far that practice goes. Feel bad about writing such accusations, but it seemed like a very natural thing in that business

Very typical thing to experience there. ANY way that the Cubans can make an extra buck, they will. If things aren't bolted down, it's fair game to be stolen and sold for a buck. I know - it's a generality, and unfair to the many honest Cubans that some of us know and love. But, more often than not, this is the case. Its a system that has pushed their culture to be that way.

[Ryan]

Starbucks would never be able to compete with the 2CUC coffees all over town.

There'll be a 24 hour line around the block when the first Starbucks opens, same goes for every US franchise that opens in Cuba. Cubans can't wait for that stuff. Just like every country where they've had limited or no access to it.

I'm old enough to remember the TV news when the first McDonalds opened in Moscow.

[leftimatic]

Unless a Cuban hotel does offshore tour packages (and banks that money offshore), there is not a lot of money to be made.

To JV with the Cuban Government is a nice way to lose money. Even if that changes, unless they can pay a living wage above the state sactioned rate,then they will find internal theft will wipe out their anticipated profit.

Would that be enough cause to keep the bigger chains out like say Walmart, Starbucks and McDonalds? Would these companies be able to pay employees a decent wage or would state sanctions still have control? I have a pretty good idea of how things work down there, but certainly not enough to claim expert. But I do know that when these guys pull out the big guns they tend to get what they want. Does the Cuban government have the juice to keep them at bay?