Excursions on your own: the alternative of national tourism

VILLA CLARA, Cuba. — Last summer, just when the price of hotel rooms in Cuba began to rise, Adrián and his partner, two young people from Villa Clara, had the idea of ​​pooling the money among a group of friends to pay for transportation to the nichea natural park located about 30 km from Topes de Collantes.

What began as a trip between acquaintances became a source of livelihood: “We had lost our job and many people began to call us to book and, since we already knew the terrain, it did not seem bad for us to organize cheap guided excursions,” he explains. Adrian. “Now, in addition to visiting the pools and waterfalls, they are guaranteed a snack included in the package price.”

Both these two boys and many other people have devoted themselves in recent months to offering tours and expeditions to various points of the Cuban geography and departing from almost all the provinces. However, on social networks, many do not promote themselves as private managers or agencies, and simply try not to use their real profiles for disclosure.

It turns out that a little more than two years ago the prohibition to exercise the activity of tourist guide in the non-state sector made headlines, a measure demanded over and over again by a group of self-employed workers linked to this type of service. Thousands of people who were waiting for a license to formalize and legalize their work saw their hopes of practicing a profession that exists and works in much of the world dashed.

“We really promote ourselves as excursions because they have told us that it is not allowed to charge for these tours, much less to any foreigner, although there are some people who are approved as projects,” adds Yankiel, the other owner of the business, a Social Communication graduate. , although he recognizes that his service is not aimed at foreign visitors, but rather to make up for recreational deficiencies in nationals.

Yankiel also assures that the residents of the areas to which the excursions take are grateful for the influx of personnel, because they help to revitalize the local restaurants and lodgings: “What we do is go and turn during the day to solve the need so It is great that people who go on family outings have a few weekends without having to invest three months of salary, because none of our clients have enough money to pay for a night in a hotel in Varadero”.

For a long time, and before the law came into force, some private guides were working with photographer or translator licenses. However, as of February 2021, private tourism agencies, tour operators, reservation services related to them, and independent tour guides are included in the 124 groups of economic activities prohibited for self-employment.

Later, his own Official Gazette number 46 of June 7, 2021 specified that the creation of national travel agencies requires the prior approval of the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) and that they are the only ones authorized to manage activities such as the design and marketing of tourist packages, inform and advise the traveler or offer any promotion of this nature .

Even so, only a small search on social networks is enough to realize that there are hundreds of pages and private groups that manage tours and accommodation in villas and hotels throughout the country. In this sense, the law allows Cuban legal or natural persons “the sale of these in composition of groups, programs, circuits, excursions or other tourist modalities”, if they do so through national travel agencies, except those authorized to market directly.

waiting for a patent

A young man from Havana named Michel Almeida also manages trips throughout the country that include accommodation in campgrounds or in hotels of the Islazul chain, the most affordable for sale in booking agencies. He promotes himself both on Facebook and in Telegram and WhatsApp groups with marked demand in these summer months.

“What happens is that many times, if you live in Havana, there are no offers for hotels in Cienfuegos, Villa Clara or Trinidad from the agencies in the capital,” he replies via Messenger. “We contact the hotel and transfer the staff for a day trip or a two-night stay. The results for the management are not great, because in the end each client must pay for their accommodation. It is not about abusing people, but that we all win.”

The interviewed operators, if they can be called that, explain that, although there are reservations in hotels in Varadero or Los Cayos, travel agencies often do not have transportation available, so the client must travel by their own means. This is one of the main reasons, in addition to the high prices of hotels, that Cubans turn to the private sector to guarantee their vacations.

“There are very few who can save to pay for a night per person in more than nine thousand pesos, so the agencies are not going to guarantee an entire bus for five or six people,” adds Michel. “If we have transportation, the most logical thing is that we facilitate these trips so that all families have the opportunity to visit and enjoy beautiful beaches as tourists do.”

The prices of the excursions to the center of the country, in areas such as Yaguanabo, Guajimico and Rancho Luna, or in others such as Playa Larga and Varadero range between 800 pesos and 1,900 depending on the distance and if they include snacks as part of the package .

For the most part, the tours are not limited to staying on a beach or swimming pool, they also offer other recreational opportunities to clients such as canopy tours, dolphinarium shows, tours of heritage cities, crocodile farms, boat rides and lunches. directed, both in private and state restaurants.

Just when the law that restricted the private activity of guides in Cuba came into force, a group also emerged on Facebook that requested, among other issues, that the “competent authorities” stop viewing them with suspicion and that they recognize “the cultural value , professional and economic that we can contribute to the development of the country”, reads one of these publications in “Tourist Guides for their legalization as TCP”.

Yankiel’s dream, for example, is to be able to have a patent that guarantees him legal support to also serve the foreign public, since he is quite fluent in other languages ​​and says he is knowledgeable about local history and culture.

“If they allowed private guides in Cuba, everyone would be benefiting, even the many state workers who are the staff of intricate restaurants and hotels that no one visits due to the same fuel problems. What happens is that when you talk about tourism you immediately think of abroad. But what about the Cubans?