The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) has urged Irish holidaymakers either currently in Cuba or planning to travel there to contact their ITAA-affiliated travel agent, immediately, and to follow the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The DFA has upped Cuba to its second highest travel warning – meaning travel is likely to present a clear and present danger to health and safety.
The Department has advised Irish holidaymakers to avoid travelling to Cuba unless absolutely necessary.
The warning comes as Cuba rapidly descends towards a humanitarian crisis following heavy sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration and the US enforcing an oil blockade. In recent days and weeks, serious shortages of food, fuel, electricity and medical care access have been reported.
While there is thought to be few or no Irish nationals currently holidaying in Cuba, the ITAA has said the warnings need to be taken extremely seriously.
Clare Dunne, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association said: “I would strongly recommend that anyone thinking of traveling to Cuba should read the Department of Foreign Affairs travel advice and check with their ITAA travel agent before making any bookings. The ITAA advice to any prospective Irish travellers who may have already booked a holiday to Cuba is to immediately check with both your travel agent and your travel insurance. When the DFA advise to Avoid Essential Travel to a particular country, Cuba in this instance, it usually means that the travel insurance policy will not cover travel to that country.”
Ms Dunne added: “November to March is normally the best time to travel to Cuba. However, the number of Irish citizens who travel from Ireland to Cuba has declined over the past few years and is now very low. This is mainly down to two reasons – connectivity to Cuba from Ireland is very limited and secondly, travellers who travel to Cuba are not then eligible to apply for an ESTA to visit the USA and must instead apply to the US Embassy for an entry visa.”
