Orbitz gets on campaign trail to open travel to Cuba for Americans

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As President Obama’s administration considers lifting the ban on travel to Cuba for Americans (this poll on The Times’ ‘Opinion L.A.’ blog shows sentiment leaning toward lifting the ban), travel companies have started to get on board.

Orbitz, the online travel company, has launched its own ‘Open Cuba’ campaign asking for the travel ban to be lifted.

From the site’s mission statement:

‘Orbitz believes that Americans should have the freedom to travel the world, because our journeys lead to cross cultural understanding and stronger ties between citizens of all nations. The beaches of Cuba were once a premier Caribbean tourism destination for Americans, and they can be once again!’

The company and IPSOS carried out a survey on American views on the issue and report that 67% of Americans favor allowing Americans to travel to Cuba, and that 72% feel that expanding U.S. travel to Cuba would positively impact the lives of the Cuban people.

Not to mention that opening travel could help Orbitz’s bottom line.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City