Orbitz, a large and well-known online travel booking company, and Ipsos, a survey-based market research company, released the results of a public opinion survey today, showing that a great majority of Americans favor lifting the ban on travel to Cuba. Orbitz simultaneously launched a campaign aimed at getting Congress to allow travel to Cuba by all U.S. citizens and green card holders.
The poll results show that 67% of Americans favor lifting the travel ban, and 72% believe that expanding travel to Cuba would positively impact the lives of Cubans (why the 5% distinction exists in this particular direction—e.g. there are a fraction of people that believe expanding travel to Cuba would help the Cuban people, but they do not favor it—puzzles me, and hopefully does others).
Furthermore, 63% of Americans believe that travel agencies like Orbitz should play an active role in pushing Congress to repeal the ban, and so www.OpenCuba.org came into being. Orbitz will officially present a petition to Washington policymakers later this year, with input and signatures from the site. Meanwhile, the website, which was designed and launched within only two weeks, will test the ability of a grassroots effort to affect change on this contentious issue.
For Spanish-speakers, watch this news report to hear the perspective of critics: that Orbitz is giving no regard to the lack of democracy on the island, and is only interested in the profit that it would receive from booking travel to the island should the ban be lifted.
