If your flight to Cuba was canceled, prices to book somewhere else tropical might be skyrocketing.
However, according to travel agent Danny Almon from Almon Travel in Halifax, those high costs should not last in the long term for destinations like the Dominican Republic or Jamaica.
Travel warnings have been in place because of food, power, and fuel shortages. Several airlines have canceled flights to the island.
Almon says this will have a devastating impact on the tourism industry in Cuba.
“I can’t help bleeding a little bit for the Cuban people. It’s just a very, very unfortunate situation that they’re in right now,” says Almon.
Almon says he has not booked any of his clients on trips to Cuba in recent months because of the ongoing resource shortage, but now things are even worse.
In fact, Dimitri Neonakis, was set to travel to Cuba, Tuesday.
He is often the one flying the plane. Our newsroom previously reported on him for creating a Blue Jays logo by using a GPS to track his plane through the sky.
This time, being the one travelling, he says he and his family were ready for the power outages. They had been keeping their eye on what was happening in the country, and they even packed candles and batteries into their suitcases. But once the flights were canceled, that was it.
It was hard to find anything until about April, with Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic booked, he said.
Although, he says Florida is a warm spot, but he did not want to go because of how the U.S. treats Canada, and Cuba, as well.
Neonakis says he has been to Cuba several times, loves the people, the culture, the beautiful scenery. He hopes to go again some time, but for now, he is worried for the people there.
“For us to understand that what that means for them, it is absolutely horrible. They will lose the only income they have,” says Neonakis.
