National Tour Association Joins Engage Cuba’s Coalition

National Tour Association Joins Engage Cuba’s Coalition

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Engage Cuba is pleased to announce that the National Tour Association (NTA) has joined its leading coalition of businesses, associations and civil society organizations working to lift the travel ban and trade embargo on Cuba. NTA is a powerful player in the travel industry, moving more than 13.6 million travelers per year and buying more than $8.8 billion dollars of travel services annually.

“The National Tour Association is proud to join Engage Cuba and its partners with one goal in mind—lifting the travel ban for Americans,” said Pam Inman, NTA president. “The raising of the flag at the U.S. embassy in Havana in August represents how far we’ve come in restoring diplomatic ties between our two countries. Restricting travel between the United States and Cuba impacts both nations culturally and economically. The elimination of the travel ban would create new jobs in the United States and be an economic driver to U.S. travel businesses, such as tour operators, travel agents, airlines and transportation companies. We will continue to advocate for bilateral cooperation and the passing of legislation that would remove all existing travel barriers. NTA has always stood behind the freedom to travel, and it’s important that we’re putting our association-wide and grassroots-level support with Engage Cuba.”

James Williams, president of Engage Cuba, said, “NTA is an important addition to Engage Cuba. The path to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba is through travel, commerce and people-to-people contact, all areas where NTA offers a wealth of resources and expertise. NTA’s support for ending the travel ban builds on the vocal positions from other travel providers and associations within Engage Cuba’s rapidly expanding coalition, as well as 81% of Americans.  As the number of people traveling to Cuba continues to grow exponentially, American travel providers should be allowed to operate without burdensome restrictions. American travel to Cuba empowers people on the Island and our government should support these constructive people-to-people interactions.”

About Engage Cuba: Engage Cuba is a bipartisan 501(c)(4) public policy organization dedicated to coalescing and mobilizing American businesses, non-profit groups and concerned citizens for the purpose of supporting the ongoing U.S.‐Cuba normalization process and enacting legislation to reform U.S. travel and trade restrictions with Cuba. To learn more visit engagecuba.org.

About NTA: The National Tour Association was founded in 1951 and is now the leading association for packaged travel professionals (representing more than 40 countries) interested in the North American market. For more information, visit NTAonline.com and follow the association on Twitter at @NTAnews.