Internet Showing Interest in Cuba

Last month’s historic visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II brought the long-forbidden Caribbean island into the limelight and focused new attention on the Internet as a way to gather travel intelligence about the island.

U.S. Treasury regulations don’t ban travel to Cuba outright, but do prohibit most Americans from spending money there. And since U.S. travel agents and tour companies can’t arrange trips or provide tourist information, tracking down current information isn’t easy.

But nearly 18,000 travelers made unauthorized trips to Cuba last year, a 19% increase from 1996, says the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council (https://www.cubatrade.org), a New York-based, nonpartisan organization. And as the country steps up its efforts to lure hard currency from foreign tourists, a growing number of Cuba-based or Cuba-bound companies are establishing a presence on the Web.

Case in point: Havana-based Cuba Tours (https://www.cubatours.com). According to a spokesman, about 50% of its Cuba packages are sold to Americans, and at least 75% of its sales are generated via e-mail. To be sure, much of the Web-based information on travel to Cuba is outdated, incomplete or inaccessible to users who don’t read Spanish. Sometimes, it’s inadvertently amusing: The site for government-controlled Cubana Airlines (https://www.cubana.cu) boasts that “so far, it has been able to achieve remarkable punctuality records in departures and arrivals, fairly close to international standards.” How close is never defined.

A sampling of sites worth noting:

* For well-researched background material, Lonely Planet (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/cam/cub.htm) and Moon Travel Handbooks (https://www.moon.com/catalog/cuba.html) provide lengthy excerpts from their 1997 Cuba guidebooks, including tour companies that can arrange flights and packages from other countries.

* Excite’s City.Net (https://www.yahoo.com) supplies maps and links to everything from the U.S. State Department’s consular information for Cuba to a Spanish language primer.

* The comprehensive travel section at San Francisco-based Latino Link (https://www.latinolink.com) includes several recent wire service stories on Cuba.

Small bytes: Microsoft’s travel “megasite,” Expedia (https://expedia.com/), just got bigger. Through the just-added Expedia Travel Network, shoppers can access price and other information for more than 20 travel companies. The Travel Network’s Cruise Outlet includes descriptions and rates but cruises still must be booked direct. . . . Rail Europe’s updated Web site (https://www.raileurope.com) includes expanded information on the company’s travel services, rail fares and schedules, and online booking.

Electronic Explorer appears the second Sunday of every month. Laura Bly welcomes comments and questions; her e-mail address is laura.bly@news.latimes.com.