State Department Issues Updated Travel Advisory for Cuba

The United States Department of State updated its travel advisory for Cuba, changing it from Level 3 to level 2.

According to the State Department’s official website, the travel warning had previously advised tourists to reconsider visiting the Caribbean island, but the government has softened its stance and is advising travelers to exercise increased caution when visiting Cuba.

The original change to Level 3 on the Cuban travel advisory was caused by a series of unexplained illnesses among its embassy personnel in Havana. The U.S. government said the illnesses happened to embassy employees and not tourists, which sparked the recent changes to the advisory, according to Reuters.com.

The previous Level 3 warning and tighter restrictions issued last year have made it harder for American travelers to visit Cuba, which hurt the previous boom of tourism to the Communist-run island. The decrease in visitors has impacted Cubans running bed-and-breakfasts and home-based restaurants in the growing private sector.

While the revised travel advisory is a good first step to revitalizing enthusiasm for Cuban travel for Americans, the number of U.S. visitors to Cuba for the first half of 2018 dropped by 24 percent to 266,000.