Rhode Island Trip to Study Cuba's Marine Tourism Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source unknown - from JosePertierra@aol.com May 27, 2002 R.I.-led group to study in Cuba by Marion Davis Journal Staff Writer As Neil Ross sees it, Cuba is a tourist hub just ready to explode. Blessed with vast expanses of pristine coastline and stunning coral reefs, just four hours by powerboat from Key West, it's a prize for any developer. Fidel Castro's revolution -- and the U.S. embargo imposed in response -- have kept the island nation from fully exploiting its resources. But interest in Cuba is blossoming; Canadians and Europeans are staking their claim. It's only a matter of time, Ross believes, before the United States ends its Cold War-era policy and joins the fray. And that will be the test: can Cuba handle droves of tourists while protecting its coastal ecosystems, or will it be ravaged like so many other tropical paradises? This winter, Ross, who worked for many years in the Sea Grant program at the University of Rhode Island, and Dennis Nixon, a professor of marine affairs and associate dean of environment and life sciences at URI, will take a group of students on a two-week trip to Cuba to explore those questions. Every morning, they will study Cuba's coastal environment with marine ecologists from the University of Havana. In the afternoons, Ross and Nixon will teach about policy and legal issues in nautical tourism development, using Cuba's largest marina, at the Hemingway International Yacht Club, as their classroom. The group of 12 to 25 students will also go on several field trips to coastal resorts outside Havana, and they will dive in coastal estuaries and explore the island's world-renowned coral reefs. The program, called "Coastal Ecosystem Conservation and Nautical Tourism Development," will be open to juniors and seniors of any U.S. college. It will cost $2,800 per person, excluding airfare, and will be assigned three academic credits. Enrollment won't be opened until early fall, but Nixon is starting a list for people who might want to participate. Already, the teachers can hardly wait. "As we saw from the recent visit of President Carter, there is a real new breeze blowing in Cuba," said Nixon. "It's a great time to see a country that's been isolated for so long from the developed world." Other foreign investors have begun "massive development" on the island, Nixon said, and "in my view, it's a darned shame that the United States is not participating in it." Nixon has never been to Cuba, but Ross, a longtime consultant to the international marina industry, has traveled there four times. For decades, Ross said, Cuba has been stuck "in a time warp," with little development -- most of it hideous, Soviet-style construction -- and severe poverty, the combined result of the U.S. embargo and bad government. Only expatriates' money and tourism are keeping Cuba afloat, Ross said. He finds it ironic that the expatriates would rather send cash than allow Cuba to sustain itself with U.S. tourists' money. But already, he sees Americans flouting the travel prohibition. Six years ago, Ross said, about 500 U.S. boats broke the embargo and came into the Hemingway marina. Last year, about 4,000 U.S. boats came. "Once the embargo is lifted, I wouldn't be surprised if in the first two or three weeks, 4,000 American boats arrive there," Ross said. Cubans are very aware of the changes in their country, Ross said, and they're trying to steer development in the right direction. Both he and Nixon, a maritime lawyer, see this as the perfect case study for aspiring coastal managers and tourism developers. "Tourism is the world's largest industry, and in the United States and many other countries, it's coastal tourism that is driving the industry," Nixon said. The goal of the Cuban trip, he said, is to "help provide information and training to students who want to participate in the sustainable development of the shoreline." This won't be the first time URI sends people to Cuba -- several oceanographers have done research there, and URI faculty members have participated in United Nations projects. But this program, cleared by both Cuban government and the U.S. Treasury Department, opens a new range of learning opportunities. "We have been denied the right, as citizens, to go to Cuba for so long," Ross said. "We are offering students a legal opportunity to visit, to study, to learn, to appreciate and understand. "Setting the politics aside, there's so much that we can both learn about each other's countries." For more information, go to http://www.auip.com/cuba/cubaindex.htm, or e-mail Dennis Nixon at dnixon@uri.edu. Online at: http://www.projo.com/southcounty/content/projo_20020527_hav.6d10c.html ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytenv-05.27.02-16:46:55-8091