Just ask the Mayor
Opportunity is Knocking

As Key West History magazine continues to promote the reopening of Key West to Havana travel, we've noticed the beginning of a groundswell. The news came this week from giant travel site, Orbitz, that they were immediately launching a web campaign seeking to overturn the travel restrictions between the US and Cuba. Any interested party can now log on at opencuba.org and add their voice to a grassroots lobbying effort by signing a petition directed to the White House and members of congress.

This newest effort will bring us closer to the day we can freely travel between the two islands. But is Key West ready? After all, Cuba receives 2.8 million visitors per year - if only a tenth of those visitors choose to add on a side-trip to Key West, that's over a quarter-million more people walking Duval Street. This doesn't even address the number of Americans who will choose to use Key West as their jumping-off-point for a side-trip to Cuba. Can we handle it? We asked the Mayor.

Morgan McPherson has been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of planning. Most of the initial visitors will take a plane, ferry or private boat across the 90 miles of the Florida Straits. Work is well underway to have Key West declared an international port with official customs and immigration check-points. The county is working hard to re-establish the "international airport" designation for the city. McPherson told me that, during the winter season, an average of 900 passengers arrive in Key West each day by ferry. The Mayor easily anticipates the need for a much larger operation, and is currently in talks with ferry businesses to increase their presence.

Dreaming of traveling again between Key West and Havana is a pleasant diversion. But planning for the day the ban is lifted is a necessity. Hotels and guesthouses, museums and attractions, scooter and electric car rentals, retail operations and restaurants, even grocery stores- all stand to benefit as soon as those first Europeans and Canadians start hopping over from Cuba to spend three or four days in Key West. The city must be ready to welcome them, and that planning is well under way.