Orbitz supports lifting U.S. Travel Ban to Cuba with OpenCuba.org

The online travel mega-juggernaut has launched a campaign in support of the lifting of a U.S. travel ban to Cuba, based on findings of a series of traveler opinion polls. The OpenCuba.org campaign is designed to give Americans the opportunity to petition the U.S. Government to open up travel to Cuba.

According to a new Orbitz-Ipsos poll, 67% of Americans favor allowing Americans to travel to Cuba, while 72% think the ban-lift would positively impact the lives of the Cuban People.

“President Obama recently took a bold step in easing travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans,” said Barney Harford, president and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide. “The OpenCuba.org campaign calls on the President and Congress to take action to end the travel ban to Cuba, giving all Americans the freedom to visit what once was a premier tourist destination for U.S. citizens.”

“Our mission at Orbitz is to help travelers experience the world,” continued Harford. “67% of Americans would also support a policy that would allow U.S. travel agents such as Orbitz to book vacation travel to Cuba.”

OpenCuba.org

The OpenCuba.org website (www.OpenCuba.org) gives travelers the opportunity to get directly involved in a grassroots effort to convince American legislators and regulators to end the ban on travel to Cuba. As a focus of the campaign, travelers will be asked to sign a petition calling for an end to the travel ban. Orbitz executives will formally present the petition to U.S. officials in Washington, DC, later this year.

Every person who signs the petition will receive a $100 coupon redeemable on Orbitz against a vacation to Cuba valid if and when the U.S. Government removes the ban on travel to Cuba, and as soon as Orbitz is able to offer such travel on its website.

The OpenCuba.org website also lets Americans write personal letters to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton and members of the U.S. Congress regarding the Cuba travel ban.

Orbitz-Ipsos Poll

The Orbitz-Ipsos poll was conducted from April 23-27th, 2009. A nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults aged 18 and over residing in the U.S. was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the Orbitz-Ipsos Poll:

• 67% of Americans say that they would support a policy that would allow all Americans to travel to Cuba.
• 32% of Americans would strongly support such a policy that would allow all Americans to travel to Cuba.
• Only 23% say that they would oppose lifting these restrictions for Americans traveling to Cuba (only 13% would strongly oppose it).
• 72% agree that expanding travel and tourism from the U.S. to Cuba would have a positive impact on the day-to-day lives of the Cuban people.
• Just 20% feel that allowing Americans to travel to Cuba would not positively impact Cubans in this way.

Similarly, 63% of Americans agree that it should be legal for online travel sites, such as Orbitz.com, to book travel to Cuba, while 64% of Americans say that Orbitz.com should play an active role to persuade elected officials to give all Americans the freedom to travel to Cuba.

For more information, visit http://www.opencuba.org/.