Cuba
This one is a no-brainer. 2015 will definitely be the year of Cuba. You can now go as part of a U.S. treasury-sanctioned people-to-people tourism program. There are about two dozen companies that have been given licenses by the U.S. to run these tours. But it’s safe to say that once the ban is lifted, everyone will be competing not just to go there, but to open U.S. businesses there.
Greenberg’s caution: You’ve heard of the historic terms AD and BC. I’ll add another when it comes to visiting Cuba in 2015—BKFC. Try to go before Kentucky Fried Chicken and all the other U.S. franchises set up shop there. It’s not a matter of whether that will happen, but when.
Havana is a must-see, but there’s much more these days, particularly with ecotourism. Cuba has 6,700 species of higher plants, 14,000 species of invertebrates and 650 vertebrates, and 350 bird spcies that you can see in their tropical forests, mountains, everglades, and wetlands. Visit the La Boca Crocodile Farm, the Guaniguanico Mountain Range’s unique rock formations, or the Sierra del Rosario biosphere’s must-see caves.
As a final note for those who are going there just for the cigars, American travelers can now import up to $400 of Cuban goods (including $100 of alcohol and/or tobacco products, which can include cigars).
