Have more freedom to create their own itineraries
Travelers are also expected to have more freedom to create their own itineraries and be able to use U.S. credit cards in the country, which had been barred previously. Currently visitors traveling with the one of the tour operators who provide the lion’s share of American travel to Cuba are required to participate in at least four daily “activities” as part of their journey.
Officials say that under the most recent changes all legitimate applications received by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the body that dispenses licenses to for Cuban travel, will be approved.
Nevertheless the U.S. embargo is still in place and travel to Cuba remains extremely restricted. According to the U.S. State Department website’s page on Cuba, “The regulations require that persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction be licensed in order to engage in any travel-related transactions pursuant to travel to, from, and within Cuba. Transactions related to tourist travel are not licensable.”
Licenses can be obtained for humanitarian projects, journalism, professional research, religious activities, athletic or performance events and even some importation and exportation. It is under these guidelines that most tour operator-provided, people-to-people travel to Cuba now operates. But although licenses can be obtained for various activities, few are actually granted to travel providers. People-to-people travel must be operated by an operator that has been licensed as a Travel Service Provider. Airlines must be separately licensed as Carrier Service Providers.
The agency warns, “Travelers who fail to comply with Department of the Treasury regulations could face civil penalties and criminal prosecution upon return to the United States.”