Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/462841
50 S C T / M a r c h 2 0 1 5 hile the announced lifting of u.S. SanctionS on cuba has generated much excitement in the tourist industry, in- ternational retailers are playing it cool. for cuba to become the next retail frontier, the communist country will need to ease restrictions, un- dertake reform and raise the spending power of its 11.3 million people, observers note. there are a host of u.S. statu- tory barriers to trade that will have to be disman- tled too before the market can be opened. in January President obama announced the easing of sanc- tions on cuba to expand travel and trade between the two countries. that came a month after both governments agreed to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1961. one of the results of this will be to raise the limits on remit- tances that cuban-americans can send back to relatives in cuba, from the current $500 per quarter to $2,000. there is also authorization to send remittances to help develop private businesses. currently, cuba receives about $2 billion in such remittances annually. experts on cuban affairs applaud these steps, though some say it is too early to get excited about the market's business po- tential. in the eyes of Jerry haar, a business professor at florida international university who has written extensively about cuba, the real opportunity to invest in cuba will come only after the suspension of the helms-Burton act. he says this is highly unlikely, however, because only the u.S. congress can abol- ish it. that law, enacted in 1996, tightened the u.S. embargo against cuba by punishing foreign companies doing trade with that country. "the impact [of the recent measures] will be mar- ginal, the excitement level will die down, and disillusionment and frustration will set in — meaning reality will take hold of the cuBa'S Big thaW renewed ties between the U.s. and cUba Might be great for toUrisM, bUt retailers are not rUshing in By María Bird Picó