Orbitz Cuba-Travel Campaign Hits 70K Signers

The Orbitz petition drive to pressure the Obama administration to overturn the roughly 50-year-old U.S. ban on travel by Americans to Cuba recorded its 70,000th signer July 30, less than three months after the campaign began.

Orbitz Worldwide spokesman Brian Hoyt said the goal of OpenCuba.org is to attract 100,000 signers.

Hoyt said Orbitz would then present the petitions to elected officials in Washington, D.C. in the fall.

I'm happy to see that supporters of the drive include Cuban-American organizations, as well as the National Tour Association, the U.S. Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and the Adventure Travel Trade Association.

I am disappointed to see that a broader swath of travel companies and associations hasn't followed Orbitz's laudable lead and stepped forward on this issue of such import to the rights of Americans and to the travel industry.

Travelocity, Priceline and Expedia where are you on this?

American Express, Carnival Corp., Hertz, ASTA and NBTA why are you sitting on the sidelines?

It is time to get behind this effort and to display some guts.