The Bush administration on Tuesday was quick to put the kibosh on hopes that the embargo soon could be lifted. But that didn't stop speculation among would-be travelers from spreading at the speed of light across the Internet, where booking agencies such as CubaTravelUSA.com and USACubaTravel.com soared to the top of Google listings on the topic.
Those agencies and others specialize in sending Americans to Cuba by way of Canada, Mexico and other third-country routes that don't leave a paper trail. Tens of thousands of Americans travel to Cuba through such quasi-legal maneuvering every year.
Technically, U.S. passport-holders are not forbidden to travel to Cuba. But they are prohibited from spending money or receiving gifts there -- a regulation that, in effect, makes such trips illegal. Exceptions are granted to journalists, academics, humanitarian workers and family members holding special licenses issued by the U.S. Treasury Department.
Since a 2004 crackdown by the Bush administration, such licenses have been increasingly restricted and difficult to obtain.
San Francisco-based Global Exchange is one organization playing strictly by the rules. In the 1990s and up until 2004, it sent six to eight groups to Cuba on "reality tours" every month, some with as many as 200 people, said Leslie Baylog, the organization's Cuba coordinator.
"We had a language school there, a dance school, did bicycle trips and took lots of high school and college groups," she said.
Since regulations were tightened, the numbers have dwindled to "maybe two groups a month of maybe 10 people," Baylog said. "But there's a lot of interest -- people are constantly calling me."
Upcoming research trips coordinated by Global Exchange, all licensed, focus on education, health care, agricultural trends, art, architecture and urban planning. For participants, a mountain of paperwork is required.
"We make a file full of documents for each person," Baylog said. "Participants have to be full-time employed in an area related to the theme of the trip or be a graduate student in that area. We ask for a résumé, a letter from the employer, an affidavit saying they're doing at least 40 hours a week of research in their field, and a bunch of other documents."
Cuba in the past decade has thrown open its doors to travelers from abroad. Tourism, fueled by visitors and investors from Canada, Europe and Latin America, has grown to become the country's leading industry.