VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cuba Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) (OTCBB:MPSFF) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of a 19% minority stake in International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC (“IBTO”), a cash-flow positive, fully licensed and bonded, Florida, USA based travel agency specializing in travel to Cuba. IBTO organizes trips for American Citizens to Cuba, in compliance with current and future US regulations. International Business & Travel Opportunities’ specializes in educational and cultural trips to Cuba for groups of United States citizens wishing to visit Cuba. A definitive agreement, signed July 27, 2017, ratifies the transaction with the single shareholder of International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC. The acquisition was achieved through the sale of a 19% interest in “IBTO” to Cuba Ventures Corp, through the issuance of 500,000 common shares of Cuba Ventures priced at 0.05 cents and cash payment of CAD $10,000 for transaction costs, to certain shareholders of International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC. The transaction is subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.
Highlights of IBTO acquisition
- Ongoing creation and sale of legal U.S compliant Cuba Travel Packages across proprietary 432 websites
- Sales of U.S legal travel offers to over *13 million annual U.S based web visitors
- Sales of cruises to Cuba from U.S ports to over *13 million annual U.S based web visitors
- Sales of flights from U.S airports to over *13 million annual U.S based web visitors
- Company access to a valid U.S Travel license to further sales in the USA
*U.S web visitor data calculated at 38.6% of 35 million approximate total web visitors to Cuba Ventures 432 proprietary websites
Significance of acquisition of International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC & compliance with U.S Cuba Travel policy
International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC specializes in individuals and groups traveling to Cuba. International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC, with its exclusive itineraries, has hosted educational group trips for; Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, Contractors, Hunting trips, fishing trips, hiking and special festivals in accordance with USA travel restrictions. Cuba Ventures Corp, through its wholly owned subsidiary Travelucion Media, owns and operates 432 Cuba-Centric websites with approximate annual visitors of over 35 million. Since 2015, website visitors originating from the United States have jumped from 6% in 2015 to the current 38.6% of all visitors, providing a solid and proprietary, highly targeted, Cuba focused consumer audience for legal travel packages to Cuba. Through this equity partnership, IBTO Cuba Travel offers for American Citizens will feature on these websites. IBTO is a fully licensed and bonded, Cuba Specialist, Florida based agency, thus in total compliance with current and upcoming U.S - Cuba travel regulations. Further, IBTO will seek, in the coming weeks, U.S compliant sales agreements with major Cruise lines currently sailing to Cuba and, a resulting booking engine will feature on all of Travelucion Media's websites, allowing immediate booking and payment of high sales volume cruise packages. Finally, a second IATA compliant flight booking engine will be sought, allowing direct sales of flight tickets to Cuba from major U.S currently operated by U.S airlines authorized to fly to major cities in the Republic of Cuba.
Steve Marshall, Cuba Ventures CEO, commented on the IBTO deal:
“The acquisition of IBTO is an important milestone for the company. Current and upcoming rules pertaining to travel to Cuba for Americans clearly benefit American Licensed travel companies who offer trips to the Island nation. Allied to this fact, our market research has shown that American consumers prefer to book travel to Cuba through a licensed and bonded U.S based travel agency who are compliant with American law, therefore, our acquisition of IBTO will allow exactly that. We will be working alongside the team at IBTO to create travel experiences that allow U.S Citizens to gain profound knowledge of Cuba while experiencing the very best Cuba has to offer.”
Latest 25 July US Cuba Travel – OFAC Travel rules for American Citizens: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cuba_faqs_20170725.pdf
Cuba Ventures Launches 2 brand new websites & provides update on IT program
Cuba Ventures Corp is delighted to announce the public beta launch of the following revised websites:
www.CubaHavana.com
www.CubaHavanacity.com
Investors should note that the update of the further 93 remaining geographic city/town/province websites remains on schedule.
Finally, under redevelopment by a separate IT team, the completion of the much anticipated modernization of www.Havanatur.com and, the additional 68 multi-language e-commerce booking websites, is on schedule for early August 2017.
About Cuba Ventures Corp.:
Cuba Ventures Corp. is a publicly traded Canadian company capitalizing on the growth and unique opportunities in the USD $3.5 billion per year Cuban travel and tourism industry. Travelucion, a wholly owned subsidiary, is a digital media and marketing company which owns a vast portfolio of Cuba related websites and online portals providing Cuba travel information in up to six languages, featuring individual web assets for Cuba's popular cities and towns, online booking solutions and online reservations through proprietary software, catering to international visitors to Cuba. Travelucion's online travel division is a licensed retail travel supplier handling millions of dollars in sales annually.
For further information on Cuba Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) or Travelucion visit the Company’s website at www.cubaventures.com or www.travelucion.com. The Company has 72,412,487 shares issued and outstanding.
CUBA VENTURES CORP.
STEVE MARSHALL
______________________________
Steve Marshall
CEO
For further information contact myself or:
Nick Findler
Cuba Ventures Corp.
Telephone: 604-639-3850
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@cubaventures.com
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.