By Kelly Yamanouchi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

HAVANA, Cuba — This is alluring, unexplored territory for many travelers — and for Georgia businesses that have been eyeing potential opportunities in the nation of 11 million people.

They range from Coca-Cola and UPS to credit card processors and chicken farmers. The recent start of scheduled U.S.-Cuba airline flights will make it easier for such companies to scout out opportunities and take initial steps.

Yet challenges and uncertainty remain, chief among them what will happen to the measured steps to liberalize relations between the United States and Cuba engineered by the outgoing Obama administration.

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened via tweet to “terminate the deal” if Cuba “is unwilling to make a better deal” for Cubans, Cuban-Americans and the United States.

Some U.S. companies have already begun operating in Cuba over the last couple of years, including Starwood and Airbnb, and other businesses are still watchful for opportunities.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines put a stake in the ground by launching flights to Havana Dec. 1 and opening a ticket office in the city.

Cuban tourism is already a fairly established market, even with limited hotel and technology infrastructure and limits on American travel.

“The economy depends on tourism,” said Monica Llanes Vilar, speaking in Spanish while sitting in a Havana apartment she rents to tourists via Airbnb. “It’s a good economic benefit.”

Llanes Vilar made a variety of investments and improvements before renting out the two-bedroom apartment, including colorful new paint in the rooms, flat-screen televisions and new serving dishes and plates.

Visitors from Latin America, Europe and Canada fill tourist districts in Havana, eager to see the architecture, nightlife, aging buildings, classic cars and vibrant culture including music and art.

“The greatest business opportunities are in transportation … it’s in tourism, and it’s in telecoms,” said Charles Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and the current president of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta.

But, Shapiro cautioned, there are limits to the size of the opportunity for business in Cuba, both because of the continuing embargo on most U.S. exports and because of the limits of the Cuban economy. Salaries average roughly $20 to $30 a month.

And, Shapiro said, “all those things U.S. businesses take for granted are just missing [in Cuba]. There’s no Costco, there’s no Home Depot. If something breaks in your kitchen, there’s nowhere to buy parts to repair your stove. There’s no way to enforce contracts.”

For Coca-Cola, Cuba is one of two countries where it does not operate — the other is North Korea — because of the embargo.

Coca-Cola says it is “among the most global companies in the world, and we certainly are interested in doing business everywhere we are allowed to operate.”

Demand is already demonstrable, however. You can already find cans of Coke in Cuba imported from other markets by unauthorized third parties. Industry experts say Coke is brought into Cuba from Mexico, though it is not as common as the local “kola” made by Ciego Montero.

“Everything has two challenges with Cuba,” said Collin Laverty, who helps businesses operate in Cuba through a business called Havana Strategies and offers tours through Cuba Educational Travel.

“One is U.S. law. The Obama administration has opened a lot of loopholes. The other issue is, it’s a tough business environment in Cuba. It takes a while to get deals approved,” and ownership issues are complicated.

If imports and exports were to expand, that could create a huge opening for a key Atlanta area-based shipping company. Cuba lacks the logistics infrastructure of other countries, and that’s a specialty of Sandy Springs-based UPS.

UPS does not operate in Cuba, and said it “continues to assess the opportunity to provide services to and from Cuba.”

“As trade lanes open and demand for delivery services increases, UPS will take appropriate action to meet the needs of our global customers.”

Another huge area that could develop in Cuba is financial transactions. Even if the embargo were relaxed to allow more commerce, many small Cuban businesses don’t have the ability to accept credit cards, and Internet service is limited.

Credit card processing and payment giant First Data, based in Atlanta, said Cuba “has a vibrant culture and burgeoning merchant community that provides a unique opportunity for U.S. companies with a large international footprint.”

"As a global commerce leader, First Data has the experience to support businesses, banks and the government as Cuba expands its payment infrastructure and opens its doors wider," First Data vice chairman Joe Plumeri said in a written comment.

In the tourism industry, the lack of hotel room availability could slow business growth created by the new airline connections. But Starwood Hotels & Resorts already operates a newly-opened hotel in Cuba, the Four Points Havana, and plans two more.

Competing hoteliers are likely to explore the Cuba market as well. Atlanta-based InterContinental Hotels Group, which operates Holiday Inn and other brands, said: “The Cuba market represents an opportunity for the entire hospitality industry.”

“We are certainly interested in future hotel opportunities there, but we have nothing to share at this time,” IHG said.

Meanwhile, Airbnb has been filling the void, after launching operations in Cuba in 2015.

The poultry industry has long done business in Cuba, with exports allowed since 2001.

Chicken is the No. 1 U.S. export to Cuba and Georgia is the largest chicken-producing state, according to Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, based in Stone Mountain. Cuba is the fifth-largest export market for the U.S. chicken industry, he said.

A key barrier, however, is that chicken exporters cannot extend credit to Cuba, Sumner said, and Cuba has "A very struggling economy ... this is the reason why they want credit, is because they don't have the money to buy product."

But, “as tourism increases, their economy will improve, credit will no longer be quite the concern that it was, there will be more money in the economy, they’ll be able to import more products,” Sumner said.

Americans visiting Cuba, he added, “are going to want products other than just chicken-leg quarters.”