For Americans seeking sand and sunshine, this week's announcement of normalized diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba offered the future prospect of an enticing new travel destination. And for the U.S. travel industry, the policy—though it doesn't fully open tourism to Cuba—has provided an exciting jolt of new possibilities; namely, hordes of U.S. tourists shelling out to visit the formerly forbidden country.

The One Happy Island of Aruba celebrated one huge milestone on Wednesday. For the first time in history, the destination welcomed its one-millionth stay-over visitor in a year – and JetBlue passengers traveling from New York to Aruba that morning were surprised to discover this lucky individual was on their flight.

The global tourism industry is on track to set a new record in 2014, in terms of international visitor numbers. The latest data from the UNWTO shows that approximately 1.1 billion international tourists are expected to travel this year, up from 1,087 billion in 2013. In the first 10 months of 2014, international arrivals reached 978 million.

“This decision is not only important for Cuba and the U.S., but also for the Caribbean region, because there is now a major player that, once fully open to the U.S., will have a significant impact on all trade and tourism,” David Bernier told Efe.

President and CEO of Cuba Cruise, Dugald Wells, told CTV News Channel that the arrival of American tourists on Cuban shores could lead to overcrowding and a spike in prices for the one million Canadians who travel to the country every year.