MIAMI -- Charter flight companies say more people are planning to visit Cuba from South Florida this holiday season.

The number of travelers is up this year compared to recent years, travel experts say, with many younger travelers making the trip.

Reservations for travel to Cuba this month are up an estimated 35-to-40 percent from December 2000, when bookings were at their highest levels in decades. At least 26,500 passengers were booked on 240 flights out of Miami this month.

The Cuban government says an estimated 180,000 Americans visit Cuba each year, with about 30 percent of those heading to Havana not going to the island to visit relatives.

Under current U.S. law, legal travel to Cuba is restricted to people with relatives there, students, educators and such professionals as journalists, doctors and athletes.