Despite travel restrictions - Americans are visiting Cuba in record numbers.<br/> <br />New statistics released by the Cuban government show more than 98,000 U.S. citizens traveled to the communist-run island in 2012 - up from about 73,000 in 2011.<br/> <br />These numbers don't include visits by U.S. diplomats - or the estimated hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans who travel home each year.<br/> <br />American tourist Robert Batha said getting to Cuba is difficult - but worth it.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Robert Batha, U.S. tourist on cultural exchange in Cuba, saying:<br/> <br />"It's not easy. We don't get to travel directly to Cuba. We came through Cancun, through Mexico. I don't think we're officially supposed to be here but we're on a cultural exchange because we're all avid photographers."<br/> <br />The rise in U.S. tourism is linked to the loosening of travel restrictions by the Obama administration.<br/> <br />Cuban Americans now are allowed to visit to their native country freely - and, under a program launc
