• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 02 / 03 / 2011

---

The Ottawa Citizen. Private eateries and lodgings are taking off in the island's interior, writes Marc Frank.Reuters February 2, 2011 12:08 PM.Home restaurants, like this one in the town of Cienfuegos, in central Cuba, are opening up as Cuba's recent easing of red tape for private enterprise is improving services for tourists.Photograph by: Desmond Boylan, Reuters Photos, Reuters.

Communist Cuba's recent easing of red tape for private enterprise is improving services for tourists in provincial towns on the Caribbean island, with hundreds of new restaurants and lodgings opening up.

"Mom-and-pop" small businesses have begun to boom in Cuban cities and towns following reforms by President Raul Castro to boost private enterprise and lay off state workers to improve efficiency in one of the world's last Soviet-style economies.

In the quaint south coast port city of Cienfuegos, the number of private restaurants has jumped from two to 16 in just a few months. There are now more than 100 home-based bed-and-breakfast lodgings, local entrepreneurs say.

That is a welcome relief for visitors to the town, nestled between the foothills of the Escambray mountains and a palm-lined bay. Both foreigners and locals have grumbled in the past about the poor food and accommodation on offer in the Cuban interior, away from the capital and main tourist resorts.

Cienfuegos' 400,000 residents and wandering tourists, who last year struggled to find refreshment in the often sweltering city, can now choose between dozens of home-based snack outlets.

"Competition means you have to improve your service and that's a good thing, everyone gains, you, the tourists and the country," said Orestes Toledo, owner of the Perla Hostal, a two-room bed and breakfast.

Cienfuegos is 240 kilometres east of Havana, near the restored colonial town of Trinidad and a few hours from the popular Varadero beach resort. Foreign visitors to the city usually pass through for a day or two.

Cienfuegos' new private entrepreneurs believe their businesses will now steadily improve and seem to relish the challenge of more joining their ranks.

"I think a lot of people are going to open restaurants. I calculate you might eventually see 40 or 50 and a lot of cafes," said Tony Azorlin, a strapping former forest ranger.

Azorlin and his wife doted over clients last week at the Ache paladar, or home-based restaurant.

"I think there is a market for that many, as long as tourism holds up," he said. Azorlin added the sky would be the limit for local private business if the United States lifted its ban on most Americans visiting the island.

This ban persists under the decades-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which U.S. President Barack Obama slightly eased earlier this month, to allow more trips by American professors and students, artists and church groups.

Some 2.5 million foreign tourists visited Cuba last year, the government reported.

At a government office in Cienfuegos issuing private business permits, Arlina Rodriguez estimated she and colleagues had issued more than 200 licenses since President Castro lifted restrictions in October, proclaiming small business vital to the country's future.

"It hasn't stopped and doesn't appear it will any time soon," said Rodriguez, busy dealing with eight people seeking licenses at her poorly lit hole-in-the-wall office.

Nationwide, the government reports more than 75,000 self-employment licenses have been granted so far.

Source: www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Tourists+feed+Cuba+reforms/4207600/story.html