Chinese come to their Cuban comrades' rescue by lighting up cigars

<p style="text-align: justify;">Rising wealth and socialist solidarity sees China become major market for Cuban export hit by smoking bans and recession. Tuesday 22 February 2011 14.51 GMT. Cuban Cohiba Cuban cigar sales rose in 2010 as enthusiastic Chinese smokers helped to counter the effects global recession and smoking bans. Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro fed the mystique, but it is Chinese smokers who could ultimately save the Cuban cigar.Demand from China's expanding economic elite has sparked optimism in an industry that risked being extinguished by recession and anti-smoking laws around the world. Read More

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Cuba Registers Tourism Record in January

<p style="text-align: justify;">Havana, Feb 22 (Prensa Latina) At the end of January 2011, Cuba had registered a record number of international tourist arrivals with 296,222, an increase of 15.9 percent compared to the same period in 2010.A press release from the National Office of Statistics referred to the arrival of 40,610 visitors in that month, more than in January 2010, a good beginning for the Cuban tourist industry this year.In relation to the same period of time in 2007, 2008 and 2009, this record represents an increase of 33.9, 19.2 and 10.5 percent, respectively. Read More

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