Did you see this story today?
By Marc Frank
CIENFUEGOS, Cuba
Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:51am EST
CIENFUEGOS, Cuba (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 serving pizza, pastries, coffee and soft drinks.
"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.
"Now even the state will have to shape up," he added, sipping coffee on his roof-top terrace overlooking the bay.
Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro nationalized all small businesses in 1968 and only after the collapse of longtime benefactor the Soviet Union in 1991 begrudgingly allowed their return under tight regulation.
For the complete story, see: Reuters.com
We wish immense to success to these entrepreneurs!
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