Cubans Allowed To Stay at Tourist Hotels

Monday, March 31, 2008 8:10 AM

Cuba has lifted a ban on its nationals staying at hotels that were reserved exclusively for foreigners, hotel employees said on Monday.

It was the latest step to liberalize the communist-run state under new President Raul Castro, who has ended bans on Cubans buying computers, DVD players and cellular telephones.

"Anyone can stay at hotels as of midnight last night, as long as they have ID and the money to pay for a room," said the night porter at the Chateau Miramar hotel in western Havana.

Employees at several hotels owned by Spanish chain Sol Melia confirmed this. Cubans can also rent cars and use other tourist facilities previously limited to foreigners, industry sources said.

The ban on staying in hotels at tropical beach resorts was a source of frustration for Cubans since their country opened up to tourism in the 1990s and gave rise to criticism of Cuba for having an "economic apartheid" system.

Raul Castro, 76, took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro as Cuba's first new leader in almost half a century on February 24, promising to do away with "excessive restrictions" in Cuban society and its state-run economy.

On Friday, the government announced an end to a ban on Cubans buying and using cellular telephones.

As of Tuesday, Cuban shops will be allowed to sell computers, DVD players and other appliances in a move to improve the standard of living in Cuba by opening access to consumer products.

Raul Castro has also begun restructuring agriculture to reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks and boost food production.

Cuba's tourism industry is a major source of foreign exchange, more than $2 billion a year, but the number of visitors has declined in the last two years.

Foreign hotel managers said allowing Cubans to stay at tourist hotels will help raise occupancy during the low summer season.

It was not immediately clear what Cubans would pay to stay at luxury hotels, which few can afford in a country where the average wage is only $17 a month.

A major public complaint that his government will have to deal with is that wages paid in Cuban pesos are too low, while consumer goods have to be paid for in convertible pesos, or CUCs, worth 24 times more than pesos.

About 60 percent of Cubans have access to hard currency from cash remittances sent by relatives living abroad, mainly in the United States, or through factory and farm bonuses and tips from foreign tourists.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Cuba ... 84289.html