HAVANA, Dec 23 (AFP): Cuba's nascent private sector is bracing for an influx of visitors should the US embargo ease, but many businesses in the communist country appear unprepared for a torrent of tourists.
Currently, most hotels, guest houses and restaurants in Cuba are state-owned, though the number of private enterprises has grown in recent years.
"We're not prepared," said restaurateur Enrique Nunez, speaking at Cuba's most famous privately owned eatery, La Guarida, where "Strawberries and Chocolate" was filmed.
"Not in our ability to accommodate an increase in the clientele, nor in terms of the quality of what we have to offer," he added.
But he said that would soon change.
"People will wake up quickly and start to excel, start to offer what people want," Nunez said, speaking at the restaurant in a crumbling Havana building, where photos of Uma Thurman, Benicio del Toro and Jack Nicholson hang on the walls.
On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama announced a historic breakthrough between Cuban-US relations, moving to revive diplomatic ties and ease a trade embargo, ending 50 years of hostility between the former Cold War foes.
The breakthrough could also mean an easing of existing travel restrictions.
Every year, more than 90,000 US citizens travel to Cuba, despite restrictions on how much they can spend and on the Cuban products they can bring home.
That figure is likely to swell once the Obama administration eases restrictions on the 12 categories of people currently allowed to travel to Cuba, such as US-based relatives of residents of the island.
It will require an act of Congress -- which will be Republican-dominated come January -- to repeal the economic and travel embargo entirely.
Cuba's tourism minister estimates that a million additional tourists could come to the island annually, on top of the three million that already visit each year from all over the world.
