Business & Economy

Hotels in Havana’s coastal areas have suffered “minor damage” after Hurricane Irma swept through, but they will be ready to receive tourists by the end of this week thanks to “quick” repair and cleaning actions, managers from Cuba’s Tourism Ministry.

The Jose Marti International Airport in Havana reestablished its operations on Tuesday following the passage of Hurricane Irma. Thousands of tourists are still stranded on the island waiting for international flights to begin.

On our Facebook page there is a good discussion going on as whether people should maintain their plans to visit Cuba in the coming days, weeks or months or cancel or postpone their trips after the damage caused by Hurricane Irma, which is still being fully assessed.

A police patrol car gives a warning to the rest of the cars on the road so that they can give way to a caravan of dozens of buses which carry thousands of tourists who have been evacuated from hotels located on the northern coast of the island towards safer areas.

The Cuban government said Tuesday that the suspension of new licenses for the private sector will not be maintained for “a very long period of time,” local media reported. What “not very long” means in Cuban terms is left to the interpretation of each person.

Cuban authorities have ordered the Scenius cooperative, which is dedicated to providing accounting services and is the most important in the country in its field, to close down. It has been accused of unspecified “serious and repeated violations.”

The Cuban government has suspended indefinitely the issuance of new licenses to various types of previously allowed private employment, with the aim of “curbing tax evasion and violations of the law,” local media reported today.