HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 24 (acn) According to sources from the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR by its Spanish acronym), Cuba began its high tourist season focused on achieving a more competitive destination by the quality of its services and permanent innovation.

The growing number of international visitors to Cuba, reported at over 3.1 million by the end of October, has sparked predictions of some 4.1 million in 2017.

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani reiterated his willingness to consolidate and expand cooperation relations with Cuba during a meeting in the capital Doha with visiting Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez, who is on a tour of Middle East countries up to November 28.

The number of private restaurants have grown in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba since 2010 when the government expanded its non-state policy but with the necessary supervision in order to prevent illegalities or the none compliance of regulations.

Cuba expects a 12 percent sugar production increase in the 2016-2017 sugar campaign with respect to the previous season when the economic sector failed to meet production schedules by 4 percent.

The Cuban tourist sector earned more than 1.2 billion dollars in the first half of this year, standing for a 15-percent growth if compared to same period in 2015, according to the island´s National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI).

At about 74 non-state restaurants operate in the province of Camagüey increasing the gastronomic offer and providing employment to some 500 self-employed workers, according to the number of people working, as an average, in these facilities.

The non-state economic sector in Cuba, including private businesses and cooperatives, has proved to be necessary for the sustainable development of the country´s economy.

Cuba is one of the most popular destinations of the American airline JetBlue Airways, said some of its officials in this city, after the arrival of the first flight of that company to the Ignacio Agramonte International Airport.

Although Samsung cell phones are already popular among Cubans, Samsung Electronics announced the opening soon of its first shop in a Havana beach area.

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 4 (acn) Cuba promotes 114 business projects in tourism among the close to 400 included in the 2016-2017 Foreign Investment Portfolio, since it is the most dynamic sector in Cuban economy.

Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM by its Spanish acronym), one of the main destinations in Cuba for the attraction of foreign capital became focus of attention in the 34th International Fair of Havana (FIHAV 2016 by its Spanish acronym) when announcing its 11 new users.

Cuba and Venezuela signed at the 34th International Fair of Havana (FIHAV by its Spanish acronym) a new collaboration agreement to diversify and boost economic ties with non-oil sectors.

The US blockade hinders American entrepreneurs to offer services to Cuba, despite the huge potential for bilateral trade and business between the two countries, particularly in the agriculture and livestock sector.